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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA
Ed Policy Roundup Nov 30, 2016
Trump's
Education Pick: Privatization Without Accountability
If you are a school leader in southeastern PA, I look forward to
seeing you at this workshop.
Southeastern
PA Regional Basic Education Funding Formula Workshop
Tuesday, December 6, 2016 @ 6:00 pm: Chester County IU 24
(455 Boot Road, Downingtown, PA
19335)
Registration: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BEFworkshop
Pennsylvania
Every Student Succeeds Act Public Tour
First in a series of Public Events:
Friday, December 2- Pittsburgh- 9:30 am- Community College of
Allegheny County
Community College of Allegheny
County Main Campus in the Tom Forester Student Service Center Auditorium 808
Ridge Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Quoted tweet from Joshua S Goodman, Harvard Economist
Trump's
Education Pick: Privatization Without Accountability
Justin
C. Cohen’s Blog November 29, 2016
Donald Trump nominated Betsy
DeVos to be United States Secretary of Education, and her public record is
long. DeVos has been a fixture in GOP politics for decades, while her family's
financial largesse has supported the conservative
movement since the 1970s. DeVos
was the chairwoman of the Michigan Republican party in the 1990s, and the
easiest way to intuit DeVos’s approach to governance is through examining Michigan education policy,
where she has been an instrumental player for
a generation. As Kevin
Carey wrote in The New York Times:
Working primarily in Michigan,
Ms. DeVos has been a strong advocate of vouchers, and her charter work has
often focused on making charter schools as private as possible … In her home
state, Detroit’s laissez-faire choice policies have led to a
wild west of cutthroat competition and poor academic results. Whereas the majority of charter schools
nationally are, by law, not-for-profit institutions, DeVos fought hard to
proliferate for-profit charters in Michigan. The morass that Carey describes
has elicited disavowal from critical corners of the charter commentariat. Robin
Lake and her colleagues wrote in Education Next last
year:
Even Michigan charter advocates
have trouble defending the overall state of charter quality. Many told us there
were too many low-performing charter schools in Detroit … Detroit is a powerful
illustration of what happens when no one takes responsibility for the entire
system of publicly supported schools in a city. Parents struggle to navigate
their many, mostly low-performing options, and providers face at best weak
incentives to improve academic quality. As a result, large numbers of failing
district and charter schools continue to operate.
Choice without accountability is
a recipe for a race to the bottom. As Harvard economist Joshua S. Goodman
notes, much of what passes for free market ideology suffers from a
misunderstanding of markets.
WHY USING COMPETITION TO IMPROVE THE EDUCATION MARKET ISN’T SO
SIMPLE
Harvard Graduate School
of Education Usable Knowledge Blog BY LEAH SHAFER, ON
NOVEMBER 29, 2016 3:32 PM
When President-elect Donald
Trump tapped Betsy DeVos as his pick for U.S. Secretary of Education, he
triggered a debate over whether widespread school choice — like the voucher
system that DeVos supports — would really boost student achievement across the
country.
The selection has raised larger
questions about who should finance education, how schools should be held
accountable, and even how we define the value of a public school system.
Educational economist Joshua
Goodman took to Twitter to
explore another question: whether increased competition would definitively
improve the education market. We asked
Goodman, an associate professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, to share his
thoughts with Usable Knowledge.
“Drawing on the family wealth of her
husband, an heir to the Amway fortune, DeVos helped push through a Michigan law
allowing for an explosion of charter schools without establishing a strong
mechanism for regulating them.
The result has been a boon for private
investors, but not for schoolchildren. Eighty percent of charter schools in
Michigan are run by for-profit entities, and most of them perform below the
state average. Even more, a federal review last year found that charter schools
represented an "unreasonably high" fraction of Michigan's lowest-performing
schools. Meanwhile, DeVos helped defeat
a measure that would have created a system for closing charter schools that
failed. The irony was almost as rich as Betsy DeVos herself. Charter-school
advocates have long insisted that their reform would force underperforming
public schools to improve their product or close up shop. When charter schools
came under fire for low performance, however, DeVos made sure their doors
stayed open.”
