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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup August 17, 2016:
Can
Policymakers Fix What Ails Online Charter Schools?
Nationally, Stanford University reported that online schools have an "overwhelming negative impact," showing severe shortfalls in reading and math achievement. The shortfall for most cyber students, they said, was equal to losing 72 days of learning in reading and 180 days in math during the typical 180-day school year. In math it is as if they did not go to school at all. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a charter advocacy group based in Washington, said the findings were so troubling that the report should be "a call to action for authorizers and policymakers."
Can Policymakers Fix What Ails Online
Charter Schools?
Education
Next By Dara Zeehandelaar and Michael J. Petrilli 08/08/2016A major development of recent years has been the explosive growth of online learning in K–12 education. Sometimes it takes the form of “blended learning,” with students receiving a mix of online and face-to-face instruction. Students may also learn via web-based resources like the Khan Academy, or by enrolling in distance-learning “independent study” courses. In addition, an increasing number of pupils are taking the plunge into fully online schools: In 2015, an estimated 275,000 students enrolled in full-time virtual charter schools across twenty-five states. The Internet has obviously opened a new frontier of instructional possibilities. Much less certain is whether such opportunities are actually improving achievement, especially for the types of students who enroll in virtual schools. In Enrollment and Achievement in Ohio’s Virtual Charter Schools, we at Fordham examined this issue using data from our home state of Ohio, where online charter schools (“e-schools”) are a rapidly growing segment of K–12 education. Today they enroll more than thirty-five thousand students, one of the country’s largest populations of full-time online students. Ohio e-school enrollment has grown 60 percent over the last four years, a rate greater than any other type of public school. But even since they launched, e-schools have received negative press for their poor academic performance, high attrition rates, and questionable capacity to educate the types of students who choose them. It’s clearly a sector that needs attention.
Lancaster Online by KARA NEWHOUSE | Staff
Writer August 16, 2016
A federal judge will hear
evidence today in a lawsuit that claims refugee students are being turned away
at the doors of Lancaster city schools. Six refugees filed a lawsuit in July, saying that the
School District of Lancaster has denied them the "meaningful and equal
education" they are due under federal and state laws. The refugee students are asking the court to
order the district to admit them and all other similar students to McCaskey
High School for the school year that begins Aug. 30. U.S. District Judge Edward G. Smith will hear
testimony on the issue during a hearing today in Easton. Their complaint says that the school district
regularly refuses to admit older immigrant and refugee students, or assigns
them to an "inferior" alternative school — Phoenix Academy — with
insufficient support for overcoming language barriers. An attorney for the students last month called Phoenix Academy an “educational dead end.” The students and their parents are
represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the
Education Law Center and Pepper Hamilton LLP, all of Philadelphia. The district will be represented by Sharon
O'Donnell, of Camp Hill law firm Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman and
Goggin.
Lancaster Online by KARA NEWHOUSE | Staff
Writer August 16, 2016
EASTON, Pa. – For four refugee
students, testifying in federal court Tuesday was similar to a typical day at
Phoenix Academy in Lancaster. A metal
detector greeted them at the entrance. Instructions were given in English.
Hours passed without them knowing what was happening. But that's not the kind of
education they want or deserve, the refugee students told U.S. District Judge
Edward G. Smith. They are part of a
group that is suing School District of Lancaster over the issue. Their
hearing began Tuesday and continues Wednesday.
The students said the district has denied them admission or diverted
them to an alternative school – Phoenix Academy – where they are unable to
learn. They told U.S. District Judge
Edward G. Smith they instead want to enroll at McCaskey High School, the
Lancaster's regular high school.
'Not the school I deserved': Refugee
students take stand in lawsuit against Lancaster schools
Penn Live By Colin Deppen |
cdeppen@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on August 16, 2016 at 5:23 PMEASTON — At 5 years of age, Khadidja Issa fled the heat and civil war of Sudan with her family. She spent the next decade of her life in a Chadian refugee camp before eventually emigrating to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in September of 2015. "We came to get a better education," she told a federal court here on Tuesday. But a lawsuit filed against Lancaster's public school district by Issa and 5 fellow refugee students claims district officials there denied her that opportunity, systematically stalling and stymieing enrollment for older refugee students like them, or placing them into an inferior alternative school described by their attorneys as an educational "dead-end." The class action suit is one of a handful of similar suits filed against school districts in other U.S. states in recent years as a wave of global instability drives new waves of immigration to The West.
on August 16, 2016 at 5:23 PMEASTON — At 5 years of age, Khadidja Issa fled the heat and civil war of Sudan with her family. She spent the next decade of her life in a Chadian refugee camp before eventually emigrating to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in September of 2015. "We came to get a better education," she told a federal court here on Tuesday. But a lawsuit filed against Lancaster's public school district by Issa and 5 fellow refugee students claims district officials there denied her that opportunity, systematically stalling and stymieing enrollment for older refugee students like them, or placing them into an inferior alternative school described by their attorneys as an educational "dead-end." The class action suit is one of a handful of similar suits filed against school districts in other U.S. states in recent years as a wave of global instability drives new waves of immigration to The West.
