Daily postings from the Keystone State
Education Coalition now reach more than 3250 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?
Keystone State Education Coalition
Pennsylvania Education Policy Roundup
for March 26, 2014:
NY Times & Philly Inquirer
Editorials - Testing is not teaching; is it a runaway train?
New York Times Editorial: The Trouble
With Testing Mania
New
York Times By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Published:
July 13, 2013
Congress
made a sensible decision a decade ago when it required the states to administer
yearly tests to public school students in exchange for federal education aid.
The theory behind the No Child Left Behind Act was that holding schools
accountable for test scores would force them to improve instruction for groups of
children whom they had historically shortchanged.
Testing
did spur some progress in student performance. But it has become clear to us
over time that testing was being overemphasized — and misused — in schools that
were substituting test preparation for instruction. Even though test-driven
reforms were helpful in the beginning, it is now clear that they will never
bring this country’s schools up to par with those of the high-performing
nations that have left us far behind in math, science and even literacy
instruction.
Inquirer Editorial: Take emphasis off state tests
POSTED: Tuesday,
March 25, 2014, 1:08 AM
Parents
are right to protest the oversize emphasis placed on the Pennsylvania System of
School Assessment exams when so many schools are poorly funded. Robin Roberts says her three children won't
be taking the PSSAs with the rest of the students at Philadelphia's C.W. Henry
Elementary School. "If it's so important for us to do well on these tests,
why are they not setting us up to succeed?" asked Roberts. It's a good question. You can't expect much
success on standardized tests when students don't even have basic supplies. The
Philadelphia School District is still operating with a deficit. A fund-raising
drive was held just to provide pens, crayons, and paper to students. The state allows students to opt out of the
PSSAs for religious reasons. But if enough parents follow Roberts' example,
maybe Gov. Corbett and the legislature will make it a higher priority to
increase funding not just for Philadelphia, but for schools across the state.
Fed Ed's testing tyrants
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Opinion By Michelle Malkin Sunday, March 23, 2014, 9:00 p.m.
Have you had enough of
the testing tyranny? Join the club.
I'm not against all
standardized academic tests. The problem is that there are too many of these
top-down assessments, measuring who knows what, using our children as guinea
pigs and cash cows. College-bound
students in Orange County , Fla.
Now pile on the latest
avalanche of federal pilot testing schemes tied to the Common Core racket. When
they're not preoccupied with getting ready for existing tests, including the
ACT, PSAT, revamped SAT, American kids will be busy testing new tests. And
because Common Core mandates computerized administration and because the tests
incorporate bandwidth-hogging videos and graphics, school districts across the
country must spend gobs of time and money on test preparation.
Resistance to standardized
testing growing nationwide
Washington Post Answer
Sheet Blog BY VALERIE
STRAUSS March 25 at
3:39 pm
Every week a nonprofit
organization called the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, which is
dedicated to ending the misuse and abuse of standardized testing (and is better
known as FairTest) sends out an e-mail with a list of stories from
around the country about resistance to high-stakes tests among teachers,
students and parents. This week’s blast — which includes stories from New York , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Illinois , Alaska , Delaware , Maryland , New Jersey , New Mexico , Pennsylvania and Massachusetts
–makes an important point, saying:
Anyone who still
believes that the resistance to testing misuse and overuse is confined to a few
big cities and “liberal” activists, should click through this week’s news
clips. In fact, testing protests are spreading across “deep red” states” such
as Alaska , Tennessee ,
Texas and Utah . And “conservative” commentators are
speaking out against standardized exam overkill.
March 24-31 Call Congress and Demand
Hearings on Abusive Testing #TESTHearingsNow
The
Network for Public Education
On
March 2, 2014, The Network for Public Education issued a call for congressional
hearings into the overuse and abuse of tests in our schools. Will Your Senator or Representative Join Us?
First,
call your Representatives and Senators during the week of March 24, 2014 and
ask them to hold formal Congressional Hearings into the overuse and abuse of
tests in our schools! You
can find the contact information for your Senators and Representatives here!!
