Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
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administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Superintendents, PTO/PTA
officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, business leaders, education
professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies,
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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The Keystone State Education Coalition is an endorsing member of The Campaign for Fair Education Funding
Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for
November 17, 2014:
PA Basic Education
Funding Commission Hearing Tuesday 1:00 pm and Wednesday 10 am Phila. City Hall
Courtroom 676
Philadelphia City Council Hearings on
High-stakes Testing and the Opt-Out Movement, Wednesday, November 19, 2014, 3—5
PM
Education Committee of Philadelphia
Wednesday, November 19,
2014, 3—5 PM, Room 400 City Hall
"If it is approved, York
would join New Orleans
Nonprofit already forming to
oversee York City
By ERIN JAMES
505-5439/@ydcity POSTED: 11/16/2014 08:42:09 AM EST
Three members have already been appointed to a new nonprofit
called the York Community
Foundation Charter
School , formed to manage the proposed
transformation of the York
City School
District
If it is approved, York would
join New Orleans '
public schools — converted to charter schools after Hurricane Katrina — as one
of the first public school districts in the nation transitioned completely to a
charter-style education model. David
Meckley, the state appointee who has been steering the district's financial
recovery process for two years, has drafted an agreement with a for-profit
company to operate the district through July 1, 2020, barring any major
breaches of contract.
Did you catch our weekend postings?
PA Ed Policy Roundup Nov15: Thorough and Efficient? A
video short on Pennsylvania's Education Funding Lawsuit
Editorial: The hunt for fair
education funding formula goes on
Delco Times Editorial November 15, 2014
The William
Penn School
District Pennsylvania ’s
formula for doling out education funding is unfair. Every day when kids make the hike to school
in William Penn, it’s a decidedly uphill trudge, due in no small part to an
education funding formula that penalizes them merely by virtue of their ZIP
code. It is an unfair, unlevel playing
field. That’s not especially new. Even outgoing Gov. Tom Corbett, who became
the poster boy for an out-of-whack education funding system courtesy of brutal
cuts enacted in his first years in office, agrees.
That’s why earlier this year he asked the Legislature to set up
a commission to study education funding in the state and come up with
recommendations. They’ve been criss-crossing the state talking to residents,
teachers, and administrators. Their conclusions are due next year.
William Penn and five other school districts decided not to
wait for their recommendations. They went to court this week and slapped the
state Department of Education with a lawsuit, claiming the state’s current
funding allocations are “unconstitutional.
School funding shouldn’t be
‘accident of geography’
Jennifer Desmarais is a member of the School District of
Lancaster board, and a mother of three.
As a school board member in the School District of Lancaster Harrisburg to join school board members from
across the state, education advocates and public interest law firms to announce
that the SDL is joining with other districts in a lawsuit against the
commonwealth.
"What is the
solution? We must reinstitute the charter school tuition reimbursement from the
state to offset charter school tuition paid by school districts. We must
eliminate cyber charter school payments from school districts and replace them
with direct funding from the state. We must create a tiered funding mechanism
for special education. And the General Assembly must — at long last — craft a
school funding formula that is fair to all."
Auditor General: Fair funding
is critical
This lack of a fair and predictable funding formula is bad
for taxpayers, school district budgets and our economy. Most of all,
it is bad for the students served by our public education system.
Just last week, School District of Lancaster was one of six Pennsylvania
school districts to file suit in Commonwealth Court charging that government
leaders have failed to provide many of the state’s children with the
constitutional right of access to a quality public education. In the
lawsuit, the plaintiffs say that Pennsylvania ’s
school funding methods are unfair and irrational.
Fine idea, flawed execution —
our approach to testing deserves an 'F'
WHYY Newsworks CENTRE SQUARE A BLOG BY CHRIS SATULLO NOVEMBER 17,
2014
Sometimes a perfectly reasonable idea, if carried out badly,
ends up seeming dumb.