Trib Live LETTER TO THE EDITOR by
Janet Sardon | Friday, Aug. 12, 2016, 8:57 p.m.
The writer is superintendent of
the Yough School District.
Education is a powerful tool that
we use to prepare children. As a school district superintendent I want to thank
Pennsylvania's legislators for passing a budget, timely and with a slight
increase in education funding. We are thankful for the money and work to
provide students a quality education. Running a district has become a herculean
task for those who struggle to meet their mission while mandated costs
skyrocket. Since 2009-10, our pension
expenses have increased 860 percent, charter school costs have doubled and we
have other expenses that when aggregated significantly impact education. For a
small community, these increases are beyond sustainable and result in
unmanageable tax increases. The 2016-17
budget has been approved and the new formula applied. For our district, funding
increased by 1.9 percent. For some of the affluent districts, the increases
were between 5 percent and 7 percent. I don't understand how that translates
into fair and equitable funding. Educating on an even playing field is impossible.
In my opinion, two things need to
occur: Funding has to significantly increase and districts need to be allocated
money based on poverty and the communities' taxing ability. Districts are
falling behind because of their ZIP code. We need to afford all students the
same opportunities and learning environment.
Erie School District to go into 'watch'
status
Your Erie Published
08/16 2016 05:29PM Updated 08/16 2016 05:29PM
The Erie School District received
unofficial notice that the state plans to put them on “watch” status this
coming school year. Watch is one step
away from recovery status. Chief
Financial Officer Brian Polito said when the district receives $4 million in
emergency funding that was part of the state budget, they'll officially go into
watch status. The district will then
have 180 days to develop a recovery plan while working with state. To get out of watch status, they'll have to
implement that plan and request to be pulled out. "Watch is going to give us another
opportunity to plead our case in Harrisburg,” Polito said. The district does not know when they will
receive that $4 million funding. Aliquippa,
Reading, Steelton-Highspire and Wilkinsburg school districts are currently in
finical watch status. Watch status is a
“selection for participation in the financial watch status is not a statement
about the community, the School Board, the district employees, or the students.
It is a statement about the financial condition of the district and it reflects
a concern that the district, without assistance and/or a change in financial
operations, is at risk for a decline in its ability to serve students as
effectively and efficiently as it could. The factors at the core of the
district’s financial problems could, in fact, be due to the closure of a major
employment facility, the nonpayment of taxes by one or more large taxpayers, or
some other development that is entirely out of the district’s control.”
“The terms of three of the five members
– Chair Marjorie Neff, Sylvia Simms, and Feather Houstoun – are due to
expire in January. Their replacements will be appointed by Mayor Kenney and
Gov. Wolf, both Democrats who were strongly supported by the PFT in their
election campaigns.”
Green ramps up attack on teachers' union,
and Jordan fires back
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa August
16, 2016 — 6:48pm
School Reform Commissioner Bill
Green is ramping up his rhetoric against the Philadelphia Federation of
Teachers, accusing the union of stalling on any contract settlement until the
turnover in School Reform Commission membership that's expected in January. Green, a longtime PFT critic, said the
District has offered a reasonable financial package to the teachers that would
result in “net raises,” even after restructuring medical benefits so that
members contribute toward their health-care costs, which most do not do now. PFT president Jerry Jordan immediately shot
back, accusing Green of “trash talking” and disputing his point that the
District is offering his members a financial deal that the union leadership
could accept in good conscience. “We put fair raises on the
table,” Green said. “Nobody would disagree that members of the PFT should
contribute to health care, like everybody else in America, including all the
surrounding teachers' unions in the suburbs.
“Let’s just face reality,” he added, “it’s not the District that is not
bargaining in good faith, it’s the PFT simply trying to wait for a change in
membership on the SRC.”
Pennsylvania Top Court Says Philadelphia
Can't Cancel Teachers' Contract
Education Week District Dossier
Blog By Denisa R. Superville on August 16, 2016 8:50 AM
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court
ended a long-running legal dispute between the Philadelphia Federation of
Teachers and the school district, ruling Monday that the school district cannot
unilaterally cancel the teachers' union contract. The dispute goes back to October 2014,
when the Philadelphia School Reform Commission, the entity that runs the school
system, called a special school board meeting and
announced that it was cancelling the teachers' union contract and making
changes to the union members' health benefits. The district, then facing serious financial
troubles, hoped to save $43.8 million that school year through the health
benefit changes, and $198 million over a four-year period. Other unions had
made similar concessions, the district said at the time. The move against the teachers' union came
after the district went to court earlier that year to ask for a declaration
that the district had the authority to make changes to work rules and work
conditions. The court declined to issue that declaration.
