Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
reach more than 3750 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors,
administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition
team members, Superintendents, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher
leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations,
education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory
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emails, website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for July 30, 2015:
Testing under scrutiny in Pa.
Interested in letting our elected leadership know your thoughts on
education funding, a severance tax, property taxes and the budget?
Governor Tom Wolf, (717) 787-2500
Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Turzai, (717) 772-9943
House Majority Leader Rep. Dave Reed, (717) 705-7173
Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Joe Scarnati, (717) 787-7084
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jake Corman, (717) 787-1377
House Majority Leader Rep. Dave Reed, (717) 705-7173
Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Joe Scarnati, (717) 787-7084
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jake Corman, (717) 787-1377
Education Voters of Pennsylvania
Campaign for Fair Education Funding/Education Voters PA July 29, 2015
BETHLEHEM (July 28,
2015) – Education Voters of Pennsylvania and local school officials today held
a press conference at Liberty High School to urge state lawmakers to put
students first by making fair funding for education their top priority in the
state budget. "We send lawmakers to Harrisburg
not to do the least they can do, but to do what needs to get done," said
Susan Gobreski of Education Voters of Pennsylvania. "It is time for our
lawmakers to go back to Harrisburg .
They must pass a budget that includes not only a way to divide up money, but
also includes enough money to begin to get school funding back on track in the
Commonwealth. "If we want Pennsylvania 's
economy to grow, it will only grow if we invest in education," she said.
Parents, educators and school officials want legislators to take action right
away to enact a state budget that increases basic education funding by at least
$410 million to help restore past funding cuts, targeted at bringing districts
back to the 2010 funding level as base year. In addition, they want lawmakers
to begin implementation of the new funding formula unanimously adopted by the
Basic Education Funding Commission, cochaired by Sen. Pat Browne (R-16th
District), who also co-sponsored a bill that would implement the new formula.
Lawmakers 'put drillers before our students,' official
says at education rally
By Sara K. Satullo | For lehighvalleylive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on July
29, 2015 at 2:59 PM, updated July 29, 2015 at 4:17 PM
Education advocates and Lehigh Valley school officials
Wednesday urged lawmakers to return to Harrisburg and put students first. Almost a month into the fiscal year,
Pennsylvania remains without a state budget.
"We send lawmakers to Harrisburg not to do the least they can do,
but to do what needs to get done," said Susan Gobreski, of Education
Voters of Pennsylvania. "It is time for our lawmakers to go back to
Harrisburg." The Bethlehem Area
School District passed its budget June 15 with no knowledge of its state
funding and it still has no idea today, said Michael Faccinetto, board
president. Ironically, school districts would normally be starting to receive
their state funding right now, he said. "Quality
education costs money," Faccinetto said. "We cannot play political
games with out children's future."
Testing under scrutiny in Pa.
By Karen Langley /
Post-Gazette Harrisburg
Bureau July 30, 2015 12:06 AM
"A panel from the
Pennsylvania Department of Education said while the curriculum implementation
from Pennsylvania CORE varies across the
state, the assessments cost Pennsylvania
Educators, administrators
pan state assessments at House hearing
The PLS Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Wednesday, July
29, 2015
The House Education
Committee held a marathon hearing Wednesday getting input on state education
assessments from frontline players who deliver and develop the tests. Most
testifiers panned the state assessments as costly, unnecessary, and misapplied. The committee’s aim was not to take testimony
on any specific bill, but to get a ground-level understanding of what the tests
do, how they’re viewed, and whether students are prepared for them. “What we wanted to hear today is what exactly
we Pennsylvania are required to do in terms of testing as far as the federal
government requirements are concerned, what’s been going on at PDE and the
Board of Education, but also to hear from different teachers, ssuperintendents
and board members as to exactly what’s going on in each of the districts,” said
Chairman Stan Saylor (R-York). “Let’s hear from individuals who are involved in
the testing day in and day out to give us an explanation.”
It was noted the
topic of state assessments has drawn a lot of interest lately, particularly in
terms of preparedness for the exams after the adoption of Pennsylvania CORE
standards in 2013.
“Testing assessments
has become a focal point of interest across the Commonwealth,” said Minority
Chairman James Roebuck (D-Philadelphia). “I think it’s important we get the
input from those on the frontlines of the discussion and implementation.”
Educators criticize PSSAs, Keystone Exams in Harrisburg
By Jacqueline
PalochkoOf The Morning Call
July 29, 2015
Educators from across the state vent to
lawmakers over PSSAs, Keystones.