I speak, of course, of the push to use standardized tests to
hold schools accountable for whether kids learn. Given the testing fiascoes unfolding across
the nation, it's hard to raise even a weak voice in defense of this approach. For example, in Florida , an epicenter of the high-stakes
testing movement, a public
groundswell seeks delay in the roll out of a new state test. Parents
offer heart-rending reports of teary, test-stressed youngsters. Teachers lament
teaching time lost to tests. Superintendents ask how you can judge schools
based on a regimen this screwed up.
And cheating scandals, where adults worried about consequences
of low scores forthem, keep on flaring up, nowhere more so than in Philadelphia . The mounting evidence that accountability
testing has run off the rails is an intellectual challenge for me, because I've
long been a proponent of the idea.
Republicans consider rush of
action before Wolf takes over
People who have looked into it could not find a precedent for
such a move in modern Pennsylvania
political history, but that does not mean it cannot be done.
Don't be surprised if Wolf
and new GOP leaders get along better than you expect: Tony May
PennLive
Op-Ed By Tony May on November 16, 2014 at 11:00 AM
DONKEYS & ELEPHANTS
"Fifty years [since the launch of the War on Poverty]
we live in the wealthiest and most developed nation in the history of the free
world. Yet, shamefully, there are still 46 million of our fellow citizens
living in poverty. It remains true even though we continue to spend near $1
trillion per year on programs aimed at fighting poverty. We should not
allow those results to be acceptable in today's America
— Rep. Dave Reed, "Beyond Poverty," April
2014
If Rep. Dave Reed, the newly-elected House Majority Leader,
really meant what he said in the excerpt above from his House Republican Policy
Committee report earlier this year on poverty in Pennsylvania, there's ample
reason to think that the relationship between the powerful Republican
majorities in the General Assembly and Gov.-elect Tom Wolf will be more
fruitful than pundits are predicting. Although
it's easy to jump to the conclusion that the increased GOP majorities in the
state House and Senate mean both bodies are, therefore, more conservative, both
chambers have elected new leaders that are recognized by both political parties
as collaborators rather than conspirators.
Groups plan actions as
education funding body meets in Philly
the notebook By Dale Mezzacappa on Nov 16, 2014 11:55 AM
The legislature's Basic
Education Funding Commission is coming to Philadelphia for hearings on
Tuesday and Wednesday, and two advocacy groups have announced plans to make
sure that its members hear from the public whether they want to or not. The commission, charged with devising a
fairer way of distributing state school aid, has been holding hearings around
the state. Its witnesses have mostly been experts and school district
officials, rather than parents, students, and front-line school workers. Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY)
plans to invite parents and others to speak at a separate hearing an hour
before the commission is scheduled to convene at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. It will
videotape the hearing and make it available to the commission. But the faith-based organizing group POWER
plans to make itself heard during the meeting itself.
"According to the American
Institute for Research, districts in the richest 5% of Pennsylvania
Unfair Education Funding is a
Dirty Trick for Pennsylvania Schools
PCCY Blog November 7, 2014
When a magician takes the stage, he will wave around a wand, a
hat or a cape to distract the audience’s eyes from what is happening with his
other hand. Like that magician, many in the state government want to distract
us from the “other hand” of public education. Unlike the magician, their cuts
are real. And they hurt. Defenders of Pennsylvania ’s
education budget cuts point to the fact that the Commonwealth is eighth in the
nation in terms of education spending as a share of the economy. But without a
fair funding formula, we must look to see if that funding is actually spread to
those who need it. So we did. It’s not. A new review of Pennsylvania ’s education funding, perhaps
the most comprehensive to date, found that PA has the third highest share of
students attending financially disadvantaged school districts. The funding
situation in Pennsylvania ’s
richest districts is so great that it appears to make up for the unacceptably
high number of poor, failing districts in the state. That’s bad, but what is
worse is that the gap is growing.
