Daily postings from the Keystone State Education
Coalition now reach more than 3000 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school
directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers,
Governor's staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, 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 and searchable 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?
…the first
significant, bipartisan, bicameral bill on prekindergarten in over a decade
SB1085 gives unelected
charter school operators the power to spend school tax dollars without any
oversight or controls
Does Pa.
ABC27 WHTM By Dennis Owens Nov 13, 2013 5:47 PM EST
The final weeks of the legislative session are here,
and lots of advocates are feverishly working lawmakers at the Capitol with
last-minute requests for funding. But a
theme emerged on Wednesday that was unmistakable. In the morning, a report was released
suggesting Pennsylvania
An hour later in the Capitol Rotunda, Shippensburg University
"Teachers do not have the supplies that they
need because of budget cuts," lamented Rebecca Rohr, a Hershey native and
Shippensburg senior.
Two hours later, from the same spot in the
Rotunda, charter and cyber charter school students took to the microphone
to criticize a Senate bill that would reduce their funding by five percent.
Haverford
school board debates merits of Keystone Exams
By LOIS PUGLIONESI, Delco
Times Correspondent 11/13/13, 9:40 PM EST
HAVERFORD-School directors engaged in spirited
debate last week prior to voting 5-1 with one abstention to approve a
resolution opposing Keystone Exams as a high school graduation
requirement. School directors
Larry Feinberg, Denis Gray, Coleen Bennett, Russ Bilotta and Phil Hopkins voted
in favor of the resolution. Joe Martin voted no, and Kimberly Allen-Stuck
abstained. James Goldschmidt and Pat Giambuzzi were not present.
School Director Larry Feinberg introduced the measure, noting that the Independent Regulatory Review Commission is scheduled to vote Nov. 21 on regulations the state Department of Education approved regarding Pennsylvania Common Core Standards. Regulations include a requirement for students to demonstrate proficiency on Keystone exams in order to graduate.
School Director Larry Feinberg introduced the measure, noting that the Independent Regulatory Review Commission is scheduled to vote Nov. 21 on regulations the state Department of Education approved regarding Pennsylvania Common Core Standards. Regulations include a requirement for students to demonstrate proficiency on Keystone exams in order to graduate.
KATHY BOCCELLA, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER November 13, 2013 , 2:24 PM
Despite increased state spending, Pennsylvania
Fewer than 5 percent of children under 4 benefit
from high-quality care, which has been shown to boost cognitive development and
improve literacy and social skills, said the report, published by the nonprofit
Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20131114_Pa__group__Spend_more_on_pre-K.html#Ah4jbt6SXfedAh8X.99
PP4C: School
Readiness Report Finds PA Must Pick Up Pace of Early Learning Investments
Despite increased state investments this fiscal year
in Pre-K Counts, Head Start Supplemental Assistance and child care services,
tens of thousands of Pennsylvania
- Only
15.9 percent of all 3- and 4-year-olds in the commonwealth, or 47,158
children, have access to publicly funded pre-k programs like Head Start
and Pre-K Counts - a decline from 16.7 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds in
2012 and 17.6 percent in 2011.
- Fewer
than 1 in 20 children ages 0-4 benefit from high-quality child care, which
has been shown to boost cognitive development and improve literacy and
social skills.
- The
number of child care subsidy slots available to infants, toddlers and preschool-age
children has dropped by nearly 3,000 in the past year – falling to 38,936
slots from 41,844 – and more than 6,200 children are on waiting lists for
child care subsidy, with an average wait of nearly 20 weeks.
The report, along with county-level data tables, is
available at www.papartnerships.org/sr2013.
Who are the
educational reformers and why should anyone listen to them?
WHYY Newsworks Opinion BY EILEEN DIFRANCO NOVEMBER 13, 2013 ESSAYWORKS
Eileen
DiFranco is a writer, community volunteer, and a registered public school
nurse.
A cartoon is making the rounds on Facebook. An adult
stands holding a blank slate and asking the question, "And how much
experience do educational reformers have?" The scary answer is little to
none. Let's take look at some of the people
who would have the public believe that they know what is best for our children.
Dispatch From
Philadelphia
Colorlines by Julianne Hing November 13 2013 ,
7:00 AM EST
Othella Stanback could very well be a Philadelphia
“I want to be an FBI agent,” Stanback says, sitting
in the late afternoon on the steps of a local welfare office, where she’s come
to file paperwork. She has two young children—4-year-old Amor and 2-year-old
Amira—and while it’s been tough juggling school and parenting, her ambitions
have remained intact. “Or teach philosophy,” she says, ticking off her
potential careers. “Except I took one of those quiz things for college recently
and it told me the thing I’d be good at is organizing.” Of course, before
starting any of those careers, she needs to get into to college—and that’s where
the odds are stacked against her.
