Education Career and Controversy
Calinger has a PhD in Education from The Ohio State University (1970) and a J.D. from Creighton University (1977).
He has worked the large majority of his career in the education sector beginning as a math teacher and guidance counselor. He was employed by the Norton City School District in Summit County, Ohio, from 1998–2005, where he was superintendent from 2002–2005. While there, the district achieved an Excellent rating in 2003 from the Ohio Department of Education for the first time ever. It has retained that rating since.
Calinger worked for the Richmond Heights (Ohio) School District from 2005–2008. In his first year, the district improved five points on the Ohio Achievement Test. During that time, the RHEA registered a unanimous "no confidence" vote against him and entered into a teachers' strike about three months before his departure.
When Walter Calinger was hired by Woodland Hills School District outside Pittsburgh, his claims of past accomplishment was questioned by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporter Brian Bowling. The article begins, "The new superintendent for Woodland Hills School District says he significantly raised test scores and closed the achievement gap between black and white students at a suburban Cleveland district, but Ohio Department of Education records show the district failed to meet federal education guidelines during the second year of his administration."
In his position as superintendent (2008–2011) of the Woodland Hills School District, Calinger battled against the successful public charter school Propel, including making false public statements about how the School District's test results compared with the Propel charter school. His statement was disputed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette education reporter Eleanor Chute, who independently verified the data and stated in a Post-Gazette report:
Dr. Calinger provided a written report to the school board saying that Propel does not meet five reasons under legislative intent for charter schools and that the district's test scores "equal or surpass those at Propel." That statement is at odds with state math and reading test scores released by the state Department of Education.Calinger continued to make public statements about school data in an op-ed he published in the Post-Gazette in October, 2010. In a letter to editor titled, "Propel Performs", he was challenged by the leaders of the Propel Charter School for the veracity of his claims he stated:
when measured against Propel Homestead, with a student demographic much closer to ours, Woodland Hills students do better in every category in every grade.Students at Propel Homestead, just as those at every Propel school, are outperforming students in Woodland Hills—in some areas quite significantly. For instance, 72 percent of Propel Homestead students met grade-level standards on state mathematics tests (compared to 57 percent at Woodland Hills). The school's population is significantly more impacted by poverty (92 percent free-lunch eligible) than that at Woodland Hills (72 percent).
Read more about this topic: Walter M. Calinger
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