Commentary: Get past stale debates on
charter schools
By Jonathan Zimmerman Updated: NOVEMBER 30, 2016 —
3:01 AM ESTJonathan Zimmerman, who teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania, is the author of "Campus Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know" (Oxford University Press) jlzimm@aol.com
You're an enemy of American
public schools!
You're an enemy of poor American
children!
Welcome to our national debate -
such as it is - over charter schools, which received a shot in the arm last
week after President-elect Trump nominated Michigan charter-school activist
Betsy DeVos for secretary of education. In predictably lockstep fashion, DeVos'
critics warned that charter schools are harming American public education;
meanwhile, her champions said charters improve schooling for America's least
privileged kids. They're both wrong.
Nearly three million children now attend about 7,000 charter schools, which
have witnessed astonishing successes and awful failures and everything in
between. So any blanket generalization about "charter schools" will
almost surely be false. We know that
some charter schools like those in the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) have
helped poor kids make stronger academic gains than their similarly
disadvantaged peers in regular public schools. But we also know that other
charter schools have been cesspools of corruption and inefficiency, enriching
private entrepreneurs and giving students little or nothing in return.
The
Long Game of Betsy DeVos
To
understand Betsy DeVos’ vision for education, you have to know where
she comes from…I first laid eyes upon Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, at Campbell Brown’s forum for GOP presidential contenders. It was the summer of 2015, back when Trump was little more than a punchline, and Jeb Bush, despite drooping in the August heat that day, still seemed like the real contender. Because the event wasn’t an official debate, Bush, Walker, Vindal, Fiorina et al couldn’t appear on stage together—which meant that Brown asked the same questions of each, and got similar pablum-esque non-answers, in an endless *conversational* format. And then suddenly there was Betsy DeVos, a Brown chum, holding forth about an education *moonshot.* It wasn’t what she said that interested me so much as what she represented. Could the education reform coalition’s major selling point, its bipartisan-ness, really stretch to incorporate the extreme right-wing views of DeVos? Mightn’t it be better for her to remain in the favored domain of the DeVos family, the shadows, or at least in Michigan?
“DeVos may have problems not only from
the left but from the political center as she appears to be out of step with
many charter school advocates in cities where charters often represent 30
percent or more of student enrollment. For one thing, she has supported
for-profit charters in Michigan, while the overwhelming majority of charters
are run by nonprofits with an explicitly public purpose.
Second, she has not always seemed to
prioritize quality over choice. There is a chasm within the charter world
between those who view choice as the road to quality and those who view quality
as an intentional practice and not a natural byproduct of choice. DeVos’ view
that choice leads inexorably to quality is a more libertarian view than is
found among most school reformers. Most
high quality charter operators are happy to see poorly performing charters
challenged or even shut down. They value the relative autonomy of charters,
which they claim as necessary to enable stronger performance. But they know
that autonomy alone does not ensure performance. Moreover, they view the
credibility of the charter movement as linked to the capacity to perform and
innovate.”
TRUMP AND THE CITY, PART 1A primer on how to navigate our new reality. This week: The next education battle
The Philadelphia Citizen BY JEREMY NOWAK NOV. 29, 2016
Let’s begin with the obvious: From the perspective of rewarding his base, Donald Trump owes little to cities. After all, his winning electoral numbers were overwhelmingly rural, small town industrial belt, and exurban. But while the majority of hand-wringing these past two weeks has been from Democrats wondering how they lost the Midwest, there is another subtext to the election that warrants introspection: The cities and metropolitan regions that voted Democratic are increasingly the major generators of economic value and population in America. So if Republicans want to convert 2016 into a longer-term triumph they too have lots of work to do. Trump has two domestic political challenges: (1) How to reward his base and (2) how to broaden his base. While those problems are common political fare, for Trump the task is especially difficult. Here are the two central policy and political problems facing the president-elect:
Blogger note: Have an opinion about the
appointment of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education? Call these three senators today.
