Daily postings from the Keystone State Education
Coalition now reach more than 2650 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school
directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers,
Governor's staff, 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
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?
It’s been
a good summer for the Keystone State Education Coalition
Congratulations to Mark B Miller,
school director in Centennial School District , Co-Chair of Keystone
State Education Coalition and Vice
President of Pennsylvania
School
It’s been a
good summer for the Keystone State Education Coalition
In our
endeavors to better inform the public dialogue on Pennsylvania
education policy issues, it’s been a good summer for the Keystone State
We send to
more than 160 legislators and staffers; ask your state Rep, Senator and
Congressman if they are on the list.
We are sending
to over 100 members of the press.
If you are
new to the list please know that your comments, announcements and submissions
are welcome.
We may be
offline for a few days if a certain wife is successful in her efforts to get
someone “off that damn computer”…..
Thank you
all for your ongoing encouragement and enabling. Big thanks to KEYSEC co-chairs Mark Miller,
Shauna D’Alessandro, Lynn Foltz and Roberta Marcus.
Best,
LAF
SPECIAL EDUCATION FUNDING FORMULA COMMISSION MEETING
(Cost Categories in Special Education Funding)
Wednesday, August 7, 2013 9:30 AM
William Pitt Union Ballroom, University of Pittsburgh
Save the Date: Diane Ravitch will be
speaking in Philly at the Main Branch of the Philadelphia 7:30
pm ..
Diane Ravitch | Reign
of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's
Public Schools
When: Tuesday,September 17,
2013 at 7:30PM
Where: Central Library
Cost: $15 General Admission, $7 Students
Ticket and Subscription Packages
Tickets on sale here at 10:00 a.m. onAugust 23, 2013
When: Tuesday,
Where: Central Library
Cost: $15 General Admission, $7 Students
Ticket and Subscription Packages
Tickets on sale here at 10:00 a.m. on
State Revokes Charter of Pocono Mountain
Charter School
Philly teachers to
Corbett: 'We will not settle'
WHYY
Newsworks By Emma Jacobs, @ecjacobsJuly
30, 2013
Parents push back on new school report card
REGINA
MEDINA, Daily News Staff Writer medinar@phillynews.com, 215-854-5985 POSTED:
Tuesday, July 30,
2013 , 12:18 AM
DISTRICT OFFICIALS got more than they
bargained for during a meeting about a proposed new school report card last
night when parents and teachers unleashed their frustrations about the
district's status. The district announced recently that it would abandon the
School Performance Index and School Annual Reports as its usual indicators in
exchange for a system that is designed with the help of charter schools,
parents and community members. After the meeting, school nurse Eileen Duffey
summed it up: "When you get to these meetings, you find out there's a dual
purpose. It's presented as a report card for parents when it's really an eval
for corporations and corporate interest in turning over our schools. And for
closing our schools."
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130730_Parents_push_back_on_new_school_report_card.html#AXIBePsXmfL5shpM.99
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20130730_Parents_push_back_on_new_school_report_card.html#AXIBePsXmfL5shpM.99
Op-Ed: Pa.
Pottstown Mercury Opinion By Rep. John Galloway Guest columnist Tuesday, 07/30/13
“Some men see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.” —George Bernard Shaw
When I was a kid, I loved Bobby Kennedy. He is a big part of why I got involved in politics.
When I was a kid, I loved Bobby Kennedy. He is a big part of why I got involved in politics.
He used
Shaw’s quote several times to define why he cared so much. He cared for the
poor, the sick, and the elderly. And he was a champion for what he called America
One of the
first bills I started working on, after being sworn in almost eight years ago,
was a constitutional convention to fundamentally change the way we fund our
schools.
“As early
as 1st grade, factors such as reading below grade level or racking up more than
nine absences in a year can exponentially increase the odds that a students
will eventually drop out of school, according to Montgomery County
Dropout Indicators Found
for 1st Graders
Education Week By Sarah D.
Sparks Published
Online: July 29,
2013
As tracking
data on students grow ever more extensive, some Maryland
The
affluent and tech-savvy 149,000-student Montgomery County public schools, in a
suburb of Washington, is building one of the first early-warning systems in the
country that can identify red flags for 75 percent of future dropouts as early
as the second semester of 1st grade.
“While education has been
envisioned as the great equalizer, this promise has been more myth than
reality. Today, the achievement gap between the poor and the non-poor is twice
as large as the achievement gap between Black and White students.”
ETS Report: Poverty and Education: Finding the Way
Forward
By Richard
J. Coley, Educational Testing Service and Bruce Baker, Rutgers University
More than
one in five U.S. United States
Is Pisa
Published
in TES magazine on 26 July, 2013 |
By: William Stewart
They are the world’s most trusted education league tables. But academics
say the Programme for International Student Assessment rankings are based on a
‘profound conceptual error’. So should countries be basing reforms on them?
