Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
SR417,
a resolution directing the Joint State Government Commission to establish an
advisory committee to conduct a study on secondary school start time in this
Commonwealth, was adopted by the PA Senate yesterday.
Robin Lake: Online Charters Redefine School. Now, States Must Redefine Oversight to Accommodate Them & Protect Students
The 74 by Robin Lake October 15, 2018
Robin Lake is director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education as well as affiliate faculty at the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell.
Once again, virtual charter schools are coming under heavy scrutiny. Last week, the Center for American Progress published a report that called for banning for-profit online charter school operators. Soon thereafter, two Democratic U.S. senators called for a Government Accountability Office investigation of virtual charter schools. While meaningful federal action might be unlikely under the current administration, congressional pressure might help force action at the state and local levels. States that have tried to crack down on large virtual charter schools, or hold them accountable for academic and financial issues, have faced massive pushback from online school operators. Still, state-level policymakers, as well as districts and charter school authorizers, don’t need to wait for federal action to improve oversight of virtual charter schools. In 2015, the Center on Reinventing Public Education, Mathematica Policy Research, and Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes together released a series of reports that found dismal academic results in virtual charter schools that warranted immediate action and identified concrete steps regulators and policymakers can take. Since we published our report, the need for better oversight has only become clearer.
https://www.the74million.org/article/robin-lake-online-charters-redefine-school-now-states-must-redefine-oversight-to-accommodate-them-protect-students/
SB1095: Here's what you need to know about Pa. changing the Keystone Exam graduation requirement
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer October 17, 2018
School administrators are praising a soon-to-be law that would provide alternative pathways to high school graduation other than scoring proficient on the Keystone Exams. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday that he would sign Senate Bill 1095 within the next few days. Introduced in April by Republican state Sen. Thomas McGarrigle, the bill has garnered bipartisan support, including that of co-sponsor Ryan Aument, a Republican state senator from Landisville, and local educators. “This works for all learners,” Eastern Lancaster County Superintendent Robert Hollister said. “This is a victory for students and our economy.” Penn Manor Superintendent Mike Leichliter hailed the “commonsense” measure as considering the “whole child” rather than just a student’s test-taking ability. “In this era ... I think it makes a lot more sense for students and schools,” he said. So what does this mean for students? Here’s what you need to know about what’s to come.
https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/here-s-what-you-need-to-know-about-pa-changing/article_5dcc3f5c-d17e-11e8-987d-dba75641f946.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share
SB1095: Wolf to sign law delaying Keystones, changing graduation requirements
Trib Live by JAMIE MARTINES | Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018, 1:12 p.m.
A bill heading to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk this week will delay the Keystone Exam graduation requirements — again — but promises to give students more options for showing that they are prepared to graduate from high school. The Pennsylvania Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that does not eliminate graduation requirements but rather provides alternatives to the Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement. The Keystone Exams are end-of-course assessments intended to assess proficiency in Algebra, literature and biology. In order to graduate under the new law, students must complete course requirements — established by their local schools — in addition to any of the following:
·
Show proficiency on the SAT, PSAT or ACT;
·
Pass an Advanced Placement or International
Baccalaureate exam;
·
Complete a dual-enrollment program;
·
Complete an apprenticeship program;
·
Get accepted to an accredited four-year nonprofit
institution of higher education;
·
Complete a service-learning project;
·
Secure a letter of full-time employment;
·
Achieve an acceptable score on a WorkKeys
assessment, an exam administered by the ACT which assesses workplace
skills including math, reading comprehension and applied technology.
A law
signed by Wolf in 2016 delayed the use of Keystone Exams as a graduation
requirement until the 2019-20 school year. Senate Bill 1095 delays the use of
Keystone Exams until the 2021-22 school year. The tests have been administered
each year in order to satisfy federal guidelines that require schools to submit
data on students’ academic achievement.https://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/14182624-74/wolf-to-sign-law-delaying-keystones-changing-graduation-requirements
A Lancaster city school struggles mightily to overcome student poverty. It should get more funding.
