Daily postings from the Keystone State Education
Coalition now reach more than 3100 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?
Parent to Obama: Why don’t private
schools adopt your test-based school reforms?
“But please take the next step and accept this invitation to see
his school—a modern version of an effective comprehensive urban high school.
Talk with teachers and students, and with Georgia
Parent to Obama: Why don’t private schools adopt your test-based school
reforms?
Bertis Downs is a parent
who lives in Athens Ga. Athens
“Still, with Scarsdale
When Education Is But a Test Score
Education Week Commentary
By Michael V. McGill Published Online: March 4, 2014
I've come to think that a
school superintendent's main mission today is to protect teachers and kids from
the ideological madness around us. If I can keep education reform from
"helping" them, I'll have achieved something. In June, I'll complete my 41st year as a
school or district head. For the last 16, I've been the superintendent in Scarsdale , N.Y. , just
north of New York City
SAT: A Test of Knowledge or Income?
New York Times Magazine
Graphic March 9,
2014
Page down to see this graphic showing family income and average
SAT scores for 2013
“The changes won’t take away from the fact that no single
standardized test score should be used for a high-stakes decisions involving
young students — not for student promotion from grade to grade, high
school graduation, etc. Some kids are simply better taking tests than others,
some kids are sick when they take them, and historically, the scores are as
reflective of the socio-economic divide in the country than they are of
anything. Kids who live in poverty do worse than kids who don’t. The new test won’t change any of that,
according to Bob Schaeffer, public education director of the National Center
The key problem the SAT changes won’t fix
Big
changes are coming (again) to the SAT, the once almighty college admissions
test that was overtaken in popularity by the ACT. The essay portion of the exam, added in 2005
with great fanfare as a crucial new part of the exam, is now being made
optional, because apparently, it wasn’t all that crucial after all. And those silly vocabulary words that nobody
ever needed to know except for the SAT (and weren’t on the ACT) are being
dumped.
“Bob Schaeffer, public education director for the National Center
for Fair & Open Testing (known as FairTest) and a longtime SAT opponent,
said he thinks the changes "fail to address many major concerns of
independent researchers, standardized exam critics and equity advocates." He noted that since the SAT was revised in
2005, nearly 100 colleges and universities stopped requiring college entrance
exams scores, bringing the total to more than 800.”
College Board revamps SAT college entrance exam for spring 2016
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh March 5, 2014 11:01 PM
For students taking the
SAT college entrance exam in spring 2016 and later, it won't be like their
older siblings' exam. The College Board
on Wednesday announced the redesigned test, including switching from 2400
points back to 1600 points.
A New SAT Aims to Realign With Schoolwork
New York Times By TAMAR LEWIN MARCH 5, 2014
Saying its college
admission exams do not focus enough on the important academic skills, the
College Board announced on Wednesday a fundamental rethinking of the SAT,
ending the longstanding penalty for guessing wrong, cutting obscure vocabulary
words and making the essay optional. The
president of the College Board, David Coleman, criticized his own test, the
SAT, and its main rival, the ACT, saying that both had “become disconnected
from the work of our high schools.” In
addition, Mr. Coleman announced programs to help low-income students, who will
now be given fee waivers allowing them to apply to four colleges at no charge.
And even before the new exam is introduced, in the spring of 2016, the College
Board, in partnership with Khan
Academy
Time to Talk Testing
Testing Talk, Part I: “Standardized”
Yinzercation Blog March 5, 2014
How is the dramatic
expansion of high-stakes-testing affecting our schools? What is the impact on
our children and their learning? Come be a part of the conversation at the only
public screening in Pittsburgh
“The new policy rollout, to be presented to the School Reform
Commission for a vote at its next meeting on March 20, comes at the same time
that Pennsylvania
Among other changes, the proposed state law would allow
universities to authorize charter schools, take away a district's power to set
enrollment limits, and allow any charter operator with multiple sites to switch
its oversight away from the district to the state.
"Any of those things would pose an existential threat to the
District," said Deputy Superintendent Paul Kihn in an interview.”
Philly: Deadline Friday to comment on District's proposed new charter
policy
The notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa on Mar 05 2014 Posted in Latest news
The School
District is proposing an overhaul
of its charter school authorizing policy to make it more rigorous and
consistent and is seeking public comment on the changes.
The deadline for providing
such comment is this Friday, March 7. Comments can be recorded here. Specifically, the proposed rules are
aimed to support high-quality charters and close underperforming ones, while
offering more frequent monitoring, more transparency, and the opportunity for
expansion to charters that meet new, higher standards and academic
benchmarks. But the District also wants
to require charters to sign agreements that include enrollment caps -- a bitter
bone of contention among charter operators -- and enshrine in policy the notion
that the District has a right to take its own financial condition into account
when making charter decisions.