In less
than five months, the most influential set of education test results the world
has ever seen will be published. Leaders of the most powerful nations on Earth
will be waiting anxiously to find out how they have fared in the latest
Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa
Under Tony Bennett's
watch, GOP donor's school grade changed
JCOnline by
Tom LoBianco Associated Press July 30, 2013
Former
Indiana and current Florida
Read Tony Bennett's emails about changing
Christel House's grade
Jconline
July 29,2013
No moon: Perseid meteor
shower set to put on a great show before dawn August 12
You can expect to see up to 100 “shooting stars” per hour when 2013’s
best meteor shower peaks before dawn August 12.
Astronomy By Richard Talcott — Published: May 27, 2013
Yinzers - Save the Date: Diane
Ravitch will be speaking in Pittsburgh 6:00
pm . Location and details to
come.
Join the National School Boards
Action Center
Participate
in a voluntary network to urge your U.S.
Representatives and Senators to support federal legislation on Capitol Hill
that is critical to providing high quality education to America
Know Your Child’s Rights! 2013-2014 Special Education
Seminars
The Law Center Law Center
This year’s
topics include Tips for Going Back to School; Psychological Testing, IEEs and
Evaluations; School Records; Children with Autism; Transition Services;
Children with Emotional Needs; Discipline and Bullying; Charter Schools;
Children with Dyslexia; Extended School Year; Assistive Technology;
Discrimination and Compensatory Education; and, Settlements. See below for
descriptions and schedules of each session.
PSBA is accepting applications to fill vacancies in NSBA's grassroots
advocacy program. Deadline to apply is Sept. 6.
PSBA members: Influence
public education policy at the federal level; join NSBA's Federal Relations
Network
The
National School Boards Association is seeking school directors interested in
filling vacancies for the remainder of the 2013-14 term of the Federal
Relations Network. The FRN is NSBA's grassroots advocacy program that provides
the opportunity for school board members from every congressional district in
the country who are committed to public education to get involved in federal
advocacy. For more than 40 years, school board members have been lobbying for
public education on Capitol Hill as one unified voice through this program. If
you are a school director and willing to carry the public education message to Washington , D.C.
PSBA members will elect
officers electronically for the first time in 2013
PSBA 7/8/2013
Beginning
in 2013, PSBA members will follow a completely new election process which will
be done electronically during the month of September. The changes will have
several benefits, including greater membership engagement and no more absentee
ballot process.
Below is a
quick Q&A related to the voting process this year, with more details to
come in future issues of School Leader News and at
www.psba.org. More information on the overall governance changes can be found
in the February 2013 issue of the PSBA Bulletin:
2014 PSBA Officer Slate
of Candidates
PSBA website 7/24/2013
The 2014
PSBA Slate of Candidates is being officially published to the members of the
association. More details on each candidate, including bios, statements, photos
and video will be available soon online.
See more
at: http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=5861#sthash.uyC3nC24.dpuf
October 15-18, 2013 | Hershey Lodge & Convention Center
Important change this year: Delegate Assembly (replaces the
Legislative Policy Council) will be Tuesday Oct. 15 from 1 – 4:30 p.m.
The
PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference is the largest gathering of elected
officials in Pennsylvania
Registration:
https://www.psba.org/workshops/?workshop=17
The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, State College , PA
The state
conference is PAESSP’s premier professional development event for principals,
assistant principals and other educational leaders. Attending will enable you
to connect with fellow educators while learning from speakers and presenters
who are respected experts in educational leadership.
Featuring
Keynote Speakers: Charlotte Danielson, Dr. Todd Whitaker, Will Richardson &
David Andrews, Esq. (Legal Update).
EPLC
Education Policy Fellowship Program – Apply Now
Applications are available now for the 2013-2014 Education Policy
Fellowship Program (EPFP). The Education Policy Fellowship Program is
sponsored in Pennsylvania
With more than 350 graduates in its first
fourteen years, this Program is a premier professional development opportunity
for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and community
leaders. State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available to
certified public accountants.
Past participants include state policymakers,
district superintendents and principals, school business officers, school board
members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders,
education advocates, and other education and community leaders. Fellows
are typically sponsored by their employer or another organization.
The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day
retreat on September 12-13, 2013 and continues to graduation
in June 2014.
"They
don't feel they should be subject to this law, or, candidly, subject to
you," Mutchler told senators on the state government committee, which is
considering legislation to amend the five-year-old law. "They are a cancer
on the otherwise healthy right-to- know-law."
By Amy Worden, Inquirer Harrisburg
PA Charter Schools: $4
billion taxpayer dollars with no real oversight
Charter schools - public funding without public scrutiny