Lawmakers
need to pass charter school reform bill now: Ashley DeMauro
Patriot-News
Op-Ed By Ashley DeMauro on November 13, 2013
at 9:15 AM
Ashley
DeMauro is the state director for StudentsFirst, a pro-school choice group, in Pennsylvania
As the Pennsylvania General Assembly takes a hard
look at our public charter school system, it’s important to take a step back
and remember what this is all about: ensuring our students have schools that
prepare them to be successful in life. Unfortunately,
some schools aren’t serving kids the way they should be. While we continue to
identify ways to improve traditional public schools, we must also find ways to
ensure our system of public charter and cyber charter schools offers
high-quality options.
No insight on
tax hike in Pittsburgh
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh November 13, 2013 11:49 PM
The newly released 393-page preliminary budget for
Pittsburgh Public Schools has lots of data but no forecast for what the
property tax rate will be in 2014. School
Superintendent Linda Lane
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianeravitch November
13, 2013 //
The Pittsburgh Board of Education is
about to hire its first Teach for America recruits, young college graduates
with only five weeks of training. It appears to be ready to start with a small
number, but the number is likely to grow as the districts realizes savings by
letting senior teachers go and replacing them with entry-level teachers who are
unlikely to stay longer than two years. In the past, the district never hired
alternatively certified teachers.
PSBA’s New Governmental
Relations Director John Callahan, President Marcela Myers, incoming President
Rich Frerichs and previous Allwein Advocacy awardees Roberta Marcus and Larry
Feinberg made this presentation to Tina Viletto at Cheltenham ’s
school board meeting on Tuesday evening.
Cheltenham
School Board president honored with Pennsylvania School Boards Association's
Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award
By Jarreau Freeman jfreeman@montgomerynews.com
Thursday, November
14, 2013
When Cheltenham School Board President Tina Viletto
speaks about education, one can hear the passion in her voice. “I get very
upset when I hear people say children can’t succeed [in public schools] because
[in some cases], if they haven’t been provided the tools, you don’t even know
how they can blossom,” she said. Because
of her zeal for public education, there seemed to be little surprise among her
colleagues on the school board that she was the 2013 recipient of the
Pennsylvania School Boards Association Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award, which
was bestowed upon her at the PSBA School Leadership Conference in Hershey , Pa.
Pennsylvania
lawmakers, residents rally for 'In God We Trust' bill
But Republican leader
says bill is not being scheduled for a vote in the House.
By Steve
Esack, Call Harrisburg
Lawmakers and others loudly called for more
religious instruction in public schools despite the constitutional ban on
mixing church and state.
Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-in-god-we-trust-20131113,0,1315311.story#ixzz2kcHMpfA2
House and
Senate Preschool Bills: A Guide to the Latest Proposal
Education Week Campaign K-12 Blog By Alyson Klein on November
13, 2013 12:01 AM UPDATED
President Barack Obama's vision—outlined in
his State
of the Union address—to help states expand prekindergarten to a broad swath
of low- and moderate-income 4-year-olds would be realized under bipartisan
legislation slated to be released today on Capitol Hill.
The measure has bipartisan backing—it's being put
forth by the top Democrats in both chambers on education issues, along with one
Republican, Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y. But it would cost more than $30 billion
over its first five years and faces some major hurdles in a Congress consumed
with trimming spending. Still, the
legislation, written by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate
education committee, and Rep. George Miller, the top Democrat on the House
education committee, along with Hanna, is still worth a close look. If the
political landscape ever changes, the bill could help inform a major remaking
of the federal role in prekindergarten. Plus, this is the first significant,
bipartisan, bicameral bill on prekindergarten in over a decade—a pretty big
deal all in itself.
Harkin,
Senate Democrats Introduce Legislation to Expand Access to High-Quality Early
Learning Programs
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA),
Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP)
Committee—along with Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Robert P. Casey, Jr.
(D-PA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI),
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tim Kaine
(D-VA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Ron Wyden (D-OR)—today introduced theStrong
Start for America’s Children Act, legislation to expand access to
high-quality early learning programs for children from birth to age five.
Similar legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives
today by George Miller, senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce
Committee, and Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY).
Building on the framework put forward by President Obama in his 2013
State of the Union address, the bill focuses on four key goals: boosting
funding for high-quality preschool programs serving low- and moderate-income
families; increasing the quality of infant and toddler care offered by
providers; supporting broad-scale quality improvements to child care programs;
and encouraging continued support for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood
Home Visiting (MIECHV) program.
NSBA ISSUE
BRIEF: INVESTING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
National School Boards Association Office of
Advocacy August 2013
Research proves that quality early childhood
education programs help improve children’s school
readiness and can help close achievement gaps that
exist among children even before they enter school. Research also finds that children who
participate in high-quality programs demonstrate greater interest in learning,
are less likely to repeat a grade or require special education classes, and are
more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. States have
recognized the benefits of early childhood education and as many as 40 fund
preschool for three and four-year-olds. However, recent fiscal conditions
threaten to derail some of this progress.