Testing Resistance & Reform
News: March 19 - 25, 2014
Fairtest - The National Center for Fair and Open Testing March
25, 2014
Anyone who still believes that the resistance to testing misuse
and overuse is confined to a few big cities and "liberal" activists,
should click through this week's news clips. In fact, testing protests are
spreading across "deep red" states" such as Alaska ,
Tennessee , Texas
and Utah . And
"conservative" commentators are speaking out against standardized
exam overkill.
A closer look at the
District's legal argument to the Pa. Supreme Court
the notebook by Paul
Socolar on Mar 24 2014
School District lawyers,
in their Monday petition to
the state Supreme Court, argue that by law they do not have to negotiate with
the teachers' union on such issues as hiring practices, layoffs, prep
time, and contracting out. The
state takeover law exempts these "non-mandatory"
areas from collective bargaining, the lawyers say. They ask the court to
affirm that the District can unilaterally implement new rules and
practices in those areas, even while continuing to bargain with the
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers on other contract issues. The PFT plans to fight this argument in
court.
Panel to monitor Coatesville
schools
The Pa. Human Relations Commission says it
will check the district after the texting scandal.
MICHAELLE BOND, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER POSTED: Tuesday,
March 25, 2014, 1:08 AM
The state's civil rights
commission will be monitoring the Coatesville Area School District to make sure
it keeps its promises to be more transparent and equitable in the wake of the
texting scandal that showed the district needs help being both, the commission
said in a report Monday.
The Pennsylvania Human Relations
Commission, which has been in touch periodically with district administrators
since September, recommended the district hold more cultural events for
students and the community, use social media and other means to communicate
with district residents, and hire someone solely to make sure the district
treats everyone equally.
Spring-Ford gets update on
Spring City hybrid learning initiative
By Frank
Otto, The Mercury POSTED: 03/24/14, 5:54 PM EDT |
LIMERICK — Well into year two of Spring City Elementary
School’s re-branding as a hybrid learning center, its principal and staff
provided the Spring-Ford Area School Board with a glowing look into the efforts
there. “When we looked at the group in
third grade, prior to the hybrid model, to now, with the hybrid model, we saw
increases in both literacy and math,” in the last year, said Spring-Ford
Director of Curriculum Keith Floyd. “Off the top of my head, we had a 23 percent
growth in our students moving from either below basic, basic, or proficient
into the advanced range in mathematics from that third and fourth grade
year...so we are seeing increases across the achievement levels.” Such growth seems to be typical at Spring
City and three teachers as well as the school’s principal, Mitchel Edmunds,
turned out to the board workshop meeting last week to express their
satisfaction with the new education style.
Maximum tax hike allowed
would come up short, district officials say.
By Margie Peterson, Special to The Morning Call 11:26 p.m.
EDT, March 25, 2014
The latest budget calculations call for using as much as $4.5
million of the district's $23 million fund balance to help plug the budget gap,
according to John Vignone, director of business administration.
School directors say
Strong Foundation's curriculum was same as the district's.
By Jacqueline Palochko, Of The Morning Call 10:38 p.m.
EDT, March 25, 2014
The Easton Area School Board denied an application for a
charter school because its curriculum was not different than what the school
district offers, school directors said. The
board rejected the Strong
Foundation Charter
School Strong Foundation
Charter School
By rch
25, 2014 at 10:06 PM
Saucon
Valley School District Superintendent Sandra
Fellin is recommending a zero
tax increase budget for the sixth year in a row. Tonight, Fellin updated the board on her
efforts to bridge a $450,004 budget gap. Thanks to more accurate budget figures,
the hole in the $41.6 million spending plan has been reduced to $144,931, she
said. Fellin told the board she wants to
not replace two retiring teachers - one from the elementary and one from the
middle school - and tap the district savings account to balance the
budget. "(That's) six years in a
row without cutting programs and supporting the district as we always
have," said Fellin, who plans to retire this summer.