Lancaster Online by THE LNP EDITORIAL BOARD October 18, 2018
THE ISSUE: Staff writer Jeff Hawkes took an in-depth look at George Washington Elementary School in Lancaster city in this week’s Sunday LNP. It is one of six community schools — a seventh is in development — in the School District of Lancaster, which serves 11,300 students in 21 schools. A community school enlists outside partners to help meet the needs of its disadvantaged students. “Washington Elementary — with 96.5 percent of students in or near poverty — began implementing community school strategies in 2008,” Hawkes reported.
The educators at Washington Elementary can’t simply show up and teach. In fact, few teachers in any school district have that luxury these days. But the needs that must be met at Washington Elementary are many and complex: The school’s staff members must work purposefully to build connections with parents, some of whom feared or disliked school as kids. They must connect students with the basic necessities — nutritious food, health care — that kids in suburban schools may take for granted. They must dismantle any possible barriers to academic achievement. So Washington Elementary’s lead partner has been, since 2011, the Boys & Girls Club; an employee of that nonprofit, Arelis Perez, works full time at the school as the point person for community school work. Because parents needing to get to work sometimes dropped off their kids to the school an hour before its doors opened — even in inclement weather — the Boys & Girls Club launched a free before-school program called Wake-Up Washington last year. Now, the 27 to 30 or so students who attend are not only supervised and therefore safer before school, but they also enjoy projects related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Making STEM the morning program’s focus was an excellent decision.
https://lancasteronline.com/opinion/editorials/a-lancaster-city-school-struggles-mightily-to-overcome-student-poverty/article_940d1f3e-d258-11e8-ad1e-ffbcb22e446e.html
Two women battle for Scott Wagner's vacated 28th Senate seat in York County
Rick Lee, York Daily Record Published 11:22 a.m. ET Oct. 17, 2018 | Updated 11:35 a.m. ET Oct. 17, 2018
When Republican state Sen. Scott Wagner decided to challenge fellow York County resident Tom Wolf for the governor's office of Pennsylvania, he quit his day job -- being a senator -- to campaign full-time for governor. As he made that transition, he announced his support for a successor, state Rep. Kristin Phillips-Hill. Now, Phillips-Hill, R-York Township, faces off with Democratic opponent Judith Higgins, of Lower Windsor Township, who bested West York Mayor Shawn Mauck in the primary. The winner of the Nov. 6 general election will become just the second female state senator to represent parts of York County. Republican Sen. Pat Vance represented the northern part of the county from 2005 to 2016. Here are the candidates for the 28th Senate seat, which includes the southern half of York County including the city of York, what they think are the most pressing issues for residents and why they each believe they are the best candidate to fill the seat.
https://www.ydr.com/story/news/2018/10/17/kristin-phillips-hill-judith-higgins-scott-wagner-state-senate-28th-senate-district/1617167002/
Haverford leaders defend township and schools against racism complaints
Inquirer by Kathy Boccella, Updated: October 17, 2018- 9:33 PM
Charges of racial incidences in Haverford Township and its schools – a topic that has roiled the Delaware County township since release of a controversial report on the subject in April – got strong pushback Wednesday night from the district superintendent and police chief at a crowded community forum. Maureen Reusche, superintendent of the Haverford School District, told the gathering of roughly 100 people that "it saddens me" to hear any complaints of racial bias, but she argued that the report from the Haverford-Area Community Action Network dealing with issues such as racial harassment and a lack of nonwhite teachers had mischaracterized the problem. Reusche said she was angry that "there seems to be broad, sweeping generalizations made of the district" in the H-CAN report in alleging discrimination and hate crimes within the Delaware County township. "I know that is not representative of the district as a whole." The schools chief was followed at the forum – sponsored by the Human Relations Commission of Haverford – by Police Chief John Viola, who vehemently disputed the report's contention that drivers in the township, which has a 3.3 percent black population, are racially profiled. Viola showed a slew of data to back his contention that black drivers are not stopped disproportionately more than others.
