Clevelander17

The Red Sox are beating the snot out of teams right now. I was looking at their schedule earlier in the day as well and I'm hoping they can stay hot against their AL East brethren down the stretch.

I think we're kind of talking in circles here, but there is some general sense of agreement. What many people refer to as "good" schools are ones that almost always have barriers to attendance, whatever those barriers may be. If CMSD wants to "compete" and give the impression that it has "good" school options, it needs to create more schools like John Hay that are exclusive and separative. We already have neo-segregation in the American school system, whether people realize it or not; CMSD is several decades late to this game. The only parents I fault for wanting to send their child to a better school environment are the ones that think that they can simply just drop Little Johnny off at the front door and expect that that's where their job ends. These types of passive "social climber" families are the reason why districts like Cleveland Heights, South Euclid-Lyndhurst and even to some degree Shaker Heights are having issues and appear to be underachieving as graded by the ODE measurement system. Too many parents think that once they move into a "better" school district that they don't have to be active in their child's education.

If the schools are part of the problem, it's only a tiny fraction of the problem and it's something that's likely based on a sense of helplessness on the part of teachers and administrators. The situations in many of these schools is less than ideal (to say it modestly), but it's a situation that is derived in large part from the way that outside forces dictate what happens in the school halls. But ultimately I don't think that Solon High School, if it exchanged student bodies with Collinwood or Lincoln-West, would be able to do a significantly better job in educating its new enrollees.

There are going to be outliers, of course (heck John Hay is one, even), but if you graph all of the schools in Ohio (or any state, for that matter) based on their "performance" versus their poverty level, you'll see a striking trend that cannot be ignored. It's not a coincidence. And while "value-added" is a little bit better metric, there are issues with its current incarnation in that still correlates to an unacceptable degree with poverty level. However if the not insignificant kinks with value-added are ever worked out, that would be the better way of comparing one school to the next.

Suburban schools, such as Solon, Chagrin Falls, Rocky River, etc. "beat out" Cleveland schools because many of the suburban schools have their own barriers to entry: Students must have parents that can afford the expensive homes in these districts. The implication you're making is that these suburban schools are performing miracles when that's not really the case. The truth is that many "high performing" suburban schools are full of students from middle class and wealthy families and parents with degrees that know the value of education. So while there may not be GPA requirements for these suburban schools, there's a type of self-selection occurring that makes the schools themselves look very good.

CMSD is an open enrollment district. Any student from anywhere in the state can enroll in CMSD schools, regardless of location of residency.

Not from what I've heard and read. There has been a bit of a movement in urban districts over the past decade, not just in CMSD, to go (back) to K-8 buildings, and the arguments for this change have always been based (at least publicly) on research about the educational efficacy of this building setup. From what I have read and seen firsthand, there are advantages and disadvantages to K-8 buildings. The advantages include eliminating a school transition for students (which some research indicates can cause decreases in learning), allowing educators and families to build stronger relationships and communities, and allowing parents to have kids attending the same school for reasons of convenience. The disadvantages include having classes where there is a wide gap in student ability, a limit on electives/specials that can be offered, and the possibility that misbehavior by older students can unduly influence younger students. Side note: In the early stages of CH-UH's school reconfiguration discussions, administrators actually put on the table an option for K-8 schools/campuses. If I recall, all options were for multi-building campuses (like Roxboro) built at 3-5 sites around the district.

Interesting that Regghi has moved over 92.3 (and STO, as well). I must have missed the official announcement of that happening. I wonder if 92.3 is starting to rattle 850 a bit.

My alma mater needs a new basketball arena closer to the heart of campus. ;)

And the changes to the Sun News have been terrible, as well. Less local news and more crap from parts of the county that I simply do not care about. The Sun Press used to exclusively cover Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Beachwood, and University Heights, and have a nice mix of stories from these cities. Now I'm getting nonsense about things going on in North Olmsted and Brecksville. I seriously hope that the N-H and ABJ come up with a strategy/product to take advantage of the PD's stupidity.

Browns looked good last night. Sad to see Lewis go down, though. I remember him at Pitt and I think he could have been a nice change of pace back for this squad.

Certainly didn't look that way There is a noticeable theme regarding City Blights posts. He must not have seen the same game we were all watching.