Quakertown starting full-day
kindergarten for at-risk kids
Bucks County Intelligencer
The kindergarten registration period, from April 7 to April 10,
is for district children who are 5 or who turn 5 on or before Aug. 31. The
registration process begins by making an appointment either through the
district’s website —http://www.qcsd.org/Page/292 — or by calling 215-529-2023. While a parent or guardian is busy filling
out paperwork, a group of elementary teachers will pre-screen the child for
full-day kindergarten, designed to help those who need more than a half-day of
instruction. “We have numerous students
who move on to first grade who aren’t ready for first grade,” interim
Superintendent William Harner said, adding full-day kindergarten will be
offered in communities showing the greatest need. The program is voluntary, and
offered at no cost. Busing also is provided.
Because Quakertown Borough has the district’s largest population of
low-income families, school officials predict that one full-day kindergarten
class will be at Quakertown
Elementary School
Cyber charter schools competing
for students
Scranton TImes-Tribune
BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL (STAFF WRITER) March 16, 2014
Each morning, Ricky
Molner walks down the stairs of his Blakely home to his father's real estate
office. The high school junior sits down in a quiet corner and opens his
laptop. It's time for school. Ricky is one of a growing number of students
leaving traditional school settings in search of flexibility. More than 2,800
students from Lackawanna , Luzerne, Monroe, Pike,
Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming
counties were enrolled in cyber charter schools in the 2012-13 school year,
according to the latest state data. The
total number of area cyber charter school students is larger than the student
population at more than half the districts in the region, including Valley View,
where Ricky would attend if he was not enrolled in Commonwealth Connections
Academy.
Can Lawyers Save Philly’s
Schools? Bill Fedullo Thinks So.
Chancellor of the Philly Bar talks about equal education and why law
firms need to sponsor public schools.
Bill Fedullo isn’t necessarily anybody’s idea to be the
savior of Philly schools. He’s an attorney, one of the city’s best-known and
most-powerful — and in
January,he was inaugurated as chancellor of the 13,0000-member
Philadelphia Bar Association. But it’s from that perch that he’s made
saving city schools a priority. He
talked with Philly Mag recently about why he has undertaken the crusade and
what lawyers can do to support public schools.
Penn Alumni in the Fight for Philly's Schools
The Pennsylvania Gazette
27 Feb 2014
BY TREY POPP with
additional reporting by Dave Zeitlin | Photography by Candace diCarlo
From the mayor’s desk to the
principal’s office, from grassroots parent activists to teachers aiming to
transform instruction and assessment, from the superintendent’s seat to a
boldly reimagined vocational academy, here are the stories of Penn alumni
trying to carry out the increasingly embattled mission of public education in
Philadelphia.
PIAA boss Lombardi doesn't
think charter schools belong in sports business
….."We're going to
address charter schools," he said. "We've been asked by the state's
oversight committee to address charter schools at an upcoming meeting. We think
they are a problem. And the problem is that the public schools have to fund
them. Public schools have to fund their own athletic program and then another
athletic program and sometimes they have to compete against the same school
they're funding." Lombardi believes
that charter schools should not be in the sports business. "Those kids should be playing at their
public school of residence, the same as the home-schoolers and it's equal
treatment," Lombardi said. "I don't know where it's going to go. The
legislature's athletic oversight committee will have a hearing coming up and
they've asked us to be a part of that. We welcome a seat at the table to have
that discussion."
MARCH 24, 2014 STEPHANIE BANCHERO WALL STREET
Journal (paywall)
Open the floodgates? Indiana
becomes first state to scrap Common Core
FoxNews.com Published March 25, 2014
INDIANAPOLIS
– Indiana has become
the first of 45 states to opt out of the national education standard known as
Common Core, and critics of the controversial K-12 program say the move could
"open the floodgates" for others to follow. Growing criticism over costs imposed by the
program, as well as fears that by setting a national education standard, the
program has already begun dictating curriculum, has made Common Core an
increasingly polarizing issue. Although the program has both Republican and Democrat
supporters, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence predicted his state will be the first of
many to rethink participation. "I
believe when we reach the end of this process there are going to be many other
states around the country that will take a hard look at the way Indiana has
taken a step back, designed our own standards and done it in a way where we
drew on educators, we drew on citizens, we drew on parents and developed
standards that meet the needs of our people," Pence said.