Trib Live BY STEPHANIE
HACKE | Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016, 3:12 p.m.
School will start on time next
week in the Brentwood Borough School District.
After months of uncertainty surrounding a contract for the district's
teachers, the Brentwood Education Association and Brentwood Borough School
District agreed to a tentative contract Tuesday night. The first day of school for
teachers is Tuesday, and students head back to the classroom Aug. 25. School board members are
scheduled to vote Monday on the pact, while the BEA will meet that night for
the agreement to be presented to the entire membership, Pennsylvania State
Education Association spokesman Matt Edgell said. District negotiation Chair Gary Topolosky
confirmed the tentative agreement Tuesday night. Neither Topolosky or Edgell would provide
terms of the contract, as it has not yet been voted on. Negotiations between the Brentwood Education
Association and district leaders began in January 2015. Teachers have been
working for more than a year under the terms of a contract that expired June
30, 2015.
Spring-Ford Area High School ranked among
best nationally
By Eric Devlin,
The Mercury POSTED: 08/16/16, 11:14 PM
EDT | UPDATED: 3 HRS AGO
ROYERSFORD >> Spring-Ford
Area School District officials had plenty to brag about this week after a national
publication ranked the high school among the best in the country.
With more than 15,000 high
schools under consideration, Spring-Ford ranked in the top 500 high schools
nationally, coming in at number 306 in Newsweek’s 2016 “America’s Top High
Schools” report. Spring-Ford was one of
30 Pennsylvania schools to make the annual list. Connestoga and Unionville High
Schools ranked highest in Pennsylvania at 36 and 49 respectively. Other area high schools to make
the list include Downingtown STEM Academy at 58, Radnor High School at 106,
Great Valley High School at 209, Penncrest High School at 276, West Chester
Bayard Rustin High School at 278, West Chester Henderson High School at 293,
Haverford High School at 294, Upper Dublin High School at 330, West Chester
East High School at 355 and Souderton Area High School at 439. According to the publication’s website, which includes the
full list of schools, “The Newsweek High School Rankings assess schools based
on a broad range of data to determine which institutions do the best job of
preparing students for college.” Spring-Ford, like the other high-achieving
high schools, shined primarily because of student achievement and highly
talented teachers.
FOX 5's Marina Marraco reports. By: fox5dc.com staff POSTED:AUG 15 2016 07:47PM EDT UPDATED:AUG 16 2016 12:47AM EDT
WASHINGTON - Despite Walmart running a back-to-school
campaign calling on people to nominate a teacher to help them receive
school supplies and a $490 gift card – the estimated yearly cost teachers spend
out of their own pocket to supply their classroom – the Washington Teachers’
Union is calling out the retail giant for not doing enough to help public
schools, especially in Washington D.C. The
teachers’ union blasted Walmart at a press conference Friday and called the
promotion “deceitful,” “bogus,” and a “cynical coverup.” The union believes the
Walton family, the owner of the retailer, shortchanges and undermines D.C.
public school students by providing large financial support to charter schools. The union is asking its teachers
not to spend their money and to boycott Walmart.
Sharing Success
It's good to see some charter
schools making efforts to share best practices.
US News By Charles Sahm |
Contributor Aug. 16, 2016, at 9:50 a.m.
When America's first charter
school law was passed in Minnesota 25 years ago, charters were envisioned as
laboratories of innovation that would help inform practices in the broader
public education system. It hasn't worked out that way, however, and the
relationship between charters and district schools has instead been one of
competition and acrimony. But as charters celebrate their silver anniversary,
some of the nation's largest networks are now charting a course back to that
original vision. Some departments of
education are now actively supporting district-charter collaboration. In New
York, the city is taking steps in that direction with the help of Collaborate
NYC, a new nonprofit that brings educators from district and charter schools
together to share best practices. The state Department of Education recently
announced a $4 million, three-year initiative to encourage charter schools in
New York City and Rochester to join forces to improve student achievement. But more
important is the steps charters are taking by themselves to share materials and
pedagogy.