Charter tries to clone itself
DAN GERINGER, DAILY
NEWS STAFF WRITER GERINGD@PHILLYNEWS.COM,
215-854-5961 POSTED: Sunday, November 16, 2014, 3:01 AM
CHRIS PIENKOWSKI from Mayfair was overjoyed when his middle
son, Ben, beat the odds last year and got into kindergarten at MaST Community
Charter School Byberry Road
near Worthington ,
in Somerton. And not surprisingly, MaST
CEO John Swoyer wants to meet that demand by replicating his vision in new
schools on Roosevelt Boulevard
and in Center City Philadelphia School District
Controversy swirls around Cheltenham school superintendent
KATHY BOCCELLA, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Sunday, November 16, 2014, 1:09 AM
When Cheltenham recruited
Natalie Thomas to take over its troubled school district 17 months ago as its
$180,000-a-year superintendent, she was hailed as a veteran problem-solver.
The school board approved her with only one dissenting vote,
but since she arrived, says a growing legion of critics, she has done little
more than create problems.
From the get-go, former school board member Marc Lieberson -
the only one to vote against her appointment - said he was troubled by
vagueness about her accomplishments in a St. Louis-area school district that
she had twice sued, according to court records.
"I felt that I wasn't getting the full story, as far as
her educational philosophy," recalled Lieberson. "I couldn't put my
finger on it." Today, he believes,
"my gut feeling was right."
Bangor Area School Board
wants to eliminate state's Common Core
The Bangor
Area School Board is asking state officials to dissolve the Pennsylvania Core
Standards and block the Commonwealth's participation in the
national Common
Core State Standards Initiative. Pennsylvania is among 48
states to adopt the standards since 2009, according
to the Common Core website. The math
and English standards were developed to ensure students graduate career and
college ready. But the Bangor Area board
feels the standards take curriculum control away from local districts and
impose an unnecessary financial drain, according to Bangor Area
Superintendent Frank
DeFelice.
"There is as yet no evidence that VAM
improves teaching, improves student achievement, or correctly identifies
the strengths and weaknesses of teachers. As its critics have said
consistently, VAM results depend on many factors outside the control of the
teacher and may vary for many different reasons. A teacher may get a high VAM
rating one year, and a low VAM rating the next year. VAM ratings may change if
a different test is used. Yet those who stubbornly believe that everything that
matters can be measured with precision can’t let go of their data-driven mindset."
Amrein-Beardsley: Two VAM
Cheerleaders Resign in Same Week
Diane Ravitch's Blog By dianeravitch November
15, 2014 //
0Last week, Kevin Huffman and John Ayers resigned. Huffman was
state commissioner of education in Tennessee ,
and he employed every possible strategy to make testing a centerpiece of
education policy. Ayers was director of the Cowen Institute at Tulane
University in New Orleans, which was greatly embarrassed when it released–and
then rescinded–a “research” report claiming amazing gains in the charter
schools of New Orleans. Both were big boosters of using student test scores to
judge the quality and effectiveness of teachers, a methodology referred to as
VAM, or value-added-modeling. Audrey
Amrein-Beardsley, one of the nation’s expert researchers on teacher evaluation, looks
at the two resignations as evidence that the VAM-mania is failing and claiming
victims.
"Honors
Academy is among the first Texas
Public
Charter Schools That Failed to Meet Texas
New York Times By MORGAN SMITH NOV. 15, 2014
FARMERS BRANCH, Tex. — One
recent morning, Branch
Park Academy
By law, the students were not supposed to be there at all.
In June, the education agency revoked the charter of
the Honors Academy Charter School
District, which runs Branch
Park Academy Branch Park Honors Academy schools, which enroll a total of almost 700
students in Central Texas and the Dallas-Fort
Worth area, are still open. As of Wednesday on its website and in literature, Honors Academy
K12, Inc.: THE HIGH PRICE OF
FOR PROFIT EDUCATION & JEB BUSH
Profits ahead of education: Bloomberg
news has an extensive article on K12 Inc and the myriad problems that
their charter schools are facing across the country. The article even features
a former marketing director of K12 Inc. who goes on the record with criticism
about the company putting profits ahead of education. The former executive,
Houston Tucker,makes an allegation made by public education advocates for
years: that K12’s brand of digital learning is focused on profits and not
serving the 130,000 students that it’s supposed to serve. The article goes on
to describe how the focus of the schools is marketing and recruiting new
students to make up for the churn as kids are pulled, or just churn out of
their schools. Tucker even pulled his kids from K12 Inc’s school in Tennessee because
teachers weren’t able to provide individualized instruction.
