Reynoldsburg Schools Attracting Rave Reviews

On Tuesday I visited the Reynoldsburg City Schools, an inner ring suburb of Columbus, Ohio and had a chance to see the great work that is drawing attention not only statewide but nationally.
In this piece by the Columbus Dispatch the schools’ efforts at innovating around STEM and career and college readiness was highlighted with a visit from U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Deb Delisle to tour the innovative programs. Reynoldsburg has been at the forefront of innovating and personalizing student learning. Debbie Howard, Chief Innovation Officer of EDWorks, a group that focuses on high school improvement notes “Reynoldsburg is rapidly becoming a national demonstration site for innovation,”.
The district has partnered with the Columbus State Community College to create an Early College High School where students can earn college credit up to an associates degree.  Local partners including Mount Carmel Health Systems providing health-care learning opportunities.
As a result of the work being done, the schools have earned an A+ in the state report card, which its the highest grade ever. Another first for the district was opening its’ enrollment to students from outside the district which resulted in additional revenue for the district in state aid.
One of the most innovative things I saw was Reynoldsburg students learning while doing in Capstone program.  The triple block course pack in Advanced Placement courses, internships, technical writing and applied learning. Each of the High School’s four academies are working on Capstone programs for their students.
One of the middle schools has a blended learning pilot with EdElements, Compass Learning and Achieve 3000.
On Tuesday, the Smart Cities post will focus on Columbus including more on Reynoldsburg.  We’ll also explore the Capstones and Early College work in more detail.  For more, see these three Lisa Duty posts on Reynoldsburg City Schools:

• The MOOC Goes to High School
• Four Strategies in Four Years that Will Transform a Community Forever
• Shaping Communities as the World’s Classrooms