School administrators,
teachers and school board members testified Wednesday before the state House
Education Committee on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams,
which students in Grades 3-8 take every spring, and the Keystone Exams that
high school students take at the end of a course. District leaders also criticized the state's
graduation requirement that says high school students, starting in 2017, must
pass three Keystones — algebra, English and biology — to graduate. Jack Silva, assistant superintendent of the Bethlehem Area School District
Local educator blasts
Keystone Exams mandate in state hearing
By Sara K. Satullo | For
lehighvalleylive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on July 29, 2015 at 6:03 PM, updated July 29, 2015 at 7:06 PM
on July 29, 2015 at 6:03 PM, updated July 29, 2015 at 7:06 PM
A Lehigh Valley
educator testified in Harrisburg Wednesday about the harm he says state
graduation mandates and high stakes testing are causing Pennsylvania children. He wasn't alone in that sentiment. Wednesday the state House Education Committee
held a public hearing on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests,
which students in grades three through eight take each year, and the high
school end-of-course Keystone Exams. Educators
blasted the state's standardized tests during the hearing and on Twitter,
tweeting with the hashtag PAassessments.
Four unintended consequences of using student test
scores to evaluate teachers
As any even semi-regular reader of this blog
knows, the practice of using student standardized test scores to evaluate
teachers is riddled with problems. I’ve written before about some of the more
ridiculous consequences, such as teachers being evaluated by students they
don’t have and/or by subjects they don’t teach. (See here and here.) There are other consequences as well, some of them
likely unintended. Here’s a post on the subject by Susan Moore Johnson, Jerome
T. Murphy Research Professor in Education at Harvard Graduate School of
Education. Johnson directs the Project on the Next Generation of
Teachers, which examines how best to recruit, develop, and retain a strong
teaching force. This appeared on the the Shanker Blog, the
voice of the Albert Shanker Institute, a nonprofit organization
established in 1998 to honor the life and legacy of the late president of the
American Federation of Teachers.
Testing Resistance & Reform News: July 22 - 28,
2015
Fairtest Submitted
by fairtest on July 28, 2015 - 2:43pm
As the assessment
reform movement monitors Capitol Hill where a congressional conference
committee will soon take up the rewrite of "No Child Left Behind,"
pressure to cut back testing volume and reduce high-stakes consequences
continues to build at the grassroots. Be sure to check out the excellent new public
education resources available for your local campaigns listed at the end of the
news clips.
Wolf meets with Republican leaders about Pennsylvania
Philly.com by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS POSTED: Wednesday, July
29, 2015, 3:23 PM
YORK, Pa. (AP) - There's been another meeting aimed at
resolving Pennsylvania's state budget standoff, but participants aren't
reporting any breakthroughs. Democratic
Gov. Tom Wolf met Wednesday at the Yorktowne Hotel in York with the Republican
floor leaders, Rep. Dave Reed and Sen. Jake Corman. Reed spokesman Steve Miskin says they talked
about proposals to cut public sector pensions, privatize the liquor system, add
money for public education and reduce local property taxes. Miskin says negotiators are making progress,
but it's slow and there were no developments to make him think a deal will be
reached in the next week or two.
Gov. Wolf and state GOP 'making progress' on budget
talks
Penn Live By Candy Woodall | cwoodall@pennlive.com Email the
author | Follow on Twitter on July 29, 2015 at 4:55 PM, updated July 29, 2015
at 4:58 PM
A month into the state budget impasse, Gov. Tom Wolf on
Wednesday morning met with Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County,
and House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, to hash out what have seemingly
been irreconcilable differences. "We're
making progress," Wolf said. The
governor said he has been meeting with Republican leaders since the previous
budget expired on June 30. He enters
these conversations respecting the other side, hoping to make some movement in
a direction toward agreement, he said. "I'm
continuing to work on that. They're continuing to work on that. We're going to
get to a good place," Wolf said.
Call for compromise on property tax relief in budget
impasse
WITF Written by Mary
Wilson | Jul 29, 2015 3:56 AM
(Harrisburg )
-- In a state budget stalemate with few compromises, a left-leaning think
tank says focusing on property tax relief could prompt some bipartisan
agreement. Democratic Governor Tom Wolf
made his pitch to offer property tax relief central to his proposed budget. In May, the state House passed a GOP-crafted
proposal with bipartisan backing. It
included the kind of broad-based tax increases Republican leaders now say they
can't support. The liberal
Pennsylvania Budget and Policy
Center
"This should be
an area ripe for bipartisan compromise. Republican champions for property tax
relief do have a once in a generation opportunity to achieve what has been
their top priority in many cases for a decade or more," he says.
"This is the area where if we're going to manage to escape the partisan
kabuki play, this is an area that might begin that."
Gov. Tom Wolf pushes
budget plan in front of hometown crowd
Gov. Tom Wolf
returned to familiar territory Wednesday.