Public Issues Forums of Centre County
BY DAVID
HUTCHINSON State
What: “What is the 21st-century Mission
When: 6 to 9 p.m. Nov. 20
Where: Fairmount
Building , 411 S. Fraser St. State
College
The articles linked on this page offer several perspectives on
one of the most important issues we have to wrestle with as residents: What is
the goal of a public education?
To prepare students for the workforce?
To prepare them as residents, as Ben Franklin initially
proposed? Or to help students discover and develop their individual talents?
What is the experience of our students? What do they think we
should do differently? This is your invitation to join that conversation.
Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2014/11/08/4447469_public-issues-forums-of-centre.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
Join the Listening Tour
hosted by PSBA as it follows the Basic Ed Funding Commission to each
location this fall
The next tour stop will be on Thursday, Nov 20, 2014 from 6-8 p.m., atHambright Elementary School in Lancaster
The next tour stop will be on Thursday, Nov 20, 2014 from 6-8 p.m., at
Philadelphia City Council Hearings
on High-stakes Testing and the Opt-Out Movement, Wednesday, November 19, 2014,
3—5 PM
Education Committee of Philadelphia City Council
Wednesday, November 19, 2014, 3—5 PM, Room 400 City Hall
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools, Councilman Mark
Squilla and The Opt-Out Committee of the Alliance for Philadelphia Public
Schools urge all who care about the future of education to attend: Parents, students and educators will testify
on the effects of over-testing on students and teaching, including the crisis
of the Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement.
Information: Alison McDowell or Lisa Haver
at: philaapps@gmail.com
DelCo Rising: Winning for
Education Nov 18
7:00PM - 9:00PM
Delaware County students and taxpayers have sacrificed enough.
The state is not paying its fair share. Rising property taxes and school
budget cuts are not acceptable–help us change that.
Join your neighbors for a community workshop: Delco
Rising: Winning for Education
·
Learn about Pre-K for PA and the Statewide
Campaign for Fair Education Funding and how they can help your community
·
Practice winning strategies to advocate for your
community
·
Create an advocacy plan that works for
you—whether you have 5 minutes or 5 days per month
This non-partisan event is free and open to the public.
Click here to download a PDF flyer to
share.
Children with Autism - Who’s Eligible? How to get ABA services?
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 1:00 – 4:00 P.M.
Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia
United Way Building 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway,
Philadelphia, 19103
Join us on November 19th, 2014 to discuss eligibility services for children with Autism. This
session will teach parents, teachers, social workers and attorneys how to
obtain Applied Behavioral Analysis services for children on the autism
spectrum. Presenters include Sonja Kerr (Law Center), Rachel Mann
(Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania), Dr. Lisa Blaskey (The Children's
Hospital of Pennsylvania), and David Gates (PA Health Law Project).
Registration: bit.ly/1sOY6jX
Register Now – 2014 PASCD
Annual Conference – November 23 – 25, 2014
Please join us for the 2014 PASCD Annual Conference, “Leading
an Innovative Culture for Learning – Powered by Blendedschools Network” to
be held November 23-25 at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center in
Hershey, PA. Featuring Keynote Speakers: David Burgess - - Author
of "Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your
Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator", Dr. Bart Rocco,
Bill Sterrett - ASCD author, "Short on Time: How do I Make
Time to Lead and Learn as a Principal?" and Ron Cowell.
This annual conference features small group sessions (focused
on curriculum, instructional, assessment, blended learning and middle level
education) is a great opportunity to stay connected to the latest approaches
for cultural change in your school or district. Join us for PASCD
2014! Online registration is available by visiting www.pascd.org
January 23rd–25th, 2015 at The Science Leadership
Academy , Philadelphia
EduCon is both a conversation and a conference.
It is an innovation conference where we can come together, both
in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools. Every session will
be an opportunity to discuss and debate ideas — from the very practical to the
big dreams.
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