1. Senator Lamar Alexander, Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions CommitteeWashington, D.C. Phone:(202) 224-4944
2.
Senator Toomey's Offices
Washington, D.C. Phone: (202) 224-4254
Senator Casey is a member of the Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
3.
Senator Casey’s Offices
Washington, D.C. Phone: (202) 224-6324
Toll Free: (866) 802-2833
Civil Rights Advocates React Warily to
Betsy DeVos, Trump's Pick for Ed. Sec.
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Andrew Ujifusa on November 29, 2016 8:12 AM
Betsy DeVos, the major Republican
Party donor who's been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to
be his education secretary, is best known as an advocate for school choice of
various kinds, including vouchers and tax-credit scholarships. But her views on
civil rights issues for students and protections for disadvantaged learners and
other student groups aren't as clear. In a speech given at the 2016 annual meeting
of the American Federation for Children, the school choice advocacy
group she chairs, DeVos cast vouchers, charters, and scholarships as upholding
students' rights in the context of educational opportunity, saying,
"School choice is the pathway for millions of children to get the
education they deserve." In the same speech, she also said choice
advocates "fight for kids who don't fit in." You can watch her speech
at the top of this blog post. But how
have traditional civil rights advocacy groups involved in education and others
responded to Trump's nomination of DeVos? Several of them expressed concern
about how school choice by itself does not address inequities and
discrimination faced by minority and other communities. In fact, a few worried
that school choice programs often undercut protections for students. We've
rounded up some of their reactions below. Let us know in the comments if you
think we're missing reactions from any notable groups or individuals.
"It looks like oversight is one of
the keys to successful school reform," Harris said. With "Betsy
DeVos, the odds of that happening are not so great." For one, "she's
the architect of the Detroit system," which he said has been plagued by under-regulation and
for-profit companies.”
Betsy DeVos has a loud voice in Louisiana
politics
By Danielle
Dreilinger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Email the
author | Follow
on Twitter on November 23, 2016 at 4:52 PM, updated November 23,
2016 at 11:45 PM
Trump's chosen
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her organizations have spent a lot
of money in Louisiana. How much? Try $1.6 million in campaign contributions
alone, according to Louisiana ethics filings.
DeVos heads the Alliance for School Choice and the American
Federation for Children, which in turn runs the Louisiana Federation for
Children. Trump announced her as his nominee Wednesday (Nov. 23). Louisiana Education Superintendent John White commended
the selection. He spoke at an AFC
policy summit in 2015. "Betsy
DeVos has long advocated for the rights of families and children to a quality
education," he said. "We congratulate her on being nominated for
Secretary of Education, and we look forward to working with her." The Louisiana federation plays in races for
governor, the Legislature and local and state education boards. It is
nonpartisan, supporting both Democratic and Republican candidates and
committees. Its criterion seems simply to be: does this person support charter schools, which
are publicly funded but run by nonprofits, and vouchers, which pay
private school tuition?
State
comes together to improve STEM programs
Centre Daily Times BY BRITNEY
MILAZZO bmilazzo@centredaily.com
NOVEMBER 29, 2016 7:26 PM
Pedro Rivera called Centre County
the “epicenter” for science education defined by STEM — science, technology,
engineering and math. The state
Department of Education secretary spoke to about 50 people Tuesday morning at
the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center during a meeting with the state
STEM committee and stakeholders invested in enhancing science education. And he said a place like Penn State is an
ideal place to start. According to a
report from PDE, Gov. Tom Wolf set a goal to increase the number of full-time
students enrolled in STEM majors at state universities to 10,000 by 2020. His
administration also plans to secure about $640 million in additional funding
for schools to help better prepare students for college and career readiness in
specific fields. But the STEM meeting
Tuesday was just a start to what Rivera said will help with long-term goals for
STEM programs.