Nutter's budget likely to spark debates on schools, PGW
TROY
GRAHAM, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: March 6, 2014, 1:08 AM
PHILADELPHIA Mayor Nutter plans to present to City Council on Thursday a modest budget without bold spending ideas, but one that nonetheless sets the stage for coming debates over selling the Philadelphia Gas Works and funding the School District. On Wednesday, School Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. sent a letter to Nutter requesting $75 million next year to boost a district still running deficits despite making painful cuts. That would be on top of the $120 million the district hopes to receive from the city's extra 1 percent sales tax.
PHILADELPHIA Mayor Nutter plans to present to City Council on Thursday a modest budget without bold spending ideas, but one that nonetheless sets the stage for coming debates over selling the Philadelphia Gas Works and funding the School District. On Wednesday, School Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. sent a letter to Nutter requesting $75 million next year to boost a district still running deficits despite making painful cuts. That would be on top of the $120 million the district hopes to receive from the city's extra 1 percent sales tax.
Nutter's budget, however,
does not include more money for the schools, according to sources briefed on
his spending plan, and how much money the district can expect from the sales
tax remains in doubt.
Mayor's report cites progress and priorities in education
The notebook by David
Limm on Mar
05 2014 Posted in Latest news
Mayor Nutter has released
a report that sums up his administration's accomplishments over the last six
years and lays out priorities for the remaining two. In education, the mayor says that Philadelphia
“The core pre-K-12 program
for low-income students, Title I grants, would be held flat at this year’s
$14.4 billion level; while the other central program, special education grants
for states, would receive a small increase, from $11.5 billion to $11.6
billion.”
What Does Obama's Budget Say About Education?
The president's most significant reform proposals come on the
workforce side: New investments would create apprenticeship programs,
on-the-job training, and work-based learning, both for youth and for
adults.
The Atlantic
by CLARE MCCANN MAR 5 2014 , 12:04 PM ET
President Obama released
a relatively unambitious, largely partisan proposal for funding the federal
government for fiscal year 2015, which begins on October 1, 2014 . In recent years, the
president’s budget request has included proposals that have driven successful
education policy reforms, including a debate and new funding for early
education programs and reforms to student loan interest rates. This year’s
budget request, though, has been widely disparaged as dead on arrival. Even so,
the bill offers some important insights to the White House’s thinking as it
heads into the middle of Obama’s second term. New America
“Currently, the federal government provides less than 16 percent of
the cost of IDEA, despite promising three decades ago when the law was passed
to pay 40 percent of excess costs.”
NSBA applauds proposed K-12 budget increase, but more funds needed for
Title I and special education
NSBA School Board News
Today by Lawrence
The National School
Boards Association (NSBA) welcomed the 2 percent increase in discretionary
funding for education in President Obama’s $3.9
trillion proposed federal budget for fiscal 2015. But NSBA leaders
remain concerned that the budget did not include badly needed increases in two
of the most foundational formula programs for school districts: Title I and the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
“We applaud President
Obama’s pledge to raise K-12 education funding at a time when strong public
schools are vitally important to America
US Department of
Education Homeroom Blog Posted on March 4, 2014 by Cameron Brenchley
President Obama’s 2015
budget request reflects his belief not only that education is a top priority,
but that America
Bloggers React to the NPE National Conference in Austin
I had planned to publish
each of the bloggers’ descriptions of the first conference of the Network for
Public Education, but it would take weeks to report them all. Here is the initial wave of comments. My impression from the conference was that
people were ecstatic. They loved the conversations, the debates, the
solidarity. Robert Perry, communications
director of NPE, and a middle school teacher in Rhode Island
Audit finds poor oversight of Utah
Senator accuses schools of enrolling
‘‘ghost’’ students.
By Kristen Moulton | The Salt Lake Feb 26
2014 01:01 am
Two private companies are
being paid millions in Utah
What? Five weeks isn’t enough?
Teach For America
Education Week Teacher
Beat Blog By Stephen
Sawchuk on March 4, 2014 7:29
PM
Teach For America plans
to provide a year of up-front training for a subset of its new teacher
recruits—and put more of an emphasis on teaching for longer than the group's
two-year requirement, the organization's leaders announced in a speech. The two pilot programs, outlined March 4 by
TFA co-CEO Matt Kramer during a "What's Next for TFA" address in Nashville , Tenn.
PILCOP Special Education Seminars 2014 Schedule
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
Wednesday, March 19, 2014 in Monroeville ,
PA
Thursday,March
27, 2014 in Philadelphia ,PA
Thursday,
Auditor
General DePasquale to Hold Public Meetings on Ways to Improve Charter Schools
Seeks
to find ways to improve accountability, effectiveness, transparency
The public meetings will be held:
- NEW:
Time is limited to two hours for each meeting.
Comments can be submitted in writing by Wednesday, Feb. 19, via email to Susan
Woods at: swoods@auditorgen.state.pa.us.
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
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