He spoke at The
Yorktowne Hotel — a property his former business used to partially own. The
host was the Rotary Club of York — a group that his father used to be the
president of. State Auditor General
Eugene DePasquale, one of the local politicians in the crowd, said Wolf was
probably personal friends with two-thirds of the people in the room, if not
more. At the start of the Rotary Club of
York meeting, the club's president, Dr. Marsha Bornt, gave him an honorary
membership and invited him to speak at another event for the group's centennial
year celebration. "It is really
good to be home again," Wolf, a York County Democrat, told the crowd.
Here are four things
to know about Wolf's visit.
Neshaminy teachers ratify
contract; it’s the board’s turn
Inquirer by Ben Finley LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, July 29, 2015, 7:18
AM
LANGHORNE Following
its approval by the teachers’ union, the Neshaminy school board is expected to
vote on a teachers’ contract at an Aug. 6 meeting. The Neshaminy Federation of Teachers voted Monday
to ratify the one-year deal, which will apply retroactively from July 1, 2015,
through June 30, 2016. The tentative
agreement has no base salary increases. Union members will continue to make
contributions of 16 percent toward their health insurance premiums. Elementary specialists and special education
teachers, however, will get a total of 160 minutes per week of preparation
time, ending a lawsuit the union filed in Bucks County Court.
Addressing childhood
trauma takes a village
Support our
campaign to distribute our documentary to schools and child advocates.
the notebook By Lauren
Wiley on Jul 29, 2015 10:45 AM
Have you watched the
Notebook documentary,Glen’s Village? Were you moved by the story of
Glen’s journey from the streets of West Philadelphia to the University of Pennsylvania
The Philadelphia
Public School Notebook is seeking to bring Glen's Village to a
wider audience – particularly to education professionals and advocates who work
with children affected by trauma. We are raising funds to distribute the film
by launching our first crowd-funding campaign at http://igg.me/at/glensvillage. Glen’s Village, produced by the Notebook
and 5th Borough Films, immerses viewers in Glen's West Philadelphia
neighborhood and the nearby Penn campus in University City . Although just a few blocks
apart, the two communities might as well be separated by oceans. Glen's journey
from being a 9th-grade troublemaker dealing crack cocaine on the streets to
attending an Ivy League institution is filled with bumps, bruises and
redemption.
The film's message
needs to be heard: that there are many Glens out there whose behavior may be
misunderstood and who aren't getting the support they need.
GSE NEWS: PBS’s NewsHour
features Penn GSE’s Richard Ingersoll
July 24, 2015 — Education
Policy professor Richard Ingersoll’s work around the teaching workforce is the
gold standard in education in research nationally. He’s featured in a
recent PBS NewsHour story examining the state of the teaching workforce,
and the career outlooks for recent teacher education graduates. Ingersoll adds
insights about the rising percentage of female teachers in the classroom,
efforts to recruit and retain minority teachers, and why 40 percent of teachers
leave the field in the first five years.
“The biggest set of reasons has to do with the quality and the caliber
of the job,” Ingersoll said. “It’s the amount of support, the amount of student
discipline and behavioral problems in the building, how much say teachers have
in the decisions in the building that affect their job. Do they have input and
voice?”
IB: Schools With Tough Tests Send More Low-Income Kids
to College
Education Writers
Assoc. Educated Reporter JULY 28, 2015 MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN
Schools that that
teach low-income students a notoriously demanding curriculum are almost twice
as likely to see those students enroll in college, a new report shows. This
news comes on the heels of growing research suggesting that challenging
assessments, which are a staple of the International Baccalaureate program
featured in the report, help students develop a deeper understanding of key
subjects like math and history. That “deeper learning,” in turn, may lead to
more college opportunities. The
International Baccalaureate, a nonprofit organization that sellsits stable of intensive coursework for various subjects to schools
around the world, released the study last week, calculating that more than half
of the 1,650 schools in the United States that use IB material fit the federal
designation of Title I schools, which means they enroll a large low-income
student population. In fact, the number of Title I schools offering IB
programming increased by 50 percent between 2009 and 2013, the report
said.
A
low-income Brooklyn high school where 100
percent of black male students graduate
One motivating
factor is a student-founded, student-sustained “fraternity”
Hechinger Report by MEREDITH KOLODNER July 14, 2015
The young men had a
million questions about applying to college, and as a leader of the
Sophisticated Well Articulated Gentlemen’s Group (SWAGG) to which they all
belong, Jude Bridgewater had pledged to always answer their calls. Bridgewater, 20, says one of his best days of
the year came this spring, when a member named Turel Polite, who had clashed
early and often with high school administrators, was accepted into his top
choice college — the Academy of Art University in California. Polite credits
high school staff members who stayed on his case, and the close-knit network of
SWAGG.
