Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1850
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 regulatory agencies, professional associations and 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 February 21, 2013
“While some young Americans —
most of them white and affluent — are getting a truly world-class education,
those who attend schools in high poverty neighborhoods are getting an education
that more closely approximates school in developing nations. In reading, for
example, although U.S. United
States
Introduction to “For Each and Every Child” a report issued by The Equity
and Excellence Commission for the US February 2, 2013
WHYY Newsworks By Benjamin Herold February 20, 2013
The Philadelphia School
District
The state's policy is to send
the money to the charters first, then allow traditional school districts to ask
questions later.
This makes Philadelphia
"This year our state lawmakers have a chance to eliminate wasteful
spending in public schools and save Franklin
County
Group: Districts overpay for cyber schools
Local school districts pay too
much under state law to fund cyber charter schools, according to a new
organization dedicated to reform.
Education Matters in the
Cumberland Valley, a group of parents and advocates from Chambersburg, Big
Spring, Shippensburg and Carlisle, aims to save taxpayers and school districts
millions of dollars by changing the funding formula.
By JOSH BROKAW -
jbrokaw@sungazette.com , Williamsport Sun-Gazette February 19, 2013
MUNCY - The Muncy School Board
unanimously passed a resolution Monday night in support of reforming the
state's cyber charter school funding formula.
The resolution, recommended by
the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, asks legislators to "support
any legislation that corrects the tuition and pension overpayments to cyber
charter schools."
“It's
time for parents of charter children to be more discerning and demanding. It's
great that their children are in schools that are safer, cleaner, and more
involved with parents. But the data so far, in particular in Camden
Inquirer Editorial: High pay for Camden
POSTED: Thursday, February 21, 2013 , 3:01 AM
Remember when school cafeterias were run by the
"lunchroom lady" or a male counterpart? No doubt many still are. And
in most cases, that term likely falls far short of describing the nutritionist
responsible for what students eat. But how many schools do you know with an
executive chef?
Under charter proposal, what happens to the
York City School District
YorkCounts reps say in their vision, district
and board would exist but be different.
By
ANGIE MASON York Daily Record/Sunday News 02/16/2013
10:05:33 PM EST
The advisory committee looking
at the future of the York
City School
District
Ethics Board reassures Philadelphia
WHYY Newsworks By Dave
Davies February
20, 2013
The Philadelphia Ethics Board
has assured Mayor Nutter that standard philanthropic grants to city agencies
won't trigger reporting requirements under the city's lobbyist
registration law. Nutter hopes that will
chill out the William Penn Foundation and get it back into funding city parks,
recreation and library improvements.
As we reported last week, several city projects were
threatened when the foundation froze new grants to city-related agencies in
response to an education group's ethics complaint.
Parents United for Public
Schools argued that when William Penn hired the Boston Consulting Group to
advise the district on school closings and other issues, that amounted to
lobbying. The parents sought to force the foundation to file reports under the
lobbying disclosure law.
PPS: Planning a Privatization Scheme?
Around here, the acronym PPS
usually means “Pittsburgh Public Schools,” but now it might mean “Planning a
Privatization Scheme.” The district has hired two consulting companies to help
it craft an education plan that addresses equity issues for students and its
looming financial crisis. But it turns out those two companies – Bellwether and
FSG – support privatization of public schools. Hello? Who invited them to the
party?
Dr. Finn is a middle school language arts teacher in my school
district. He taught both of my
kids. Both of them will remember him as
one of those teachers who lit the fire in their bellies to love learning. Not something that gets measured on
standardized tests…..LAF
Paradigm Magazine February 20, 2013
Hey, Teach !!! — An Open Letter to America
Written by Jason Finn
Jason Finn, Ed.D., is a formerU.S.
Jason Finn, Ed.D., is a former
Pa. investigating alternative education
school in Bucks
Martha
Woodall, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER February 19, 2013 ,
8:47 PM
The Pennsylvania Department of
Education is investigating a Bala Cynwyd company's alternative-education
program in Bucks County
after finding a series of problems in the company's program in Reading Delaware
Valley High
School Montgomery
Counties
Capitol
Watch – An Update on state and federal policies affecting Pennsylvania
Corporate Greed Targets Public Schools in Philadelphia
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianerav February
18, 2013
Abetted by the example of Race
to the Top, as well as encouragement from the Gates Foundation, the William
Penn Foundation, and the rightwing Corbett administration in Harrisburg ,
the state-appointed School Reform Commission in Philadelphia
is poised
to close an unprecedented number of Philadelphia Philadelphia
Cui bono?
"For the first time in a few decades, the report has put the issue
of school funding equity front and center on the federal agenda," Linda
Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University education professor and commission
member told The Huffington Post. "The last major report on this was in the
Nixon era, and the situation has gotten much worse in recent decades."
Equity And Excellence Commission Report
Warns Of Failure To Right Unfair U.S.
Posted: 02/19/2013 7:10 pm
EST | Updated: 02/20/2013 10:00 am EST
Advocates have shouted about
inequalities in the U.S.
Today, a diverse group of 27
education experts, economists and civil-rights leaders convened by the U.S.
Education Department and with the support of the White House released a report recommending how to help remedy these problems.
The report was commissioned by a congressional appropriation written by Rep.
Michael Honda (D-Calif.). The Tuesday release comes one year after the report
was initially expected, and follows months of torturous meetings and squabbling
between union representatives and budget hawks.
