Daily postings from the Keystone State Education
Coalition now reach more than 3050 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?
…state increases have gone largely to pay for state-mandated
contributions to the pension system, not services for students. “The reality is that school districts opened
their doors this Sept 2013 with about $700 million less from the state in
support of academic programs and services for students than was the case in
Sept 2010”
SB1085 would create an 18-member Charter School
Funding Advisory Commission, consisting of the secretary of education; six
legislators, four of them from the majority party; and, appointed by the
governor, 11 representatives of charters, school districts, and a
university. ….the commission is not
bipartisan. Sixteen of the 18 members come from, or will be appointed by, the
majority party."
Prosecution
urges jury to convict in Dorothy June Brown fraud trial
MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 , 2:01 AM POSTED: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 ,
6:19 PM
A federal prosecutor Tuesday asked jurors in
the fraud trial of charter school founder Dorothy June Brown to recall the
testimony and evidence presented over 15 days.
In a three-hour closing argument, Assistant
U.S. Attorney Frank R. Costello highlighted the statements made by phantom
members of charter school boards, fabricated minutes for meetings that had
never occurred, and phony contracts with Brown's management firms - documents
that had been backdated, that no boards had ever approved, that contained
forged signatures.
SB1085:
Pa.
One of the relatively long-running state K-12
policy battles has been the fight over how to overhaul Pennsylvania Keystone State
Here’s the description and purpose of SB1085 in relatively clear
narrative
Senate
Appropriations Committee Fiscal Note for SB1085
Pennsylvania General Assembly
“From his point of view, Tim Eller, spokesman for the state
Department of Education, said state support of public schools has increased by
$1.17 billion since Mr. Corbett took office.
“Unfortunately, the AFT, as well as other traditional public education
establishment organizations, continues to misinform the public about the
governor’s record of education funding in Pennsylvania,” Mr. Eller said.
Ron Cowell, president of the Harrisburg-based Education Leadership
and Policy Council, who was not part of the National Day of Action event, said
in a phone interview, “I very much agree with those who argue that state
financial support to districts to support academic services for students has
been cut and cut substantially.”
He said state increases have gone largely to pay for state-mandated
contributions to the pension system, not services for students. “The reality is that school districts opened
their doors this September 2013 with about $700 million less from the state in
support of academic programs and services for students than was the case in
September 2010,” he said, noting that takes into account about $160 million of
lost funding that was restored.
He said the cuts had the biggest financial impact on the poorest
districts.”
Demonstrators
seek more education funds from state
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh December 9, 2013 11:43 PM
Who’s Crazy?
There were at least 117 people standing on a
downtown street corner yesterday in the freezing cold to tell Governor Corbett
what his budget cuts have done to our schools. Parents, students, teachers, and
community members stood shoulder to shoulder, huddled against the wind, while
speaker after speaker rattled off the devastation we’ve witnessed over the past
two years right here in Pittsburgh. The gutting of art, music, library,
tutoring, and other education programs. Increased class sizes. Cuts to sports,
activities, transportation, field trips, textbooks and supplies. School
closures. Hundreds of furloughed teachers.
Yet the Governor’s office says we must be
seeing things, since it claims to have increasedstate support for
public schools by $1.17 billion. [Post-Gazette,
12-10-13] So are we crazy?
After two years of devastating cuts, this
year’s budget did increase the “basic education” funding line (one of many
education funding categories) by 2%. But overall funding for public
schools remains far below where it was a few years ago. Compared to the 2010-11
budget – the year before Gov. Corbett’s historic attack on our schools – this
year’s budget is still short over $681 million. [See “Budget
Failure” for details.]
Updated
Pa. school report cards to be unveiled Wednesday
Bucks County Courier
Posted: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 6:35 pm | Updated: 7:54 pm , Tue Dec 10, 2013 .
The state has developed a formula-based method
of grading schools that replaces the former No Child Left Behind system and
assigns schools a rating on a 100-point scale.
In October, the state launched a website,paschoolperformance.org, to
showcase the new scores -- but school
reporting problems caused officials to withhold results for 626 schools, or
about one-fifth of Pennsylvania
The partial results made it difficult to make
any statewide findings about how schools were measuring up. The department also
limited temporarily several of the website's functions, including a tool to
compare up to four schools side by side and downloadable files to access
complete data sets.