At first I got a chuckle out of the "Detroit's bankrupt" chant, but then I read some comments from Detroiters and realized that it is pretty mean-spirited. But the vitriol indeed goes both ways. I think there are a lot of similarities between the cities, so perhaps there's some grounds for making fun of each other and keeping it in the family. However if an outsider (i.e. non-Rust Belt city) were to play that card, it would be even worse.

I think so, too. But a listing based on long-term success would be very interesting.

8-)

This list, like most others produced by national publications, is inaccurate because those putting it together were too lazy to do actual research. Cincinnati's claim to being the #1 "city" for high school football is based on the success of schools that are actually located in unincorporated areas outside of city limits. The confusion comes from the fact that many of these townships (and thus the schools located within them) have zip codes that require writing "Cincinnati" after the street address. Colerain is located in Colerain Township. St. Xavier is located in Springfield Township. Moeller is located in Symmes Township. Elder is the only one which I believe is truly located in Cincinnati. The rest are all in unincorporated areas of suburban Cincinnati.

The Tigers' run differential is +144, while the Tribe's is +42 . That's not really all that close. And if Detroit continues to outspend the Indians like they are doing now, there won't be any rivalry moving forward. Swisher is probably past his prime (enthusiasm aside), Bourn's speed will only deteriorate as he ages with his contract, Cabrera will likely be gone in the offseason, Kipnis is playing well but has his moments of inconsistency, and Brantley is a solid, but not great, cog in the lineup. Don't get me started on the starting pitching, which beyond Masterson, consists of a group of guys each of which has no more than 2/3 of a season of very good pitching to their name. Sure Kazmir has a proven track record, but there's a good chance he'll sign somewhere else because his stock has gone through the roof. In other words, this club reminds me a lot of the 2007 club (though clearly not as good): A team that had a very good year because a lot of things fell into place and a team that people are assuming is going to have staying power. However after seeing this type of a storyline surrounding previous recent Tribe squads, I'll believe that their a contender when I actually see it. Particularly when Dolan is as much of a tightwad as ever and Antonetti hasn't proven that he can succeed with one hand tied behind his back like Beane (Oakland) and Friedman (Tampa Bay) have.

I think it's going to be quite popular everywhere. I can see a swath of the population being unhappy, perhaps even some people that voted for Obama, but overall I think this thing is a game-changer. Of course I say that as someone who has a pre-existing condition and who has, at times, been between jobs and had to pay through the nose for insurance, so I realize I do have some bias. But there are a lot of things about the law to like, including the field-leveling aspects. As I've said before, there are still big issues on the cost side with what providers are able to get away with, but it is my hope that this is just a first step towards something better.

Detroit's clearly the better ballclub, but what happened Monday night is not reflective of that. That's a game that the Tribe should have won. Percentages show that a team with a 2-run lead going into the 9th inning wins over 90% of the time (don't know the exact figure). I don't see the Tribe winning both of the next two games. Their best shot is tonight, and they need to win, even if they're only playing for the Wild Card at this point.

"Chicago politics"? Sounds like you've been watching too much Boss. Kasich rode in on a wave of Tea Party angst. That was a close election and Strickland was going to be associated with Obama either way. Your landslide talk makes no sense...but what makes even less sense is that idea that Obama was going to get a primary challenge from anyone other than some redneck, DINO from Tennessee or West Virginia.

I'm not a huge fan of Chris Perez, but I think that Francona is at least partially to blame for running him out there for the third straight night and then letting him stay in. Perez has been pretty solid lately, but his stuff was just not working last night. edit: I'd like to see statistics for a closer who is fresh, versus one who is pitching his second straight day, versus one pitching his third straight day. Supposedly relievers aren't supposed to go more than three days in a row, so Francona was walking that line by putting Perez in the game last night.

That would be ridiculous if true. If I recall, Strickland was a big Obama ally, particularly in helping him win Ohio in 2008.

Yeah I was kidding, I know that that description doesn't fit you at all. I just wanted to applaud the comment.

That's the type of thinking that will get your "R" card taken away.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I definitely think there's something very slimy going on with JobsOhio. I'm just very disappointed that Strickland didn't sack up and try to win back the governor's mansion. Although I don't think his chiming in helps or hurts FitzGerald, I personally just don't want to hear anything come out of Strickland's mouth right now. He could have had a much stronger stage on which to be lodging his criticisms.