Lakewood Public Schools score well

[Thomas J. George]

Lakewood Public Schools scored well in the most recent Ohio Department of Education District Local Report Card.

In the ever changing ODE ratings system, Lakewood scored an "Effective" along with Berea, Fairview Park, Independence, Parma, Richmond Hts., Shaker Hts., and South Euclid-Lyndhurst.

Scoring below Lakewood with a "Continuous Improvement" were: Bedford, Brooklyn, Cleveland Hts.-University Hts., Garfield Hts., Maple Hts., and North Olmsted.

A notch below, scoring "Academic Watch" were: Euclid and Warrrensville Hts.

Rating "Academic Emergency" were: Cleveland and East Cleveland.

Cuyahoga County public school districts rating "Excellent" were: Bay Village, Beachwood, Brecksville-Broadview Hts., Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga Hts., Mayfield, North Royalton, Olmsted Falls, Orange, Rocky River, Solon, Strongsville, and Westlake.

Most of these school districts are considerably smaller than the Lakewood City School District. None of these schools are located in a city that approaches the size of the city of Lakewood.

Among those cities comparable to Lakewood in size, the following scored: Cleveland Hts.-University Hts. (Continuous Improvement), Euclid (Academic Watch), Elyria (Continuous Improvement), Lorain (Academic Watch), Cuyahoga Falls (Effective) and Mentor (Effective).

Private schools are not rated.

Public schools are an important part of community life and good schools, among other things, are a important economic development criteria.

The success of the Lakewood Public School system is critical to the success of our community.


TJG

[Jeff Endress]

Mayor:

Great news for the schools. Another point showing that this is "Lakewood's Time". And soon, we will have modern facilities to match up with an effective schools system.

I find one element in the reporting interesting. As we all know, Lakewood through the Westshore Academy, takes in a good many marginally achieving students. Among those systems that contribute their educationally challenged students to Lakewood schools (and likewise to our score results) are several systems that ranked "excellent" (River, Westlake, and Bay). The results are therefore, even more compelling when one considers that in addition to educating our substantial numbers of ESL students, etc., we are also taking a load off of other systems (which might be why they got the "excellent", and we didn't).

Jeff

[john crino]

Would Lakewood benefit from advertising itself as a place to move to because of the new schools,new YMCA,library expansion,and hopefully some WIFI program for the city, plus other attributes that a newer"less cultured" suburb may not have? All these "improvements" might make for good marketing to people outside of Lakewood that do not realize the positives that are occurring in the city.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Would Lakewood benefit from advertising itself as a place to move to because of the new schools,new YMCA,library expansion,and hopefully some WIFI program for the city, plus other attributes that a newer"less cultured" suburb may not have? All these "improvements" might make for good marketing to people outside of Lakewood that do not realize the positives that are occurring in the city.

John

You have hit on the key term for 2005/06 "Building the Lakewood Brand" we will be exploring various ways that the Lakewood Brand is built, maintained, and put out there.

The Observer is all about building the Lakewood Brand through intellectual capital and artistic capital.

Some of the Observer just finished an interview with people from Sherrod Brown's office about just how innovative the Lakewood Observer is, and how great Lakewood is.

Look for this in upcoming issues.

Jim

[Jay Foran]

Congratulations to the people that made it happen....(in no particular order)

Lakewood School Teachers, Volunteers and Students (Who do the heavy lifting and are accountable for their effort)

Parents (Who model the curiosity to learn and create the discipline and importance for education for their children)

Lakewood School Administrators (Who create the direction)

Lakewood City Administration and Council (Who keep education high on the public agenda and clear the path)

Lakewood Public Library (Who support the curriculum)

Lakewood Taxpayers (Who provide the dollars that make all the rest worthwhile)

Simply a team effort. Everyone has to share in success and failure of their schools. The Mayor is right...schools are a huge economic driver.

Thanks to all.

[Kenneth Warren]

I share the delight with Lakewood’s civic team in the accomplishment of our public schools and the commitment of our citizens to building a high quality leaning environment.

Certainly the Mayor’s mention that there is an economic development component in effective schools is right on the money.

Yesterday, a team from the Lakewood Observer conducted a three hour interview with Ed Morrison, the former director of the Center for Regional Economic Issues at Case Western Reserve University, now with The Institute for Open Source Economic Networks - I-Open.

An article and podcast will be forthcoming.

In listening to Mr. Morrison, I was struck by how in the face of enormous and unrelenting economic and sociological pressure Lakewood is doing many things right, while the Lakewood Observer, with its open souce model of citizen journalism, is constructing the civic space to further the advance.

The moral and practical focus on children, strong public schools and economic development, which both Mayor George and Jay Foran exemplify in this thread, is key to sustaining the high quality of life in our city.

From the perspective of open source economic development, Mr. Morrison would encourage us all to grow this civic space of effort, commitment and trust.

Again I believe the Lakewood Observer is a vital tool in the development of strategies to grow the civic space that generates brainpower, innovation and good feeling for each other.

Mr. Morrison asked the rhetorical question - What would Lakewood look like if it was a global leader in early childhood development?

Mr. Morrison also made the profound point that reading by the fourth grade is a critical value to economic development. A community must invest in the early years of a child’s developing brainpower. He said we have “not framed in our minds the consequences of not reading by the fourth grade.â€Â￾

These are decisions that are made in neighborhoods, where we can know the names of these children, he said.

For Morrison the cost of $5000 to get a child the remedial reading help needed in grades one, two and three should be “a slam dunk, a no brainer.â€Â￾ That is because the child who cannot read by the fourth grade is likely to drop out of high school. The drop out decision is a $200,000 decision to inhabit the low end of the job spectrum.

Dr. Estrop’s efforts to build the Lakewood Cares Coalition and expanding learning opportunities and performance guarantees are right on the money, too.

Again it is up to each one of us to work hard in civic space and in neighborhoods to learn the names of the children at risk and to create with our educators the productive environment that will advance brainpower and good will within a diverse multi-lingual community and mixed economy so that Lakewood can thrive in a global world.

Again I sincerely appreciate the efforts of all who are working hard to push Lakewood forward in an immensely and unrelentingly competitive world.

If it's Lakewood time, then we all need to keep refreshing our place by dipping into our time banks and building a coherent civic practice, drawing wisdom from Mr. Morrison's open source economic development model.

Kenneth Warren

[Stephen Calhoun]

Thanks Ken for your view here and, as always, your dedication to Lakewood.

Morrison's comment about 4th graders and about the incredible no brainer payoff, firstly to economic well-being, and by implication, secondly, to adulthood civic engagement, (among many payoffs) was very cherry in a discussion full of fruit.

all need to keep refreshing our place by dipping into our time banks and building a coherent civic practice

What kinds of partnerships exist now and could exist between schools and vehicles, venues, at the practical civic level?

(Incidentally, the time bank issue is very challenging at the level of intrinsic motivation. Just as one would hope children understand the value of education so they might prioritize their time in accordance with the valuations which make the most sense to them, this holds just as much for adults in their valuation of civic engagement and practice.)