The
perpetual funding crisis for Philly public schools
Philly.com By Chris Brennan
POSTED: December 06, 2013
THE PHILADELPHIA
School District
Nobody has more to gain or lose from that than
state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, an expected candidate in the Democratic
primary election and proponent of alternative options for students in failing
schools.
Consider the fuss this week from education
activists about pending state Senate legislation that would impact the
management of charter and "cyber" schools.
Nothing happened with the legislation -
Williams is the only Democratic co-sponsor - which is not expected to be acted
on until next year.
Pa.
board rejects proposed K-6 charter school in Duquesne
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh December 10, 2013 5:00 PM
The state Charter School Appeal Board today
rejected a proposed K-6 charter school in Duquesne on a 5-0 vote. The board voted today against a school that
had been proposed by Connie Lucas, who resigned from the Duquesne school board
to submit the application to the former state board of control that oversaw the
district. The board of control did not act on the request before it was
discontinued and a chief recovery officer was named for the district.
Governor
Corbett Congratulates Delaware County Educator for Earning Pennsylvania’s 2014
Teacher of the Year
PDE Press ReleaseDecember 09, 2013
Hershey – Governor Tom Corbett today announced Anthony Grisillo, a teacher in the Rose Tree Media School District, Delaware County, as Pennsylvania’s 2014 Teacher of the Year at the Keystone Awards of Excellence event in Hershey.
PDE Press Release
Hershey – Governor Tom Corbett today announced Anthony Grisillo, a teacher in the Rose Tree Media School District, Delaware County, as Pennsylvania’s 2014 Teacher of the Year at the Keystone Awards of Excellence event in Hershey.
“As a former teacher, I extend warm
congratulations to Anthony for achieving this significant honor. Anthony’s
ability to inspire creativity, encourage innovation and engage his students has
had a positive impact on all who have spent time in his classroom. Our children
deserve great teachers, and I appreciate all Pennsylvania
Martin
Schmotzer at center of Baldwin-Whitehall school controversy
Quit Baldwin-Whitehall board for paid job, then
reversed stand
By Janice Crompton / Pittsburgh December 10, 2013 11:42 PM
Martin Schmotzer is no stranger to Democratic
politics. He's served as a committee member, school board member in
Baldwin-Whitehall and even eight months as a state representative when Chelsa
Wagner resigned to become Allegheny
County
But now Mr. Schmotzer, 57, of Whitehall
At a special school board meeting Nov. 19, the
board accepted Mr. Schmotzer's resignation and promptly appointed him to a
newly created, $120,000-per-year position of supervisor of projects for the
school board and special assistant to the superintendent. They did so with no
public discussion or input, outraging residents who say the district can't
afford such a position, especially one that was never advertised or placed on
an agenda.
Second
Opinion: Power of PISA
Philly Daily News Editorial POSTED: Wednesday,
December 11,
2013 , 3:01 AM
THE standardized tests known as the Program
for International Student Assessment are considered so important that, when the
latest results were released last week, the U.S. Department of Education
participated in a so-called PISA Day. The
leaders of the nation's teachers unions immediately fired off news releases
asserting that the mediocre PISA U.S. U.S.
A saner interpretation of the PISA
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20131211_DN_Editorial__Second_Opinion__Power_of_PISA.html#yEQecDRmP1krckJG.99
“If we are committed to evidence, though, there's one area where we
ought to be able to agree: early-childhood education.”
WSJ:
Pre-K Education Is a Long-Term Winner
At $10,000 per child yearly, high-quality early
education is a bargain.
Wall Street Journal Opinion By AUSTAN GOOLSBEE
Dec. 8, 2013
(PAYWALL)
Most of us watching the looming budget
showdown do so with a sense of dread. The last one left congressional approval
at 9%, the president's popularity at a new low, and consumer confidence at levels
not seen since the 2008 financial crisis. The trouble, of course, is finding
common ground on a 10-year budget framework or even on a six-week punt.
Hopefully, they will find common ground.