Karen
Beck Pooley: Why Bethlehem school board approved charter school agreement
Bethlehem school board member
explains decision on charter school renewal
Morning Call Opinion by Karen
Beck Pooley November 29, 2016
A week ago Monday night, I was
part of Bethlehem Area School Board's unanimous decision to
renew the charter for Lehigh Valley Academy Regional Charter School. Like other members of the board, I would have
much preferred to vote no on this renewal. Over the last several months, we
reviewed materials from the charter school, debated this issue at multiple
public meetings, and sent a school district contingent (made up of
administrators, educators and board members) to visit the school. We generated
a long list of concerns and several reasons for denying the charter outright. To highlight a few of these reasons:
Philly teachers trade tips for 'Educating
in the time of Trump'
WHYY Newsworks BY AVI WOLFMAN-ARENT NOVEMBER 30, 2016
On Tuesday night a liberal group
of teacher activists held a workshop in North Philadelphia and titled it
“Educating in the Time of Trump.” The
organizers expected roughly 10 people to attend, about 70 showed up. Still more
— some from other states — requested the session be shared on video. Clearly the presidential election is still
reverberating in city classrooms. Now the question: What happens with all that
energy? The Teacher Action Group, which
organized of the event, hopes the impending presidency of Donald Trump will
galvanize Philadelphia’s politically progressive teachers. “We know people are hungry to come together
around this,” said Anissa Weinraub, who co-led the workshop. The extent of that hunger — and what exactly
it means in terms of actual political muscle — remains an open question. But
those who gathered Tuesday night said the recent election has touched them and
their students more deeply than other current events.
Alumnus appointed as chief education
officer for city
Otis Hackney was appointed to the
Mayor’s Office of Education last year.
The
Temple News by Erin
Moran 29 November 2016
School never came easy for Otis
Hackney, but struggling as a student gave the “kid from 56th Street” a deeper
appreciation for education. Now, the
1998 secondary education and mathematics alumnus is the chief education officer
for the City of Philadelphia. Hackney
was appointed by Mayor Jim Kenney last year after he successfully transformed
South Philadelphia High School — a school that made national headlines in 2010 due
to racial violence among students — into a “community school” during his time
as principal. During the rest of his
first term as the chief education officer, he said he will create 25 more
community schools, which double as hubs within the community to provide
families with resources. He also hopes to open 2,000 new pre-kindergarten seats
for Philadelphia children.
Philly Trib by Chanel Hill
Tribune Staff Writer November 29, 2016
Offering an experience that
connects students to the community, challenge them in academics, give them
hands-on experiences in the fields of science and agriculture, and prepares
them for their future is what students find most appealing about W.B. Saul High
School of Agricultural Sciences. Located
at 7100 Henry Ave., Saul sits on a 130-acre campus. On one side of Henry Avenue
are academic, agriculture, greenhouses, physical education/health and small
animal laboratory buildings bordered by an arboretum and athletic fields. On the opposite side of Henry Avenue is the
working farm, which houses poultry, dairy, swine, sheep, horses and the
school’s meat science program. These buildings are bordered by the school’s
golf course, nursery, field crops and pasture area for the livestock.
York
Dispatch by Alyssa
Pressler , 505-5438/@AlyssaPressYD3:45 p.m. EST November 29, 2016
Across the state and county,
two noticeable trends emerged in schools' exams and student performance scores
in 2016: middle school exams and performance scores dropped, while high school
performance scores increased. Students
in grades 3 to 8 take Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA)
exams each spring. In 2015, new, more rigorous standards were introduced to the
students which caused a drop in PSSA scores for every district in the county.