“There’s kind of a belief in a town like Montclair that the
more we test, the more we can be sure that our teachers are delivering a
quality curriculum,” says Michelle Fine, a City University of New York
psychology professor who is a member of the parent group Montclair Cares About Schools.
“I think that’s magical thinking.”
More than a dozen states are
trying out new tests meant to free school kids from the tyranny of
multiple-choice exams
Aljazeera America by @neildemause March 25, 2014 6:30AM ET
Trying
to Close a Knowledge Gap, Word by Word
New York Times By MOTOKO RICH MARCH 25, 2014
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Amid a political push for government-funded preschool
for 4-year-olds, a growing number of experts fear that such programs actually
start too late for the children most at risk. That is why Deisy
Ixcuna-González, the 16-month-old daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, is wearing
a tiny recorder that captures every word she hears and utters inside her
family’s cramped apartment one day a week. Recent research shows that brain development is
buoyed by continuous interaction with parents and caregivers from birth, and
that even before age 2, the children of the wealthy know more words than do
those of the poor. So the recorder acts as a tool for instructing Deisy’s
parents on how to turn even a visit to the kitchen into a language lesson. It
is part of an ambitious campaign, known as Providence Talks, that is aimed at
the city’s poorest residents and intended to reduce the knowledge gap long
before school starts. It is among a number of such efforts being undertaken
throughout the country.
The new extremists in
education debate
Washington Post Answer Sheet blog BY VALERIE STRAUSS March
25 at 7:00 am
A member of the Ohio House of Representatives, Republican Rep.
Andrew Brenner, wrote a
post on his blogunder this headline: “Public education in America is
socialism, what is the solution?” He wrote in part: Parents send their children to public schools
throughout the United States, to school districts funded by taxation. Most of
the tax revenue comes through property and income taxes, which are funded
through a combination of local tax levies, as well as state and federal tax
dollars. Public school districts are governed by local school boards, state
school boards, combined with various state and federal regulations. Socialism,
defined on Wikipedia, “is a social and economic
system characterized by social ownership of the means of production
and co-operative management of the economy.” That seems to summarize our
primary education system. Public education in America is
socialism. It is owned and cooperatively managed by the public. The shocking thing isn’t that Brenner doesn’t
understand democracy or socialism. It’s that there are plenty of other people
too, as Jeff Bryant explains in this post, who won’t seem to believe in
allowing public education to be democratically governed.
Understanding the Propaganda
Campaign Against Public Education
Moyers & Company March 25, 2014 by Diane Ravitch
This post first appeared on Diane Ravitch’s blog. She will be appearing on Moyers
& Company this weekend.
A few years ago, when I was blogging at Education Week with
Deborah Meier, a reader introduced the term FUD. I had never heard of it. It is
a marketing technique used in business and politics to harm your competition.
FUD stands for Fear,
Uncertainty and Doubt. The reader said that those who were trying to create
a market-based system to replace public education were using FUD to undermine
public confidence in public education. They were selling the false narrative
that our public schools are obsolete and failing. This insight inspired me to write Reign of Error, to show that the “reform” narrative
is a fraud. Test scores on NAEP are at their highest point in history for white,
black, Hispanic and Asian students. Graduation rates are the highest in history
for these groups. The dropout rate is at an historic low point.
NSBA President
urges U.S.
NSBA School Board News Today by Alexis
Rice March 25th, 2014
On Tuesday, March 25, 2014,
National School Boards Association (NSBA) President David A. Pickler testified
on education funding issues before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Committee’s
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related
Agencies. Pickler was the only witness selected from the K-12 community to
address specifically the funding needs of America ’s public schools. In his testimony, Pickler, a 16-year member
of the Shelby County Board of Education in Memphis , Tenn.
