Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1800
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, PTO/PTA officers, parent
advocates, teacher leaders, education professors, 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
For January
17, 2013
Busy day in the ed news/blogosphere folks….
School safety initiative to be part of Corbett FY13-14 budget proposal.
Capitol Ideas Blog by John
Micek January 16,
2013
There's still a few weeks to go
before Gov. Tom Corbett delivers
his annual budget address to state lawmakers. But during an appearance in Lancaster
“Harrisburg
Patriot
News By Eric Veronikis |
everonikis@patriot-news.com January 16, 2013
Only
45 percent of Harrisburg's students graduated from high school during the
2011-12 school year, when the state average was 83 percent, Veno said
during his first meeting tonight with the advisory
committee organized to help him develop a five-year recovery plan for
the district.
PUBLIC
SCHOOL EMPLOYMENT HITS DECADE LOW IN PENNSYLVANIA
PA
Budget and Policy
Center
Employment in Pennsylvania
Editorial: Taxpayers
should back Gov. Corbett's state pension reform
By on January 16, 2013
at 10:55 AM
The pension systems for Pennsylvania
The growing $41 billion shortfall was born of
benefit-friendly adjustments made in Gov. Tom Ridge's tenure during sunnier
economic times. It was then followed by the decade-long economic downturn. Now
the guaranteed retirement for current retirees and state workers planning to
retire is only 67.8 percent funded.
Pittsburgh Public schools recommends granting Hazelwood charter school
request
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh January 16, 2013 7:44 pm
A Pittsburgh Public
Schools review committee has recommended the school board grant a request from
Propel Schools to open a charter in Hazelwood this fall, but it is not clear
the board would agree when it votes Jan. 23.
At an agenda review meeting today, the board heard the recommendation
for the K-8 charter school, which plans to open with 300 students in K-6 and
grow to 420 in K-8. The proposal calls for housing the school in the former St.
Stephen Catholic School building, which closed in 2005.
Hard-hit districts push back against charter
schools
TribLive By Daveen Rae Kurutz Published: Thursday, January 17, 2013 ,
12:01 a.m.
Western Pennsylvania school districts that are
losing students and money to charter schools are fighting back. The Penn Hills
school board this week approved spending $3,500 a month for two years of
advertising on TV and the Internet. Thirty-second ads will promote the Penn Hills Senior High School
Districts traditionally have
not advertised schools, but their charter-school counterparts have, attracting
a growing number of students.
Trib Total Media surveyed 50 Western Pennsylvania school districts to determine how
many children attend charter schools instead of public schools. When students
go to charter schools, state funding goes with them.
Charter schools delivering what they
promise?
Related prior posting:
Catasauqua board says Medical Academy
doesn't deliver, but charter school says give us time
Given
time, school's administrators say, charter will help students get medical jobs
EPLC Education Notebook Monday, January 14, 2013
Education Policy and Leadership Center
What Education Activism
Looks Like
Yinzercation Blog January 16, 2013
Public education
advocates come in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes it feels like we are all in
a rather large tent, with some fighting school closures, teacher layoffs, and
privatization efforts, while others battle for fair state and federal budgets,
and still others push for charter school reform, smaller class sizes, and an
end to high-stakes-testing. While grassroots movements are messy like this, it
may help to remember when this tent starts to feel like a three ring circus,
that we are all advocating for the same thing: public education as a public
good. At its very essence, that means we are united by the common goal of great
schools forall our children, with adequate, equitable, and
sustainable public funding. So here is some of what public education activism
looks like this week.
Pop quiz on standardized
testing
Here’s a short quiz
on the latest developments in the world of standardized testing, written by
Lisa Guisbond of the National Center for Fair and
Open Testing, also known as FairTest, a
nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the abuse and misuse of standardized
tests.
White House announces plans on school
safety, gun control
NSBA School Board News by
Joetta Sack-Min January
16, 2013
President Barack Obama issued
23 executive actions today that he says will strengthen school safety and
prevent gun violence. He also called on Congress to pass tougher gun-control
measures, including banning some assault rifles and magazines and
requiring background checks for purchasing all guns, one month and
two days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn.
The National School Boards
Association (NSBA) was represented by Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel at
the White House event. Obama announced a campaign entitled “Now
is the Time” that outlines his plans for preventing gun violence.
The
President’s plan to protect our children and our communities by reducing gun
violence
The White House January 16, 2012
The 23 executive actions
By POLITICO STAFF |
1/16/13 9:28 PM EST
President Barack Obama’s gun
policy executive orders
Teachers don’t want
to carry guns in the classroom, poll says
The Washington January 15, 2013
As Vice President Joseph Biden’s gun violence task force readies its
recommendations, a new poll Tuesday shows the nation’s teachers aren’t
interested in carrying guns into the classroom to protect themselves and their
students.
A survey by the National Education Association, a labor union
representing about 3 million educators, found that only 22 percent of teachers
“favor a proposal to allow teachers or other school employees to receive
firearms training and allow them to carry firearms in schools.”
More Questions about the Common Core: Response to Marc
Tucker
Yong Zhao’s Blog 17 JANUARY 2013
I have been waiting for a serious conversation
about the sensibility of the Common Core State Standards Initiative with its
staunch supporters. I am thus very pleased to read Marc Tucker’s response to my five questions about the Common Core. I am honored that
Tucker considers my questions worth responding to. His response, while
thoughtful and more nuanced than the usual slogan-shouting, emotion-arousing,
and fear-mongering evidence-deprived commercials put forth by some instigators
and supporters of the Common Core like this one, did not really answer my questions. But
it did give me the opportunity to come up with more questions. I hope Marc and
or other Common Core proponents would find these new questions worth responding
to again.