“In the
majority of OECD countries, more than three quarters (79%) of 4-year olds
are enrolled in early childhood education programs. And according tothe report
on 2012 PISA
The
link between early childhood education and PISA
There’s an interesting connection between
early childhood education and the results released last week from the 2012
Program for International Student Assessment, on which American 15-year-old
students performed about average in reading, math and science among some 65
countries and school systems. Here to explain is Kris Perry ,
executive director of the First Five Years
Fund, a nonprofit organization that advocates for comprehensive,
high-quality early childhood education systems, programs and supports.
Budget
Deal Could Offer School Districts Relief from Sequestration
Education Week Politics K-12 Blog By Alyson Klein on December
10, 2013 8:45 PM
School districts would get some relief from
the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration under an agreement announced
Tuesday by a bipartisan pair of House and Senate negotiators.
The plan would
roll back most of the so-called sequester cuts for the next two years, leaving
the door open for federal lawmakers to boost spending on disadvantaged children
and students in special education. The
proposal, which was crafted by the top
budget lawmakers in each chamber, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would restore about 87 percent of total spending
on domestic discretionary programs, the giant category that includes education,
according to an analysis by Joel Packer, the executive director of the
Committee for Education Funding, a Washington lobbying coalition. The coalition
began trying to get rid of the sequester cuts to education programs even before
they were implemented last March.
"Obviously, this isn't the ideal
situation we'd hoped for, but to be honest, it's better than we could have
expected," Packer said
This
One Chart Shows Why Congress Needs to Step Up for Special Education
Want to see why Congress needs to step up for
special education? The chart below from NDD United shows how sequestration has cut the federal
share of special education funding to its lowest level in 12 years. That's a
result of Congress cutting $579
million from the Individuals
With Disabilies Education Act (IDEA) this year. Because education
funding is being cut, local schools are having an even a harder time providing
services for Individualized
Education Programs.
When Congress passed IDEA, it promised to pay for 40 percent of the extra cost of education for children with disabilities. But Congress has never fully funded IDEA and, as the chart shows, the situation is getting even worse. In fact, if nothing changes, sequestration will cause more cuts. It's time for you tell Congress that you've had enough. Join more than 3,000 other LD.org users in saying: No More Cuts!
When Congress passed IDEA, it promised to pay for 40 percent of the extra cost of education for children with disabilities. But Congress has never fully funded IDEA and, as the chart shows, the situation is getting even worse. In fact, if nothing changes, sequestration will cause more cuts. It's time for you tell Congress that you've had enough. Join more than 3,000 other LD.org users in saying: No More Cuts!
“A study of a million users of massive open online courses, known
as MOOCs,released this month by the University of
Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education found that, on average, only about
half of those who registered for a course ever viewed a lecture, and only about
4 percent completed the courses.”
After
Setbacks, Online Courses Are Rethought
New York Times By TAMAR LEWIN Published: December 10, 2013
Two years after a Stanford professor drew
160,000 students from around the globe to a free online course on artificial
intelligence, starting what was widely viewed as a revolution in higher
education, early results for such large-scale courses are disappointing,
forcing a rethinking of how college instruction can best use the Internet.
'Hour
of Code' Aims to Get Students Programming
Education Week Teaching Now Blog By Liana Heitin on December
10, 2013 10:59 AM
A new campaign for Computer Science Education Week is
attempting to get 10 million K-12 students to spend an hour learning how to
code.
According to Code.org,
a nonprofit founded by Ali and Hadi Partovi and the event's sponsor, 90 percent
of K-12 schools do not currently teach computer science. The "Hour of
Code" aims to raise awareness about the importance of computer programming
skills—and seemingly to make code-writing cool. A high-profile cast of
characters has come out to support the campaign, including President Barack
Obama, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, will.i.am, Ashton Kutcher, and Shakira. The
pump-you-up PSA is below. The Code.org
site has tutorials for drag-and-drop programming (for beginners as young as 6),
Javascript, Python, and app-building, among other coding skills. Microsoft
and Apple are offering in-person tutorials at their stores as well.
Chicago
Public Schools Adding Computer Science To Core Curriculum
Huffington Post No byline Posted: 12/10/2013
1:33 pm EST
The Chicago Public School district is
elevating computer science from an elective to part of its K-12 core curriculum
while simultaneously laying groundwork to become the first urban school
district in the nation to add the subject to its elementary core.
