Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1700
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, PTO/PTA officers, teacher
leaders, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 education advocacy
organizations via emails, website, Facebook and Twitter.
These daily
emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us
on Twitter at @lfeinberg
If you want legislators who support public education then please support
these candidates with your time, your money and your votes.
Education Voters Action of PA 2012 General Election Endorsements
Education Voters Action
of Pennsylvania
We are very pleased to announce our first of two rounds of endorsements for
the 2012 General Election. Based on a review of available information,
including written materials, public statements, voting records and candidate
interviews, Education Voters has decided to endorse the following candidates
with a goal of having more legislators who support public education in public
office.
These candidates recognize that if our economy
and our communities are going to improve and remain strong that it starts with
our students. We need strong
policymakers in Harrisburg
"Everybody is responsible in that building for the
achievement of the child," Ms. Dumaresq said. "Everybody participates in setting a
good learning environment, having children wanting to come to school. ... We
feel it really should be more of a team sport," she said.
For most schools, about 80 percent of the current version
is based on state test scores in one form or another. Other factors include Advanced Placement
achievement, SAT college entrance exam results, industry certification exams,
graduation rates and attendance.”
Pennsylvania
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh
When the new statewide
teacher evaluation system takes effect next fall, teachers will be judged not
only on how they do in their own classrooms but on how their school does as a
whole.
Each school will be
awarded a numerical rating using a formula the state Department of Education is
developing.
The building rating,
which will be made public, will account for 15 percent of an individual teacher's
evaluation.
The department last week
presented its draft of what it will count to superintendents and other school
officials at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. Other presentations seeking
feedback are being made around the state.
Posted: Mon, Oct. 29, 2012 , 3:01 AM
More info for parents means better choices, better schools
Mark Gleason is executive director of Philadelphia School
THERE'S NOW a website
that puts information on nearly every school in the city at the fingertips of
parents, caregivers and students - http://greatphillyschools.org/ .
Developed by the Philadelphia School Partnership in partnership with other
nonprofit groups, reatPhillySchools.org
puts all of this information in one place; before, parents might have had to
visit half a dozen websites and make a few phone calls to gather as much.
Slow motion: Pennsylvanians get late access to political reports
In these times of
instant communication, Pennsylvania
Although many states
require political candidates to file their campaign finance reports
electronically, Pennsylvania
In the primary,
two-thirds of the filings were on paper, which meant state employees had to
scan them into the computer system and send the information to an outside
contractor, which had 72 hours to enter the data and return it in a form that
could be posted on the department's website.
The same process is in
place today and that four-day delay means it is probable that citizens eager to
see who is donating to candidates won't have up-to-date information before they
vote on Nov. 6.
Vitalistic Therapeutic charter school to close
Financial issues force the troubled charter
school to plan to shut down in January.
By Steve Esack, Of The Morning Call 11:07
p.m. EDT, October 28, 2012
The troubled small
charter school's financial crunch is forcing it to shut down, said Joyce
Thompson, president of the board of trustees. She also said the negative
publicity surrounding the money problems has hampered Vitalistic's ability to
secure grants and loans.
Make Kids Matter in the Fall Elections
Public Citizens for Children and Youth www.pccy.org
Sign
Our Petition - Urge Candidates to Make Children a Priority
•
Support our nation’s forward progress in improving access to health care by
ensuring the resources necessary for all children to receive quality health
care
•
Protect child nutrition programs that are being threatened by deep cuts to ensure
no child goes hungry.
•
Expand opportunities for high-quality early learning experiences so all
children are prepared for success in school and in life.
•
Fulfill the promise of a high quality education for all children, because an
educated public is the key to our nation’s future prosperity.
Digital
Notebook Blog by Evan Brandt SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2012
Access to Information and Training in its Use
Means Better Test Scores and Informed Citizens? Well We Can't Have That Can We?
“I’ve
been a First Lady of the State. I have seen what happens to people’s lives if
they don’t get a proper education. And we know the answers to that. The charter
schools have provided the answers. The teachers’ unions are preventing those
things from happening, from bringing real change to our educational system. We
need to throw out the system.”
Ann Romney: ‘We need to
throw out’ public school system
The
magazine Good Housekeeping has a new interview with Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, in which
she reveals “the answers” to ensuring that all students get “a proper
education.”
The Global Search for
Education: The Education Debate 2012 – Linda Darling-Hammond
More than 8 in 10 Am ericans say education is an
issue that is extremely or very important to them, according to an Associated
Press-GfK poll earlier this year. Only the economy ranked higher. While the
primary responsibility for education lies with state and local governments, the
federal government awards billions of dollars in education aid. During the
past four weeks in the Global Search for Education – The Education Debate 2012,
Howard Gardner, Richard Riley, Diane Ravitch and Andy Hargreaves have shared
their perspectives on the issues the next President will face. Today it
is my honor to introduce the fifth and last education luminary in our Education
Debate 2012 series, Linda Darling-Hammond.
Common Core Mandates
Will Harm Critical Thinking
by Sandra Stotsky -
Jay Mathews is
one of the few education reporters who gets it. He understands that the
heavy diet of informational reading Common Core mandates at every single grade
level for the language arts or English class may decrease, not increase,
“critical” or analytical thinking. But how are teachers and parents to know
that black is white and freedom is slavery? No one tells us how reading
“informational” texts could necessarily stimulate “critical” thinking better
than literary reading–or stimulate it at all.
First Book: A Book in Every Home, and Then Some
First Book: Tapping a vast potential market of young readers too poor to
buy books.
New York Times By DAVID BORNSTEIN FIXES May 16, 2011 , 9:30
PM 75
Comments
When we imagine people
without books, we think of villagers in places like Afghanistan United States Philadelphia
At Fixes, we like to
highlight creative ways that markets can be harnessed to extend access to vital
services like electricity, credit,
orwater.
Today, I’m focusing on a nonprofit organization called First Book, which is spearheading a new market
mechanism that is delivering millions of new, high quality books to low-income
children through thousands of nonprofit organizations and Title I schools.
First Book - Philadelphia
First Book provides new
books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors
affecting literacy access to books. An innovative leader in social enterprise,
each year First Book distributes millions of free and low-cost books to
disadvantaged children and the programs that serve them.
In 2009 First Book
Philly provided 21,568 books to 3,334 kids in the Greater Philadelphia
area. That’s 8 books for each child to take home – a mini library in
neighborhoods where suitable children’s books are simply not available.
Publishers as Partners in Literacy
New York Times By DAVID BORNSTEIN FIXES May 19, 2011 , 9:00
PM 19
Comments
This week, I reported on
the First Book Marketplace, which sells new books at steep discounts to schools
and reading programs serving low-income children. Based on sales growth, First
Book, which is a nonprofit, anticipates that the marketplace will be
financially self-sustaining within a few years. It’s hard to find fault with a
social-purpose business that makes quality books more affordable for
underprivileged children. But, surprisingly, many readers responded to the idea
by suggesting that the problem of book access can be adequately addressed
through rummage sales, thrift shops, used book outlets and libraries. This
reflects a misunderstanding of the problem, which I’d like to clarify.
Reach Out
And Read Greater Philadelphia
Doctors
and nurses know that growing up healthy means growing up with books. That’s why
600 primary care doctors and nurse practitioners at 47 Reach Out and Read
practices across the Greater Philadelphia region give brand-new books to young
children when they get a checkup. By talking with parents and caregivers about
the importance of reading aloud, they provide families with the tools they need
to put their children on the path to school success.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.