“How long has this been going on? The Post notes a commission called for by President Nixon concluded as
long as property taxes fund local schools poor kids are condemned to an
education achievement gap. That was in 1972.”
Same Old School Woes
By John
Baer, Daily News Political
Columnist February
20, 2013 , 8:51 AM
A new report on the
long-standing education achievement gap in public schools released Tuesday in Washington
The Equity and Excellence
Commission, a 27-member panel created by Congress, says there's an urgent need
for change in the financing and management of urban schools such as Philadelphia
Federal Commission Urges Bold Steps to
Boost Education Equity
Education Week Politics K-12
Blog By Michele McNeil on February
19, 2013 3:02 PM
A federally appointed
education-equity commission is proposing a five-pronged agenda for states and
the federal government to help the 22 percent of children living in poverty and
eliminate what the commission calls a "staggering" achievement gap. Three years in the making, the new report
released today stems from a 2010 congressional directive to the U.S. Department
of Education, which created the Equity and Excellence Commission.
The report, called "For Each and Every Child: A Strategy
for Education Equity and Excellence", makes recommendations in
a number of areas:
Are
countries moving towards more equitable education systems?
OECD PISA
Ideally, school systems provide
high-quality educational opportunities for all students, irrespective of the
students’ backgrounds. students from socio-economically advantaged families and
those from disadvantaged families should be equally likely to succeed in
school. That is the ideal, anyway. In
most countries, the reality looks a lot different. PisA PisA
“The chance of a child ending up poor declines by 82 percent when
raised in a two-parent family.”
Obama's
Pre-School Plan Fails When Parents Fail
By LIZ PEEK, The
Fiscal Times February
19, 2013
Right-minded Americans agree:
every child, regardless of race or circumstance, deserves a shot at success.
The question is, how best to further that goal?
President Obama thinks the answer is universal pre-school. In his State of the Union address, he argued that investment in
early schooling pays off, boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy,
even cutting down on violent crime.” If only it were that simple.
Reducing School Tests Draws Support
in Texas
The Texas February 19, 2013
More than 100 witnesses signed up to testify before the House Public
Education Committee Tuesday in a hearing on student testing and graduation
requirements expected to go into the evening.
Students, parents and educators overwhelmingly spoke in support
of state Rep. Jimmie
Don Aycock's House Bill 5, arguing that the current system forces teachers
to teach to the test and stifles flexibility to provide career-orientated
courses.
"It is my opinion, and perhaps mine alone — I don't think so but
maybe — that our present system is overemphasizing testing," said Aycock,
the Killeen Republican who chairs the committee. "That it now interrupts
more education than it benefits."
“Only 17 percent of teachers and 22 percent
of principals are very confident that the Common Core
State
Half of America
Soda, candy out under USDA's
proposed school snack rules
The Hill By Elise Viebeck - 02/01/13 01:45 PM ET
The Obama administration proposed regulations Friday that would prohibit U.S.
In practice, the proposed rules would replace traditional potato chips
with baked versions and candy with granola. Regular soda is out, though
high-schoolers may have access to diet versions.
Whoo-Hoo! Occupy the Schools
Daily Censored By Susan Ohanian on February 19, 2013 9:29 pm
In response to a poverty rate that tops 90% in many urban and rural schools
–and 1.6 million homeless children—many in schools with no libraries–education
reformers at the White House, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the
National Governors Association call for a radical, untried curriculum overhaul
and two versions of nonstop national testing to measure whether teachers are
producing workers for the Global Economy.
They call this upheaval the Common
Core State
Sal Kahn on his famous online
academy
If you listen to folks such as Bill Gates and Al Gore
and Carlos Slim Helu talk about Salman Khan, it would be understandable if you
thought that the founder of the online Khan Academy
Education Policy and Leadership
Center
SUBJECT: Governor Corbett's Proposed
Education Budget for 2013-2014
"Southeastern Region Breakfast Series" Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Continental Breakfast - 8:00 a.m. Program - 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel - 201 North 17th St. , Philadelphia ,
PA 19103
SPEAKERS: An Overview of the Proposed 2013-2014 State Budget
and Education Issues Will Be Provided By:
Sharon Ward, The Pennsylvania Budget and
Policy Center
Ron Cowell, The Education Policy and Leadership
Center
State and Regional
Perspectives Will Be Provided By:
Mark B. Miller, School Director,Centennial School District
Mark B. Miller, School Director,
Joe Otto, Chief Operations Officer, William Penn
School District
Michael Churchill, Of Counsel, Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
Dr. Stephen D. Butz , Superintendent, Southeast Delco
School District
Dr. Stephen D. Butz
While there is no
registration fee, seating is limited and an RSVP is required.
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.
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.
Edcamp Philly 2013 at UPENN
May 18th, 2013
For those of you who have never gone to an
Edcamp before, please make a note of the unusual part of the morning where we
will build the schedule. Edcamp doesn’t believe in paying fancy people to come
and talk at you about teaching! At an Edcamp, the people attending – the participants
- facilitate sessions on teaching and learning! So Edcamp won’t
succeed without a whole bunch of you wanting to run a session of some kind!
What kinds of sessions might you run?
What: Edcamp Philly is an"unconference" devoted
to K-12 Education issues and ideas.
Where:University
of Pennsylvania
Where:
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