The 2016 exams marked the second year the more difficult standards
were used. Overall school districts saw slight improvements in 2016, but
middle school students tended to struggle on the exam, both locally and
statewide. Student Performance Profile scores (SPP)
are given to each individual school in each district based on a variety of
indicators, but they rely heavily on standardized test scores. For
the first time since 2011, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) saw
significant growth on math Keystone exams taken at the high school level, which
affected high school SPP scores. But
some administrators believe the SPP scores rely too heavily on standardized
test scores.
Selinsgrove schools controversial
transgender practice topic of Wednesday public forum
By John Beauge |
Special to PennLive on November 29, 2016 at 4:10 PM,
updated November 29, 2016 at 4:11 PM
SELINSGROVE -- A controversial
practice in the Selinsgrove Area School District that permits transgender
students to use the bathroom and lockers of their choice will be topic of
community forum Wednesday evening. A
brief overview of the issue will be presented followed by an opportunity for
public comment. Board members will be
listeners at the forum scheduled for 7 p.m. in the middle school auditorium,
said President Larry Augustine Tuesday. Transgender
students in the school district since the first day of classes this fall have
been allowed to use the restroom and locker area of their choice, explained
Superintendent Chad Cohrs.
The school board consented to the
practice but has not adopted it as a policy, he said. There have been no issues
in the schools, he said.
Trib Live by TONY
RAAP | Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016, 7:12 p.m.
Teachers at the Ambridge Area
School District plan to walk off the job next month if their contract impasse
continues. The district's 190 teachers
intend to strike Dec. 13, school board member James Sas said Tuesday. The teachers' union and district officials
will meet Dec. 12 to try to reach a contract agreement. The school district has proposed that
teachers contribute more to their health care plans. Teachers pay a flat rate for health coverage.
The district wants to move to a percentage-based payment, which the teachers'
union does not want.
Trib Live by JACOB
TIERNEY | Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016, 6:48 p.m.
Two years of negotiations ended
Tuesday as the Greensburg Salem school board voted 8-1 to approve a 3-year
teachers contract. Details of the
agreement are forthcoming. Bargaining
between the district and the Greensburg Salem Education Association had been
deadlocked for months. Teachers worked without a contract from July 2015 to
March before agreeing to a one-year retroactive pay freeze. That expired in
July, and the stalemate began again. The
union, which represents 200 teachers, nurses and counselors, threatened to
strike this month if a deal was not reached.
Trib Live by AARON
AUPPERLEE | Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016, 11:00 p.m.
Low subscription numbers and
advertising rates in the Pittsburgh area eventually forced Trib Total Media to
stop printing the Pittsburgh edition of the Tribune-Review and shift its focus
to digital publishing, company President and CEO Jennifer Bertetto said. Nov. 30 is the last print edition of the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. On Dec. 1, the Pittsburgh Trib will continue to
publish news about the city and Allegheny County as well as the latest sports
and investigative news and stories about health, politics and technology on its
website, www.triblive.com,
and through a new e-edition delivered via email.
In
Celebration of the Release of the Movie Hidden Figures, IBM and
Vanity Fair Studios Profiles Notable and Diverse Role Models in S.T.E.M.
Photographed by Amanda
Demme CONTENT
PRODUCED BY VANITY FAIR STUDIOS WITH IBM NOVEMBER 23, 2016 12:28 PM
International Tests Show Rising, But
Mixed, Math and Science Performance
Education Week By Sarah D. Sparks on November
29, 2016 4:00 AM
U.S. students are generally
improving in math and science, along with their peers around the globe, but the
latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study results—including
a longitudinal look for the 20th anniversary of the tests—show more of a slow
uphill slog than a breakout performance.
"The [United States] is a large and diverse country, so it's
difficult to see a large increase over a short time," said Michael O. Martin,
a co-executive director of the International Association for the Evaluation of
Educational Achievement's TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center at Boston
College. The center has conducted the TIMSS in the United States, with the
National Center on Education Statistics, every four years since 1995. The TIMSS is based on specific
content areas, and NCES Acting Commissioner Peggy Carr noted that U.S.
students' performance in different math topics varied significantly on the test
over time. While 8th graders' performance in geometry and algebra improved
significantly from 2007 to 2015, their scores flatlined on number theory and
actually declined significantly on problems of data and chance. Similarly, U.S.
students improved significantly in their performance on life science and
biology topics, but their scores in physics and earth sciences stagnated.
