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
Published on September 17, 2012
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
that are willing to stand up for our values, so we ask that you support public
education by supporting these candidates on November 6th!
It’s Raining
– Money
Yinzercation Blog — OCTOBER 31, 2012
It’s still raining in Pennsylvania – campaign
money, that it. As the elections have heated up, candidates pushing school privatization
efforts such as vouchers have received a windfall from some well-organized and
extremely wealthy out-of-state pockets. While we’re mopping up and rebuilding
after Hurricane Sandy, we better take a look at what else has blown into our
state, and the consequences we could be dealing with for years to come.
April 2011
Stanford/CREDO study: “whatever cyberschools are doing in PA is definitely not
working and should not be replicated.”
The Pennsylvania Cyber Gold Rush
Diane Ravitch’s Blog October 31, 2012 //
Cybercharters Grow,
Despite Evidence
Diane Ravitch’s Blog April 27, 2012 //
When I spoke at NCTM, I
talked about the common thread that unites mathematicians and historians: We
believe that evidence matters. No matter how much we speculate, or theorize, or
predict, what matters most is: Show me your work, where is the evidence.
Questions:
·
Charter schools were
intended to be laboratories for best practices that could in turn be shared and
replicated. With the dismal
performance of almost all PA cyber charters over the past several
years, why are we considering authorizing more of them?
·
Who will be on the panel
that decides which of these new cyber charter applications will be granted?
·
Are any members of that
panel school board members, who are responsible for taxing their neighbors to
pay the cyber charter tuitions that will fund these schools?
·
If these programs were
being run in a school district, the locally elected school board and
administration, who are directly responsible to local taxpayers footing the
bill, would have the option to discontinue them if they were not found to be
effective.
·
School districts seem to
be able to provide cyber programs for about half of the cost that cyber
charters are charging. How much of our
tax dollars are going to advertising, corporate bonuses and corporate profits?
·
What is Budget Secretary
Zogby’s current relationship to K12, Inc.?
Eight
more cyber charter schools apply to Pennsylvania
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette October 22, 2012 12:16 am
With 16 full-time cyber charter schools, Pennsylvania already has one of the highest
concentrations of such schools in the nation, but now the state has received
applications for eight more for the 2013-14 school year.
The state Department of Education has scheduled hearings in Harrisburg on the proposals on Nov. 26, 28, 29 and 30.
Two of the organizations submitting proposals previously were
rejected for this school year: Mercury Online Charter School of Pennsylvania
and Akoben Cyber Charter School .
The other six are Urban Cyber Charter School ,
Insight PA Cyber Charter School, V3 Cyber Charter School, PA Career Path Cyber
Charter School, MB Resiliency Cyber Charter School of Pennsylvania and Phase 4 America Cyber Charter School.
PA Budget Director Charles Zogby Statement of Financial Interests
form SEC-1 for 2011
On his Statement of Financial Interests Form
SEC-1 for 2011 filed with the PA State Ethics Commission on June 30, 2012, Budget Secretary Zogby
listed “Senior Vice President of Education and Policy” at K12, Inc. as a source
of direct or indirect income. In addition to managing Pennsylvania ’s
Agora cyber charter, K12, Inc. provides curriculum services to cyber charters.
Common Core
State Standards and Library
of Congress Teacher Resources: Find Lesson Plans (and More) That Meet Your CCSS
Needs
Library
of Congress October
24, 2012 by
The Common Core State
Standards (CCSS) are on many teachers’ minds this school year, and the Library
of Congress is ready to help. The Library’s teacher resources are a great fit
for teachers trying to meet key CCSS goals, including critical thinking,
analyzing informational texts, and working with primary sources. They’re all
free, and finding them is as easy as going to www.loc.gov/teachers.
Hundreds of Library of
Congress lesson plans, primary source sets, presentations and more—all based on
authentic primary sources from the Library’s online collections—are now aligned
to the CCSS, to state content standards, and to several national organizations’
standards.
School superintendent to
Thomas Friedman: Why you are wrong about Race to the Top
In a recent column, New
York Times writer Thomas Friedman declared that the Race to the Top federal
education competition is one of his two favorite initiatives undertaken by the
Obama administration. After reading the column, Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jonathan Raymond wrote
the following post, which challenges Friedman’s depiction of the Race.
Technology Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say
New York Times by MATT RICHTEL
Published: November
1, 2012
There is a widespread
belief among teachers that students’ constant use of digital technology is
hampering their attention spans and ability to persevere in the face of
challenging tasks, according to two surveys of teachers being released on
Thursday.
The researchers note
that their findings represent the subjective views of teachers and should not
be seen as definitive proof that widespread use of computers, phones and video
games affects students’ capability to focus.
Even so, the researchers who performed the studies, as well as scholars
who study technology’s impact on behavior and the brain, say the studies are
significant because of the vantage points of teachers, who spend hours a day
observing students.
Some districts letting students bring smartphones, tablets, devices to
class
By Molly Born / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette November 1, 2012 5:47 am
For all the years
educators have spent trying to curb the use of cell phones and other devices in
school, these days they are finding meaningful ways for them to coexist with
students in the classroom.
Starting this month, Bethel Park High School will permit districtwide
student use of laptop computers, cell phones, tablets and other electronics in the
classroom. After a weeks-long pilot program and teacher training, Peters Township
School District will roll out a policy
for use this month at the high school, and Mt. Lebanon
School District is
celebrating a year with a similar initiative.
Education Policy and Leadership Center
Education Policy and Leadership Center
Register Now! 2012 Pennsylvania Education Finance Symposium
The
registration fee is $25 if paid by November 12, and $30 if paid after November
12 or on-site. Click
here to register for the symposium.
Friday,
Agenda here: http://www.eplc.org/events-calendar/eplc-conference/
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