Traveling the path least
taken successfully requires preparation
Center for Public Education The EDifier July 29, 2015
Nearly two-thirds of
employers believe that our public schools are not adequately preparing recent
high school graduates for the workforce, according to a new survey from our friends over at Achieve.
However, this percentage would likely drop significantly if recent high school
graduates were properly prepared in high school, according to CPE’s most recent
report The Path Least Taken: Preparing non-college goers for
success. While much of the
rhetoric surrounding education reform has centered on the phrase ‘college and
career ready,’ much of the discussion and policies have focused on the former
rather than the latter. So CPE decided to take a closer look at what high
schools could do to prepare their graduates who don’t go onto college for
success after high school. Not surprisingly we found that on-average high
school graduates who go onto college are more likely to see success in terms of
getting a good job than their fellow graduates who never attended college. Yet,
when we took a closer look at the preparation non-college goers received in
high school and beyond, a much different picture emerged. A picture that showed
non-college goers were more likely to find career success if they were properly
prepared in high school.
"In contrast, they
acknowledge, the foundation’s investments in education here in the United States
Bill and Melinda Gates’s Pillow Talk
New York Times Opinion by Nicholas Kristof JULY 18, 2015
WHAT do Bill and
Melinda Gates argue about?
Not whose turn it is
to wash the dishes or take out the garbage, it seems, but headier stuff. The
prospects for eradicating polio. The utility of empowering women. The best ways
to save lives.
Oh, and maybe how
much to acknowledge to a prying columnist that they sometimes do argue.
It has been 15 years
since Bill
and Melinda Gates created what is now the largest foundation in the
world. This milestone seemed the right moment to ask them what they have
learned from giving away $34 billion, what mistakes they have made, and what
they disagree about.
But first, just a
reminder of how historic this foundation has been. It has played a central role
in a campaign to transform health and nutrition for the world’s poor.
School Funding Fight Back
in Hands of Washington
State
After a tumultuous
special legislative session this year that saw a boost for K-12 spending,
Washington state officials are telling the state's highest court: Stop holding us in
contempt. But advocates who believe lawmakers are still falling
short are instead telling the court to either levy sanctions or walk away. If the court ends up agreeing with those
advocates, sanctions against the state could follow, including a ban on
spending state funds on budget areas other than public education. A quick review: Last year, the state's
supreme court held the state in contempt for failing to adequately respond to a
2012 ruling in the McCleary v. Washington
Nominations for PSBA's
Allwein Advocacy Award now open
PSBA July 7, 2015
PSBA July 7, 2015
The Timothy M.
Allwein Advocacy Award was established in 2011 by the Pennsylvania School
Boards Association and may be presented annually to the individual school
director or entire school board to recognize outstanding leadership in
legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that
are consistent with the positions in PSBA’s Legislative Platform. The 2015 Allwein Award nomination process
will close on Aug. 28, 2015. The 2015 Allwein Award Nomination Form is available online. More details on the
award and nominations process can be found online.
Save the Date for
PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference Oct. 14-16, 2015 Hershey Lodge &
Convention Center
Save the date for the
professional development event of the year. Be inspired at more than four
exciting venues and invest in professional development for top administrators
and school board members. Online registration will be live soon!
Register Now – PAESSP
State Conference – Oct. 18-20 – State College, PA
Registration is now
open for PAESSP's State Conference to be held October 18-20 at The
Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel in State College, PA! This year's
theme is @EVERYLEADER and features three nationally-known keynote
speakers (Dr. James Stronge, Justin Baeder and Dr. Mike Schmoker), professional
breakout sessions, a legal update, exhibits, Tech Learning Labs and many
opportunities to network with your colleagues (Monday evening event with Jay
Paterno). Once again, in conjunction
with its conference, PAESSP will offer two 30-hour Act 45 PIL-approved
programs, Linking Student Learning to Teacher Supervision and Evaluation
(pre-conference offering on 10/17/15); and Improving Student Learning
Through Research-Based Practices: The Power of an Effective Principal (held
during the conference, 10/18/15 -10/20/15). Register for either or both PIL
programs when you register for the Full Conference!
REGISTER TODAY for
the Conference and Act 45 PIL program/s at:
Apply
now for EPLC’s 2015-2016 PA Education Policy Fellowship Program
Applications are
available now for the 2015-2016 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania
by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC). With more than 400 graduates in its
first sixteen years, this Program is a premier professional development
opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and
community leaders. State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available
to certified public accountants. Past
participants include state policymakers, district superintendents and
principals, charter school leaders, school business officers, school board
members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders,
education advocates, and other education and community leaders. Fellows
are typically sponsored by their employer or another organization. The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day
retreat on September 17-18, 2015 and continues to graduation in June
2016.
Click here to read about
the Education Policy Fellowship Program.
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