Exploring the consequences of charter
school expansion in U.S. cities
Economic Policy
Institute Report • November 30, 2016
Executive Summary: This report highlights patterns
of charter school expansion across several large and mid-size U.S. cities since
2000. In this report, the focus is the loss of enrollments and revenues to
charter schools in host districts and the response of districts as seen through
patterns of overhead expenditures. I begin by identifying those cities and
local public school districts that have experienced the largest shifts of
students from district-operated to charter schools, and select from among those
cities illustrative examples of the effects of charter school expansion on host
district finances and enrollments.
http://www.epi.org/publication/exploring-the-consequences-of-charter-school-expansion-in-u-s-cities/
National Advocacy Group Launches Charter
School Legal Defense Fund
Education Week Charters &
Choice Blog By Arianna Prothero on November 28, 2016 11:40 AM
The nation's largest charter
advocacy group has launched a legal action and defense fund.
The National Alliance for Public
Charter Schools describes its new Charter School Legal Defense Fund as a
"watchdog and resource" that will help defend charters in lawsuits
and further charter causes through litigation.
Although charter schools have made significant inroads across the
country in the last 25 years through legislation—43 states and the District of
Columbia now allow for charter schools to operate—the alliance said in a
statement released earlier this month that it now needs to focus more attention
on the judicial branch. One recent
high-profile loss for advocates happened last year when Washington state's
supreme court ruled the state's charter law was
unconstitutional based largely on how charter schools were funded.
The good — and very, very bad — education
news of 2016
Washington Post Answer
Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss November
30 at 4:00 AM
Every
year veteran teacher Larry Ferlazzo writes a list of the best/worst education
news of the year. Here is his 2016 version, which includes “bad” news that
includes the consequences of the 2016 presidential election, in
which Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. See what you think. Ferlazzo teaches English
and social studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento,
California. He has has written numerous books
on education, writes a teacher
advice blog for Education Week Teacher and has his own popular resource-sharing blog. Ferlazzo says that he doesn’t presume that
his list is all-encompassing, and he hopes readers will share their own ideas
about what 2016 brought to the world of education. In his list below, he
first looks at the best news and then the worst — but does not rank them within
these categories.
U.S.
Department of Education releases final accountability & state plans
regulations
NSBA Website on November 29, 2016
Charlotte Blane
The U.S. Department posted final
regulations on the implementation of accountability, data reporting,
and state plan provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to the
federal register today. The Department is expected to release guidance on the
regulations within the next several weeks and host a series of webinars
beginning in January 2017. Following are
several provisions of the regulations denoting what the Department says states
can and must do, the new timeline, and links to the Department’s full
regulatory document, fact sheet, timeline, and press release.
- See more at: https://www.nsba.org/newsroom/us-department-education-releases-final-accountability-state-plans-regulations#sthash.vHL7nPrG.dpuf
The Department of Education (PDE) is holding a series of public events to engage the public on important education topics in Pennsylvania. The primary focus of these events will be the Every Student Succeeds Act, the federal education law signed by President Barack Obama in late 2015. A senior leader from the department will provide background on the law, and discuss the ongoing
development of Pennsylvania’s State Plan for its implementation, which will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in 2017. Feedback is important to PDE; to provide the best avenue for public comment as well as provide an opportunity for those who cannot attend an event, members of the community are encouraged to review materials and offer comments at www.education.pa.gov/Pages/Every-Student-Succeeds-Act
Upcoming Public Events:
Friday, December 2- Pittsburgh- 9:30 am- Community College of Allegheny County
Community College of Allegheny County Main Campus in the Tom Forester Student Service Center Auditorium 808 Ridge Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Thursday, December 8- Erie- 2:30 pm- Tom Ridge Environmental Center (room TBA)
Friday, December 9- Lock Haven- 1 pm- Lock Haven University
Time and specific locations for the following events, TBA
Friday, December 16- Philadelphia
Wednesday, January 4- Quakertown
Tuesday,
January 10- Scranton
“The “Success Starts Here” campaign is a
multi-year statewide effort to share the positive news about public education
through advertising, web, social media, traditional media and word-of-mouth
with the goal of raising understanding of the value of public education in
Pennsylvania. The campaign is led by the Pennsylvania School Boards
Association, but relies on the support of a wide variety of participating
organizations.”
