Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1900
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.
The Keystone State Education Coalition is
pleased to be listed among the friends and allies of The Network for Public
Education. Are you a
member?
These daily
emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
In Camden, let them eat
computers; Oh Atlanta; Glenn Beck: Common Core a Chinese-Muslim Conspiracy
Help spread
the message of the PA School Funding Campaign for the 2013-2014
State Budget:
http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2013/03/help-spread-message-of-pennsylvania.html
“A
student receiving speech services at Washington School District for one
30-minute session per week costs $569 while, for the same time in a
cyberschool, the cost is $8,461.”
Cost, outcome of cybereducation
questioned by Washington
By Christie
Campbell Staff Writer chriscam@observer-reporter.com
publishedmar 29,
2013 at 11:23 pm
(updated mar 29,
2013 at 11:23 pm )
published
By attaching her computer mouse to an oscillating fan, one cyberschool
student was able to pretend she was working on her computer throughout the
school day. That admission, to the
cyberschool coordinator for Washington
School District , is just one reason
why the district is questioning the effectiveness and accountability of charter
and cyberschools in Pennsylvania
In the past five years, the district has spent $1.9 million in tuition so
that 60 to 65 students could enroll in cyberschools. At the same time, there is little to show
that those students were receiving a good education. In fact, attempts by
administrators to get attendance and progress reports, as well as notification
when a student dropped out of a cyberschool, were met with a “cease and desist”
letter from an attorney for the Pennsylvania
Cyber Charter
School
Our take: Time for charter school
reform
The governor and state lawmakers have a pretty crowded agenda up there in
Harrisburg, with pension reform, lottery and liquor store privatization and a
number of other issues, but one thing state leaders really need to accomplish
this year is reform of the charter school system in Pennsylvania. From funding to authorization and
accountability, lawmakers need to get a better handle on this burgeoning sector
of public education.
“In Part
I of this series I spelled out how Gureghian, the charter school
magnate, has spread campaign money around Pennsylvania Pennsylvania
According toNew Jersey election records,
Gureghian has been donating money to New
Jersey
According to
This Monday, Governor Chris Christie and Education Commissioner Chris
Cerf announced that they were going to disenfranchise the Camden Board of
Education and take
direct control of the city's schools. One of the most interesting
aspects of the story was how little outcry there was from the region's
Democratic politicians against a Republican governor taking over Camden
Here’s
a link to our continuing posting on Mr. Gureghian
http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/06/follow-money-contributions-by-vahan.html
Philly: The District’s budget: Key
facts and figures
The notebook by Paul Socolar on Mar 29 2013 Posted in Latest news
The School Reform Commission adopted a $2.66 billion “lump-sum
budget” Thursday evening. The lump-sum budget provides overall projections
for revenue, expenses, and any surplus or deficit, but does not include a
detailed breakdown. The detailed budget typically comes in late April and must
be adopted by May 31. From the budget
and Thursday's presentation by
District staff, here are some key numbers on this year and how officials
propose to close a huge gap for next year.
SHARING OUR INQUIRIES – MARCH 23-30 By Mike Johanek
Have you heard the one about the
Finnish extrovert? Part I
Have you heard the one about the Finnish extrovert? He looks down
at the other person’s shoes when he speaks. I first heard that joke told about physicists
some years ago. I just heard it again on Wednesday from a Finnish
education expert during our visit at the Helsinki Normal Lyceum.
What does this have to do with our group inquiry into
Finnish education?
Education Policy and Leadership Center March 28, 2013
Wondering what the average salary is for a teacher in your school district?
Wondering how much your child's teacher gets paid? You can find out using the
search option below. Enter information in any of the fields to carry out
a search. You do not have to fill out all the fields in order to search.
Updated: 7:55 p.m. Friday, March 29, 2013 | Posted: 9:56 a.m. Friday, March 29, 2013
Former APS Superintendent Beverly
Hall indicted
The Atlanta
Former Atlanta
Ex-Schools Chief in Atlanta
New York Times By MICHAEL WINERIP Published: March 29, 2013
During his 35 years as a Georgia state investigator, Richard Hyde has
persuaded all sorts of criminals — corrupt judges, drug dealers, money
launderers, racketeers — to turn state’s evidence, but until Jackie Parks, he
had never tried to flip an elementary school teacher.
It worked. In the fall of 2010,
Ms. Parks, a third-grade teacher at Venetian Hills Elementary School in
southwest Atlanta
Atlanta’s former schools chief
charged under law used against Mafia
In 2009, Beverly Hall was tapped as the
National Superintendent of the Year, hailed for driving up standardized test
scores in the Atlanta Public Schools and turning the system “into a model of
urban school reform. But the scores were
illusory, and Hall was just
indicted under a law used against Mafia leaders, charged with leading
a “corrupt” organization in which students’ standardized test scores were used
to reward or punish teachers. Yes, a law
used against members of the
Gambino crime family is being used against educators and school
administrators in a test-cheating scandal.
School board legislation gains new
support in the U.S.
NSBA School Board News Today by Joetta Sack-Min March 29th, 2013
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has signed on to the Local School Board Governance and Flexibility Act, a measure
proposed by the National School Boards Association (NSBA). The bill, H.R. 1386, is designed to
protect local school district governance from unnecessary and
counter-productive federal intrusion from the U.S. Department of Education.
The bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 21
by Reps. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) and Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) It is now cosponsored
by Reps. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Ron Kind (D-Wis.), and David Valadao
(R-Calif.).
NSBA is now seeking an original sponsor for the legislation in the
Senate, and it is urging school board members to contact their members of
Congress to support the bill while the lawmakers are in their home districts
next week.
National School Board group seeks
curbs on U.S. Ed Secretary
SI&A Cabinet Report By Tom Chorneau Thursday,March 28, 2013
The National School Boards Association and its 90,000 members are sponsoring legislation aimed at curbing the authority of the U.S. Secretary of Education – an outgrowth likely stemming from the group’s chilly relationship with the Obama administration during the president’s first term.
SI&A Cabinet Report By Tom Chorneau Thursday,
The National School Boards Association and its 90,000 members are sponsoring legislation aimed at curbing the authority of the U.S. Secretary of Education – an outgrowth likely stemming from the group’s chilly relationship with the Obama administration during the president’s first term.
HR 1386 by Congressmen Aaron Schock, R-Illinois and Patrick Meehan,
R-Pennsylvania would prohibit the U.S. Department of Education from adopting
any new regulations, rules or grant requirements without first offering the
education community 60 days to provide written comments.
The bill would also restrict the education secretary from taking any new
regulatory action that would conflict with the “power and authority” of local
educational agencies or would add additional costs not supported by federal
funding.
“A lot of the policies of the department have just been stepping over the
authority of a locally-elected school board to make decisions that are in the
best interest of their community and students,” said Erika Hoffman, legislative
advocate for the California School Boards Association.
Key education activists protesting
in D.C. next week
Education activists opposed to corporate-based school reform are
converging on Washington D.C.
The four-day event — to be attended by teachers, students, parents and
others — will start on April 4th and include a march to the White House in an
effort to get the attention of President Obama, who has been a big
disappointment to people who thought he would push progressive school reform
policies. Instead, his Education Department has pushed a corporate-based reform
agenda that includes an accountability system based on standardized tests —
against the advice of assessment experts — and initiatives that have fueled the
privatization of public education and attacks on teachers.
Vouchers Don’t Work: Evidence from Milwaukee
Diane Ravitch’s Blog by Diane Ravitch March 29, 2013
Now that 17 states have authorized vouchers to “save kids from failing
schools,” it is time to review the evidence from Milwaukee
The “independent evaluator” of the Milwaukee
and D.C. voucher programs is Patrick J. Wolf of the University of Arkansas Minnesota
needs more school choice because it was in danger of falling behind Arkansas University of Arkansas is generously funded by Arkansas
Dirksen Congressional Center's
COMMUNICATOR UPDATE: March 2013
Welcome to The Dirksen Congressional Center's “reformatted”
Communicator–a web-based e-newsletter providing educators with news and ideas
to improve the understanding of Congress:http://www.webcommunicator.org.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Highlights from
The Center’s Web Suite
- New at Congress
for Kids
- Highlights
from The Dirksen Congressional Center
- More
Information About Congress
- Congressional
Humor
From
the “you can’t make this stuff up” department…….
“It’s all going to happen, Beck said, thanks
to a devious indoctrination program operating in America today, by which
he means the
Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCS). “
Glenn Beck: Education standards are
a Chinese-Muslim conspiracy
By Stephen C. Webster Friday, March 29, 2013 13:10 EDT
Conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck warned viewers of his Internet channel
Thursday night that a set of public education standards encouraging math and
language development is actually a massive global conspiracy designed to help
the Chinese and, somehow, Muslims, take over the United States China China
Education
Voters PA ACTION ALERT – Call to action day April 10th
Mark your calendar for the next Call to
Action Day on Wednesday April 10th - where thousands of Pennsylvanians
will take 10 minutes to call their State Senators and House members.
Read more: http://educationvoterspa.blogspot.com/2013/03/time-for-fair-and-meaningful-ed-funding.html
PENN-FINN LEARNINGS 2013: SHARING
OUR INQUIRIES – MARCH 23-30
A group from the Penn Graduate School of Education is visiting Finland
PSBA opens nominations for the
Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award
PSBA website 3/15/2013
The nomination process is now open and applications will be accepted
until June 21,
2013 .
In 2011, PSBA created a new award to honor the memory of its long-term
chief lobbyist, who died unexpectedly. The Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award
may be presented annually to the individual school director or entire school
board to recognize outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on
behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions
in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. The nomination process is
now open and applications will be accepted until June 21, 2013 . The award will be
presented during the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference in October.
PSBA officer applications due April
30
PSBA’s website 2/15/2013
Candidates seeking election to PSBA officer posts in 2014 must file an
expression of interest for the office desired to be interviewed by the PSBA
Leadership Development Committee.
This new committee replaces the former Nominations Committee. Deadline
for filing is April 30. The application shall be marked received at
PSBA headquarters or mailed first class and postmarked by the deadline to be
considered timely filed. Expression of interest forms can be found online
at www.psba.org/about/psba/board-of-directors/officers/electing-officers.asp.
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:
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.