The Pennsylvania PTA 105th annual
statewide convention April 4-6, 2014, at the Radisson Valley Forge/King of Prussia
Pennsylvania PTA Harrisburg,
Pa. March 21, 2014
Delegates from local PTA
units, councils, and regions throughout the state will gather to give direction
to the State PTA on issues of resolutions, bylaws, and timely topics being
addressed around education and child advocacy. The convention format will include a Diversity
Leadership Conference, a Town Hall Meeting on Suicide Awareness and Prevention,
twenty (20) workshops on timely issues, networking time with other delegates,
an exhibit hall, a Reflections Gallery showcasing student artwork, and the
opportunity to hear keynote speakers and representatives from the National PTA
and other statewide partnering organizations from Pennsylvania. Complete
details for registration may be obtained at the Pennsylvania PTA website at
www.papta.org.
Education Debate - Pittsburgh, April 8
by Yinzercation
March 20, 2014
Please mark your calendars now
and plan to be a part of this event:
Democratic candidates for
Governor of Pennsylvania
Tuesday, April 8th atPittsburgh 6-12 515 N. Highland Ave. , Pittsburgh
PA 15206
Tuesday, April 8th at
Sign up for weekly Testing
Resistance & Reform News and Updates!
Fairtest - The National Center for Fair and Open Testing
PSBA
nominations for offices now open!
Deadline April 30th
PSBA Leadership Development Committee seeks strong leaders for the association
Members interested in becoming the next leaders of PSBA are encouraged to complete an Application for Nomination no later than April 30. As a member-driven association, the Leadership Development Committee (LDC) is seeking nominees with strong skills in leadership and communication, and who have vision for PSBA. Complete details on the nomination process, links to the Application for Nomination form, and scheduled dates for nominee interviews can be found online by clicking here.
PSBA Leadership Development Committee seeks strong leaders for the association
Members interested in becoming the next leaders of PSBA are encouraged to complete an Application for Nomination no later than April 30. As a member-driven association, the Leadership Development Committee (LDC) is seeking nominees with strong skills in leadership and communication, and who have vision for PSBA. Complete details on the nomination process, links to the Application for Nomination form, and scheduled dates for nominee interviews can be found online by clicking here.
How the Business Community Can Lead on
Early Education
Economy
League of Greater Philadelphia
Join
business and community leaders to learn about how you can help make sure every
child arrives in kindergarten ready to succeed. On April 29th, the Economy
League of Greater Philadelphia and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and
Southern New Jersey will host a forum featuring business leaders from around
the country talking about why they’re focused on early childhood education and
how they have moved the needle on improving quality and access in their states.
Featured
Speakers
- Jack Brennan, Chairman Emeritus of The
Vanguard Group
- Phil Peterson, Partner, Aon Hewitt and
Co-Chair of America’s Edge/Ready Nation
- And more to be announced!
- Date & Time Tuesday, April
29, 2014 | 5-7 PM
Registration begins at 5 PM;
program from 5:30 to 7:00 PM
- Location Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia
10 North Independence Mall West Philadelphia,
PA 19106
Registration:
http://worldclassgreaterphila.org/worldclasscouncilforum
PILCOP Special Education Seminars 2014
Schedule
Public
Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
Tuesday, April 29th,
12-4 p.m.
Wednesday, May 14th,
1-5 p.m. and 6-8 p.m.
Register Now! EPLC’s 2014 Education Issues
Workshops for Legislative Candidates, Campaign Staff, and Interested Voters
EPLC’s Education
Issue Workshops Register Now! – Space is Limited!
A Non-Partisan One-Day Program forPennsylvania
A Non-Partisan One-Day Program for
Thursday, March 27, 2014 in Philadelphia ,PA
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. This list will be updated, as more
information becomes available.
Network for Public Education's Pennsylvania
@the chalkface http://atthechalkface.com
Angie Villa Art & Education http://www.angievillaartwork.blogspot.com
Keystone State Education Coalition http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/
Parents United for Public
Education http://www.parentsunitedphila.com
Pennsylvania Alliance for Arts
Education http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/kcaaen/statealliance/home.cfm
Philly Teacherman http://phillyteacherman.blogspot.com/
Raging Chicken Press http://www.ragingchickenpress.org/
Yinzercation http://yinzercation.wordpress.com
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