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Central Ohio schools in the news…

Columbus Schools - “Novel idea or ’slap in face’? Plan to eliminate middle school gets mixed reception”

Powell - High School Project Spawns Internet Frenzy from WOSU Radio

Worthington Schools - “School officials puzzled by dip in state ranking”

“red is the lowest ranking a district can earn on the new “value-added” rating system reported by the Ohio Department of Education last week.

Worthington was the only school district in Franklin County to be slapped with a red label. It says that the students in grades four through eight are, in general, not learning at the rate expected by the state.”

Columbus Dispatch on the new Ohio Department of Education Ratings “School ratings get richer with new data”

Ohio Department of Education

Information about some Central Ohio schools:

Central Ohio Public Schools

Central Ohio Private Schools

Nationwide Realty Investors  will develop Grandview Yard at the old Big Bear
site in the City of Grandview Heights  according to the Columbus Dispatch, in ‘Grandview Yard’ development to replace former Big Bear site’  Wednesday.  In today’s Columbus Dispatch ‘Plan would transform old Big Bear property’  (both articles are written by Martin Rozenman) gives more details of work which should start in mid-2009.  

A mixed use development of commercial, retail and residential properties, Grandview Yard will have 600 to 800 residential properties according to the Columbus Dipatch article.  Brian Ellis of Nationwide Realty Investors described Grandview Yard as similar to the Arena Disctrict (another Nationwide Realty Investors project) without a sports theme in a presentation to the Columbus Metropolitan Club.  The development was presented in a public meeting Wednesday December 19, 2007 according to the Columbus Dispatch articles.

Reading the Dispatch articles proximity of the 100 acre development  to Ohio State University, Battelle and the OSU Medical Center and the developing “tech corridor” along 315 enticed Nationwide Realty Investors:

“100-acre site bordered by Goodale Boulevard on the south, 3rd Avenue on the north, railroad tracks on the east and an alley near Northwest Boulevard on the west.”

Grandview Heights 

Nationwide Realty Investors  

The US News & World Reports article about the best high schools was a story on Sunny 95 this morning when the alarm went off… so heck I’m going write about it too.  It’s nice to wake up to good news…  The newscaster reeled off a list of Central Ohio Schools that made the lists of best US schools.. 

U.S. News & World Report says of the top schools in the US

 Bronze Medal

Beechcroft High School
Briggs High School
Centennial High School
Eastmoor Academy High School
Northland High School
Whetstone High School

Silver Medal

Bexley High School
Columbus Alternative High School
Dublin Coffman High School
Dublin Jerome High School
Fort Hayes Metro Education Center High School
Grandview Heights High School
Thomas Worthington High School
Westerville-South High School

Granville High School in Licking County is also a Silver Medal winner according to the magazine article.

There are four Ohio high schools on the list of Gold Medal winners, the top 100.  One is in the Cleveland area and three are in the Cincinnati area.

The US News & World Report’s  article (first link above)  has the methodology they used for ranking the schools,  an opportunity to comment there, their FAQ. 

Greater Columbus was featured in a recent article on Forbes.com:  Top 20 US Places to Educate your Child 

More information about Central Ohio Schools including School Matters, the Standard and Poors service that US News & World Reports worked with to identify the schools on their list is on my website:

Central Ohio Public Schools

Central Ohio Private Schools 

Columbus Ohio is number 6 on the list of “Where To Educate Your Children” written by David Savageau on Forbes.com

Akron Ohio is number 5.   Congratulations Akron!

There’s a slide show of the Top 20 Places to Educate your Child

On the slide show Forbes.com says of Columbus:

“The Buckeye State gets on the board for a second time with its capital, Columbus. Boasting 6,081,889 books in its library system, Columbus’s 284,626 public school students and 28,437 private school students make up a large portion of the town’s overall population.”

Private schools got an A+, public schools got a B, the library system got an A+… being a college town and access to college education also got high marks from Forbes.com

Central Ohio Public Schools

Central Ohio Private Schools 

Columbus is not walkable according to a study just published by the Brookings Institution. As one of the Top 30 US Metropolitan areas Columbus was ranked 19th according to an article in Columbus Business First. “Columbus near bottom of walkability survey” which says the Short North is the only walkable neighborhood in Columbus.

Columbus did better than Cincinnati and Cleveland which are 28th and 29th on the list of US cities.

Here’s a link to the info on the Brookings Institution site:

Footloose and Fancy Free: A Field Survey of Walkable Urban Places in the Top 30 U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Christopher B. Leinberger the author of the study is also the author of a just published book on the subject:

The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream, the publishers write up says:

“Americans are voting with their feet to abandon strip malls and suburban sprawl, embracing instead a new type of community where they can live, work, shop, and play within easy walking distance. In The Option of Urbanism visionary developer and strategist Christopher B. Leinberger explains why government policies have tilted the playing field toward one form of development over the last sixty years: the drivable suburb. Rooted in the driving forces of the economy-car manufacturing and the oil industry-this type of growth has fostered the decline of community, contributed to urban decay, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and contributed to the rise in obesity and asthma.”

Copyright 2007 Discover Columbus and Maureen McCabe

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Above was originally posted on Discover Columbus, my RealTown blog  on December 9, 2007.