Share
Your School’s Story: Success Starts Here Needs You!
Success Starts Here needs you!
Show your support by sharing stories, using social media and applying window
clings to all of your school buildings. Below are some links to resources to
help you help us.
Not sure where to start? This
simple tool kit will provide to you everything you need to get
involved in the campaign, including ways to work with the media, social media
tips, a campaign article to post, downloadable campaign logos, and photo
release forms.
We know you have great stories,
and it’s easy to share them! Just use our simple form to send your success story to be featured on our
website. Help spread the word about how Success Starts Here in today’s public
schools.
All school entities have been
sent a supply of window clings for school building entrances. Need more? No
problem! Just complete the online order form and more will quickly be on their way to you.
CCIU to host documentary screening and
educational discussion
By Ginger Dunbar,
Daily Local News POSTED: 11/21/16,
3:25 PM EST
DOWNINGTOWN >> Joining a
worldwide campaign to re-imagine education, the Chester County Intermediate
Unit (CCIU) will host a screening and discussion of “Most Likely to Succeed.”
The documentary screening will be on Nov. 30 from 5:45 – 8 p.m. at
the Technical College High School Brandywine Campus at 455 Boot Road. It will feature a student
panel, round-table dialogue and an open forum discussion following the
screening. Complimentary dinner will be served at 5 p.m. “Most Likely to Succeed” offers an innovative
look at the current educational system and asks audiences to consider a new
vision. The film examines the history of education in the United States,
revealing the growing shortcomings of conventional education methods in today’s
technology-driven world, according to film-makers. They added that the film
offers an “inspiring look at what students and teachers are capable” of with a
vision and the courage to transform their schools.
Webinar:
PSBA Board President’s Forum DEC 7,
2016 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Join fellow board presidents and
superintendents for the latest topics affecting public education in this new
webinar series hosted by 2016 President Kathy Swope. After registering, you will receive a
confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
PASBO
is seeking eager leaders! Ready to serve on the board? Deadline for intent
letter is 12/31.
PASBO
members who desire to seek election as Director or Vice President should send a
letter of intent with a current resume and picture to the Immediate Past
President Wanda M. Erb, PRSBA, who is chair of the PASBO Nominations
and Elections Committee.
PASA, PSBA, PAIU, PARSS, the PA
Principals Association and PASBO are traveling around the state to conduct
regional workshops for school leaders to provide them with more information on
the new basic education funding formula. Register below to attend one of 8
regional workshops to learn more about the new formula and what it means for
your school district and for the state. Please note that capacity is limited at
each location and registration is required. A webcast option is also available.
These regional workshops are being supported by a grant from the William Penn
Foundation.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016 @ 6:00 pm: Chester County IU 24 (455 Boot Road, Downingtown, PA 19335)
Registration: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BEFworkshop
Join us for a public forum featuring state, city and civic leaders sponsored by Philadelphia Media Network, the Philadelphia Public School Notebook and Drexel University's School of Education.
Creese Student Center 3210 Chestnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19104
It's been 15 years since the state took control of Philadelphia's schools and created the School Reform Commission. Since then, the SRC has been a polarizing presence in the city.