Microsoft drops Stack
Ranking. Failed policy in Gates' business, so why are we using his ideas in
education?
Microsoft
kills employee-ranking system
CNN Money By Julianne Pepitone @julpepitone November
13, 2013: 12:08 PM ET
Microsoft is getting rid of its much-maligned
"stack ranking" method of reviewing employees. The system forced
managers to rate a certain percentage of workers as underperforming, no matter
what. The ranking system also
helped Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune
500) decide which top performers received promotions and bonuses. But
critics and former Microsoft employees alike have said the program pit staffers
against each other -- which hampered collaboration and put the focus on
internal, rather than external, competition.
Microsoft's new review program focuses on personal performance and
teamwork that benefits the company -- which means "no more curve" and
"no more rankings," according to an email that HR manager Lisa
Tremmel sent to global employees on Tuesday. Microsoft shared the email with
CNNMoney.
Tweet from Sen. Dominic Pileggi @SenatorPileggi3m
Here's a
directory of Pennsylvania
Congratulations! Getting
elected to the school board was the easy part…..
PSBA New
Board Member Training: Great Governance, Great Schools
November 2013-April 2014
November 2013-April 2014
Announcing School Board
Academy ’s New Board Member Training:
Great Governance, Great
Schools
You will need a wealth of information quickly as you
jump out of the starting block and hit the ground running as a newly elected
member of the board of school directors. New board members, as well as veterans
who might like a refresher, will want to make the most of the opportunity to
attend PSBA's New Board Member Training Program: Great Governance, Great Schools
EPLC is recruiting current undergraduate or graduate students to
serve as part-time interns
EPLC
is recruiting current undergraduate or graduate students to serve as
part-time interns beginning January or May of 2014 in the downtown Harrisburg Pennsylvania School Pennsylvania
Common
Core/Keystone Exams: The PA State Board of Education (Board) has submitted the
final-form regulation entitled “Academic Standards and Assessment."
The Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) plans to meet
and act on this regulation at our public meeting at 10:00 a.m. on
Thursday, November 21, 2013.
Regulation #6 – 326: Academic Standards
and Assessment
Amends existing regulations to
reflect Pennsylvania
The agenda and any changes to the time or date of
the meeting will be posted on IRRC’s Web site at www.irrc.state.pa.us.
Please note that any comments should be submitted to the Board prior to the
48-hour blackout period, which begins at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday,November
19, 2013. Please provide IRRC with a copy of any comments submitted, as
well. Please note that all correspondence and documents relating to a
regulation submitted to IRRC are a matter of public record and appear on IRRC’s
Web site.
For a copy of the regulation or if you have any
substantive questions regarding the regulation, please contact the Board
at (717) 787-3787.
You can also download the final-form regulation from IRRC’s Web site using the
following link:
The University
of Pittsburgh School
Pedro A. Noguera, PhD; Friday, November 15, 2013 ;
3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
David
Lawrence Hall, Room 121; 3942
Forbes Avenue , Pittsburgh
The event
is free and open to the public
Join us as we celebrate their accomplishments!
Tuesday,November
19, 2013 5:30 pm
- 8:30 pm WHYY, 150 North 6th Street , Philadelphia
Invitations coming soon!
Tuesday,
Invitations coming soon!
Register: http://tinyurl.com/m8emc4m
Building
One Pennsylvania November
21, 2013 6:00-8:00 PM
IBEW Local 380 3900 Ridge Pike Collegeville, PA
19426
Building One Pennsylvania is an emerging
statewide non-partisan organization of leaders from diverse sectors -
municipal, school, faith, business, labor and civic - who are joining together
to stabilize and revitalize their communities, revitalize local economies and
promote regional opportunity and sustainability. BuildingOnePa.org
The National School Boards Association 74th Annual
Conference & Exposition April 5-7, 2014 New Orleans
The
National School Boards Association 74th Annual Conference &
Exposition will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans , LA. New Orleans
General Session speakers include education advocates
Thomas L. Friedman, Sir Ken Robinson, as well as education innovators Nikhil
Goyal and Angela Maiers.
We have
more than 200 sessions planned! Colleagues from across the country will present
workshops on key topics with strategies and ideas to help your district. View
our Conference Brochure for highlights on sessions
and focus presentations.
- Register now! – Register for both the conference
and housing using our online system.
- Conference Information– Visit the NSBA conference
website for up-to-date information
- Hotel List and Map - Official NSBA Housing Block
- Exposition Campus – View new products and
services and interactive trade show floor
Questions? Contact NSBA at 800-950-6722 (NSBA) between
the hours of 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST.
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
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