Stanford Report, January 15, 2013
Poor ranking on international test
misleading about U.S.
A comprehensive analysis of international tests
by Stanford and the Economic Policy Institute shows that U.S.
BY JONATHAN RABINOVITZ
Socioeconomic inequality
among U.S. U.S.
MA Governor Proposes Universal Access to
Early Education
Eye On Early Education Blog January 15, 2013 by Irene Sege
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick today
announced a bold proposal to provide universal access to high-quality early
education for the state’s young children. It is part of his plan to invest
almost $350 million in early education over four years, starting with $131
million in fiscal year 2014. In addition, Governor Patrick proposed changes to
the state’s Chapter 70 school funding to encourage more school districts to
offer pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds.
The Missing Memo
Taking Note Blog by JOHN MERROW on 15. JAN, 2013
What follows is the story of a missing memo,
numerous attempts to unearth it using the Freedom of Information Act,
confidential sources, apparently lost email, and new questions about Michelle
Rhee’s decision not to investigate widespread erasures on an important
standardized test during her first year in Washington , DC
Readers of this blog know that our Frontline
film, “The
Education of Michelle Rhee,” has stirred up the conversation about
Chancellor Rhee’s tenure in Washington ,
DC
“Look at this way: if you were on a BOE and the Superintendent came in
and said that in a couple years he wanted to change all K-12 curricula, change
the entire K-12 teacher and staff evaluation process, change the entire testing
process (and oh by the way your current operating systems all have to be
replaced), and restructure the leadership model for the district, would you
want that individual to forge ahead despite widespread concerns?”
NJ Superintendent:
Reforms could ‘wreak havoc’ on great schools
Here is
a letter sent to the New Jersey State Board of Education from Michael A. Rossi
Jr., superintendent of Madison Public Schools, about the state’s school reform agenda
and problems that officials have created for educators and administrators who
are charged with implementing policy.
National Awards for
Education Reporting
National Education
Writers Association January
16, 2013
The Education Writers
Association is now accepting submissions for its annual National Awards for Education
Reporting.
Twenty-three first-place
finishes are at stake, with each winner or set of winners receiving a $200 cash
prize. First-place winners are eligible for the Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize
for Distinguished Education Reporting, which carries a cash award of $1,500.
After reviewing the contest categories, FAQs and rules, create a username and password on
our contest portal, follow the instructions, and
upload your submissions.
The deadline for
submissions is 4:59
p.m. on Friday, February 1.
Urban Sustainability Forum - Next
Generation Green
Drexel's Engineers Week &
the Academy of Natural Sciences
Thursday, January 17, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (EST)
In case you haven’t noticed,
there are a whole bunch of young people in Philadelphia
Register and more info: http://nextgenerationgreen.eventbrite.com/#
SAVE THE DATE: 2013 Pennsylvania
Budget Summit
Many Pennsylvanians have
sent a clear message to Harrisburg Policy Center
for an in-depth look at the Governor's proposal and an update on the federal
budget -- and what they mean for communities and families across Pennsylvania
2013 Pennsylvania
Budget Summit
Thursday, February 21, 2013 ,
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
HiltonHarrisburg , 1 North Second Street, Harrisburg , PA
Hilton
EPLC 2013 REGIONAL WORKSHOPS
FOR SCHOOL
The Education Policy and Leadership Center, with the Cooperation
of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) and Pennsylvania
Association of School Business Officials (PASBO), will conduct A Series of Regional Full-Day
Workshops for 2013
Pennsylvania School Board Candidates. Registration is $45 and includes
coffee/donuts, lunch, and materials.
Philadelphia Region Saturday, February 2, 2013
– 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, 1605 W. Main Street, Norristown, PA 19403
Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, 1605 W. Main Street, Norristown, PA 19403
Harrisburg Region Saturday, February 9,
2013– 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Pennsylvania School Boards Association Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Boulevard, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Pennsylvania School Boards Association Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Boulevard, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Pittsburgh Region Saturday, February 23, 2013 – 8:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Doubletree Hotel Pittsburgh/Monroeville, 101 Mall Blvd., Monroeville, PA 15146
Doubletree Hotel Pittsburgh/Monroeville, 101 Mall Blvd., Monroeville, PA 15146
2013 PSBA Leadership Symposium on
Advocacy and Issues
April 6, 2013 The Penn Stater Convention Center Hotel; State College, PA
Strategic leadership, school budgeting and advocacy are key issues facing today's school district leaders. For your school district to truly thrive, leaders must maintain a solid understanding of these three functions. Attend the 2013 PSBA Leadership Symposium on Advocacy and Issues to ensure you have the skills you need to take your district to the next level.
April 6, 2013 The Penn Stater Convention Center Hotel; State College, PA
Strategic leadership, school budgeting and advocacy are key issues facing today's school district leaders. For your school district to truly thrive, leaders must maintain a solid understanding of these three functions. Attend the 2013 PSBA Leadership Symposium on Advocacy and Issues to ensure you have the skills you need to take your district to the next level.
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