With the recent resignation of two members of the commission and the term of a third expiring soon, the future of the SRC and the issue of school governance is once again at the forefront of the civic dialogue. Is the SRC the only model to consider? Should Philadelphia create an elected school board, or should the governing body be controlled by the Mayor? Are there models in other cities that could help us rethink our own school governance? The Philadelphia Public School Notebook, Philadelphia Media Network -- owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com, and Drexel University's School of Education are hosting a public forum on this critical issue.
RSVP - Admission is free, but you must register in advance. Register now, and find out more about the panelists and other details at our registration page. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/who-should-run-philadelphias-schools-tickets-28926705555
PSBA Virtual New School Director Training, Part 1
JAN 4, 2017 • 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
The job of a school board director is challenging. Changing laws, policies, and pressures from your community make serving on your school board demanding, yet rewarding at the same time. Most school directors – even those with many years of experience – say that PSBA training is one of the most important and valuable things they have done in order to understand their roles and responsibilities. If you are a new school board director and didn’t have the opportunity to attend one of PSBA’s live New School Director Training events, you can now attend via your computer, either by yourself from your home or office, or with a group of other school directors.
This is the same New School Director Training content we offer in a live classroom format, but adjusted for virtual training.
Part 1
·
Role and
responsibilities of the school board director.
·
How to
work with PSBA’s member services team.
·
Your
role as an advocate for public education.
·
The
school board’s role in policy.
(See
also: Part 2, Jan. 11; Part 3, Jan. 18)Fee: $149 per person includes all three programs. Materials may be downloaded free, or $25 for materials to be mailed to your home (log in to the Members Area and purchase through the Store/Registration link).
Register online: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6607237329490796034
PSBA Third Annual Board Presidents Day
JAN 28, 2017 • 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM Nine Locations Statewide
Jan. 28, 2017 (Snow date: Feb. 11, 2017)
Calling all school board presidents, vice-presidents, and superintendents — Join us for the 3rd Annual PSBA Board Presidents Day held at nine convenient locations around the state.
This is a day of meeting fellow board members from your area and taking part in thought-provoking dialogue about the issues every board faces. PSBA Past President Kathy Swope will start things off with an engaging presentation based on her years as board president at the Lewistown Area School District. Bring your own scenarios to this event to gain perspective from other districts. Cost: $109 per person – includes registration, lunch and materials. All-Access Package applies. Register online by logging in to the Members Area (see the Store/Registration link to view open event registrations, https://www.psba.org/members-area/store-registration/)
NSBA Advocacy
Institute 2017 -- Jan. 29-31, Washington, D.C.
Join school directors around the country at the conference designed to give you the tools to advocate successfully on behalf of public education.
Join school directors around the country at the conference designed to give you the tools to advocate successfully on behalf of public education.
- NSBA will help you develop a winning
advocacy strategy to help you in Washington, D.C. and at home.
- Attend timely and topical breakout
sessions lead by NSBA’s knowledgeable staff and outside experts.
- Expand your advocacy network by swapping
best practices, challenges, and successes with other school board members
from across the country.
This
event is open to members of the Federal Relations
Network. To find
out how you can join, contact Jamie.Zuvich@psba.org. Learn more about the Advocacy
Institute at https://www.nsba.org/events/advocacy-institute.
Register now
for the 2017 NSBA Annual Conference
Plan to join public education leaders for networking and learning at the 2017 NSBA Annual Conference, March 25-27 in Denver, CO. General registration is now open at https://www.nsba.org/conference/registration. A conference schedule, including pre-conference workshops, is available on the NSBA website.
Plan to join public education leaders for networking and learning at the 2017 NSBA Annual Conference, March 25-27 in Denver, CO. General registration is now open at https://www.nsba.org/conference/registration. A conference schedule, including pre-conference workshops, is available on the NSBA website.
SAVE THE DATE LWVPA Convention 2017 June
1-4, 2017
Join the
League of Women Voters of PA for our 2017 Biennial Convention at the beautiful
Inn at Pocono Manor!