Philly’s 7th Ward Blog BY SHARIF EL-MEKKI AUGUST 10, 2016
Sharif El-Mekki is the principal of Mastery Charter School–Shoemaker Campus, a neighborhood public charter school in Philadelphia that serves 750 students in grades 7-12. From 2013-2015, he was one of three principal ambassador fellows working on issues of education policy and practice with U.S. Department of Education under Secretary Arne Duncan
“We are serving notice that no
longer will the plantation system of… appointing our leaders exist…” This is a quote from Cecil B. Moore, former
president of the Philly chapter of the NAACP. Cecil B. Moore is likely one of
the last unbought and unbossed leader of this previously civil rights-focused
organization. Today’s version of the
NAACP isn’t woke. It’s more woozy than anything. The leaders of the NAACP have
lost their way and are stumbling, bumbling caricatures of their former selves. Questions the NAACP should answer before they
suggest a moratorium on charter schools and school choice for
families include:
In Ohio, Ted Strickland calls for
nationwide moratorium on for-profit charter schools
By Jeremy Pelzer,
cleveland.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
August 16, 2016 at 2:53 PM, updated August 16, 2016 at 6:48 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Democratic U.S.
Senate nominee Ted Strickland on Tuesday said he supports a nationwide
moratorium on for-profit charter schools.
"I'm opposed to for-profit charter schools because I do not believe
that educating our kids should become a for-profit activity," said
Strickland, who
called for a similar freeze in Ohio as governor in 2007. "I would
love to see a nationwide moratorium on for-profit charter schools." Strickland made the comments to reporters at
a downtown Columbus high school after laying out his education priorities if he
defeats Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman in November. The Columbus Democrat spoke out against
"excessive, oppressive testing," saying instead that educators should
use "systems of accountability that inform instruction."
Testing
Resistance & Reform News: August 10 - 16, 2016
FairTest Submitted by
fairtest on August 16, 2016 - 1:21pm
The pace of assessment reform
news quickens as the 2016-2017 academic year begins to unfold across the
U.S. In addition to revitalizing many ongoing controversies, a new issue
in many jurisdictions is how much testing flexibility will be allowed under the
federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Grassroots activists are actively
campaigning to reduce the number of required standardized exams, eliminate
high-stakes test misuses, and create more opportunities to develop better ways
of assessing student learning. If you have friends or colleagues who would
benefit from these weekly updates, encourage them to join the thousands who
have already subscribed at: http://fairtest.org/weekly-news-signup
REGISTER NOW for the 2016 PA Principals Association State Conference, October 30 - November 1, at the The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel in State College.
The Early Bird Discount Deadline has been Extended to Wednesday, August 31, 2016!
PA Principals Association website Tuesday, August 2, 2016 10:43 AM
To receive the Early Bird Discount, you must be registered by August 31, 2016:
Members: $300 Non-Members: $400
Featuring Three National Keynote Speakers: Eric Sheninger, Jill Jackson & Salome Thomas-EL
American Public Education Foundation Website
The Star-Spangled Banner will be sung by school children nationwide on Friday, September 9, 2016 at 10:00am PST and 1:00pm EST. Students will learn about the words and meaning of the flag and sing the first stanza. This will be the third annual simultaneous sing-a-long event created by the APEF-9/12 Generation Project. The project aims to bring students together – as the world came together – on September 12, 2001.
Registration
for the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference Oct. 13-15 is now open
The conference
is your opportunity to learn, network and be inspired by peers and
experts.
TO REGISTER: See https://www.psba.org/members-area/store-registration/
(you must be logged in to the Members Area to register). You can read more
on How
to Register for a PSBA Event here. CONFERENCE WEBSITE: For all other program
details, schedules, exhibits, etc., see the conference website:www.paschoolleaders.org.
PSBA
Officer Elections Aug. 15-Oct. 3, 2016: Slate of Candidates
PSBA members seeking election to
office for the association were required to submit a nomination form no later
than April 30, 2016, to be considered. All candidates who properly completed
applications by the deadline are included on the slate of candidates below. In
addition, the Leadership Development Committee met on June 24 at PSBA
headquarters in Mechanicsburg to interview candidates. According to bylaws, the
Leadership Development Committee may determine candidates highly qualified for
the office they seek. This is noted next to each person’s name with an asterisk
(*). Each school entity will have one
vote for each officer. This will require boards of the various school entities
to come to a consensus on each candidate and cast their vote electronically
during the open voting period (Aug. 15-Oct. 3, 2016). Voting will be
accomplished through a secure third-party, web-based voting site that will
require a password login. One person from each member school entity will be
authorized as the official person to cast the vote on behalf of his or her
school entity. In the case of school districts, it will be the board secretary
who will cast votes on behalf of the school board.
Special note: Boards should be
sure to include discussion and voting on candidates to its agenda during one of
its meetings in September.
PA Supreme Court sets Sept. 13 argument
date for fair education funding lawsuit in Philly
Thorough
and Efficient Blog JUNE 16, 2016 BARBGRIMALDI LEAVE A COMMENT
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