Components of the five-year plan include adding a
survey course in computer science to every CPS high school (at least half of
which will ultimately offer AP Computer Science); creating a computer science
pathway for elementary students (K-8) and allowing computer science to count as
a graduation requirement, potentially for subjects like math, science or
foreign language.
CPS is getting the new computer science curriculum as well as
professional development for staff free of charge thanks to a
partnership with the non-profit group, code.org, the Tribune reports.
New Orleans led the nation last year as the
city with the greatest percentage of students enrolled in public charter
schools, followed by Detroit and the
District of Columbia, according to a new survey released Tuesday by the National Alliance
for Public Charter Schools.
According to the non-profit organization, 79
percent of public school students in New Orleans attended charters in the last
school year, followed by 51 percent in Detroit, 43 percent in D.C., 36 percent
each in Flint, Mich. and Kansas City, Mo. and 35 percent in Gary, Ind.
The school district with the largest number of
students enrolled in public charter schools was Los Angeles L.A. was followed by New York , Philadelphia , Detroit and Chicago
2014
PA Gubernatorial Candidate Plans for Education and Arts/Culture in PA
Education
Policy and Leadership
Center
Below is an alphabetical list of the 2014 Gubernatorial Candidates and
links to information about their plans, if elected, for education and
arts/culture in Pennsylvania
PBPC Webinar: Investing
in a 'Thorough and Efficient System of Education'
What It Will Take and How to Get There
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy
Center
What It Will Take and How to Get There
Join our
next webinar on Thursday, December 12 at 12 p.m.
The only
service that Pennsylvania
Join our
next webinar on Thursday, December 12 at 12 p.m. to hear the latest from
experts on school funding and to find out what parents, teachers, and all
Pennsylvanians can do to fully fund our schools and ensure that every child can
be successful after graduation.
Parents as Advocates
for Children and Education -
EPLC "Focus on Education" TV Program on PCN - December 11th at 9 p.m.
EPLC "Focus on Education" TV Program on PCN - December 11th at 9 p.m.
Tomorrow, Wednesday,
December 11, tune in to the re-airing of the EPLC's Parents as
Education Advocates episode of its "Focus on Education"
series, which
will air at 9:00 p.m. on PCN television. This
very successful show initially aired in September. The panel
included:
- Ron Cowell, President of The
Education Policy and
- Corinna Vecsey Wilson, PCN Host
of the "Focus on Education" programs;
- Deborah Dunstone, President,
- Sylvia P. Simms, Founder and
President of PARENT POWER and Commissioner, School Reform Commission, The
- Bonita Allen, Former Member,
- Kurt A. Kondrich, M.Ed., Chair,
EPLC and PA
Cable Network (PCN) have partnered for a monthly program focusing on education
issues in Pennsylvania
Recordings
of all past episodes are available on the PCN web site.
PA SPECIAL
EDUCATION FUNDING FORMULA COMMISSION
Public
Meeting, 12/11/2013 ,
10:00 AM Hearing Room 1, North Office
Building
Public hearing to consider final recommendations and release
final report)
FEBRUARY 1ST, 2014
The DCIU Google Symposium is an opportunity for teachers,
administrators, technology directors, and other school stakeholders to come
together and explore the power of Google Apps for Education. The
Symposium will be held at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit. The
Delaware County Intermediate Unit is one of Pennsylvania
NPE National Conference
2014
The Network for Public Education November 24, 2013
The Network for Public Education is pleased to announce our
first National Conference. The event will take place on March 1 & 2, 2014
(the weekend prior to the world-famous South by Southwest Festival) at The University of Texas
at Austin
In the coming weeks, we
will release more details. In the meantime, make your travel plans and click
this link and submit your email address to receive updates about the NPE
National Conference 2014.
Congratulations! Getting elected to the school
board was the easy part…..
PSBA New Board Member Training: Great Governance, Great Schools
November 2013-April 2014
Register
Online »
Print
Form »
November 2013-April 2014
Register
Online » Print
Form »
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
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
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
Education is a sole of the society it transfer from one generation to another one. For a best shares all the one can choose the blog article for next generation. For more details just click here .
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