https://www2.philly.com/philly/education/haverford-leaders-defend-township-and-schools-against-racism-complaints-20181017.html
Study: Philly’s community schools, a Kenney soda-tax priority, show mixed results
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Posted: October 18, 2018- 5:00 AM
Mayor Kenney pitched community schools as a linchpin of his administration, a key reasonPhiladelphia needed the controversial soda tax. It would take a number of public schools and transform them with supports, resources, and a city-paid staffer to coordinate them, enabling school staff to focus more on improving academics. Two years into the initiative — which has a $3.25 million budget this fiscal year — the city's community schools are not yet transformed, and overall, the effort's results have been mixed, according to a study released Thursday by Research for Action, the nonpartisan Philadelphia nonprofit. While there have been some school-level victories, the community-schools model has been hampered by limited coordination between the school system and the Kenney administration and by a lack of standardized systems that could allow leaders to track individual students' progress, the report says. The program "could be improved with stronger leadership from the Mayor's Office of Education and more extensive cross-sector collaboration," it found. Situated around the city, the 12 community schools — Cramp, F.S. Edmonds, Gideon, Gompers, Locke, Logan, and Southwark elementary schools; Tilden Middle School; and Dobbins; Kensington Health Sciences; and South Philadelphia and George Washington high schools — each have a different focus, but the goal is the same: to remove barriers to learning by embedding select resources inside the schools.
https://www2.philly.com/philly/education/philadelphia-soda-tax-community-schools-kenney-20181018.html
National organization looking to offer LGBTQ support in every Philly school
WHYY By Jarrett Lyons October 18, 2018
Principals and school officials are partnering with LGBTQ community leaders to form a Philadelphia branch of the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network. The national organization provides tools and foundations for schools to to address needs of LGBTQ students. Ten years ago, Michael Farrell emailed GLSEN, introducing himself as an out teacher asking for resources for his school. He was surprised that Philadelphia didn’t have a chapter of the organization. Farrell came back to the idea after he worked his way up to principal at the Penn Alexander School, a public K-8 school in West Philadelphia. Now, he said, the time seems ripe. “We have many bright spots already in the city,” Farrell said. “I think the GLSEN chapter will bring a level of collaboration and coordination throughout the city with organizations that are doing great work too.” Farrell wasn’t alone in his thinking.
https://whyy.org/articles/national-organization-looking-to-offer-lgbtq-support-in-every-philly-school/
PA School Boards Association Honors Innovation in Public Education
PSBA Website Mechanicsburg, PA, October 17, 2018 –
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) honored outstanding recipients of the Pennsylvania Education Innovation Awards at a special awards dinner on Oct. 17 as part of the 2018 PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference at the Hershey Lodge & Convention Center. The award, in its second year, recognizes innovative leadership in public school board governance, administration and teaching and is sponsored by CM Regent and CM Cares.
This year's honorees include:
·
Innovative
Teacher Award: Timothy Heffernan, High school gifted support
teacher, Franklin Area High School, Venango County
·
Innovative
School Leader Award: Khalid N. Mumin, Ed.D., Superintendent, Reading
School District, Berks County
·
Innovative
School Board Award: Cumberland Valley Board of School Directors,
Cumberland County
“We are
proud to sponsor the Public Education Innovation Awards,” said Rich
Poirier, president and CEO of Church Mutual Insurance Company. “CM Regent
and CM Cares, the Church Mutual Insurance Company
foundation, believe strongly in the mission of our public schools,
and we are excited to be part of highlighting innovation of school
leaders.” “The Pennsylvania Education Innovation Awards are an opportunity for
us to recognize the commitment to education excellence in public schools around
the state,” said Nathan Mains, CEO, Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
“There continues to be inventive and evolving approaches to the student
experience and educational environments in our commonwealth, and we are pleased
to create recognition for these individuals and groups responsible.”https://www.psba.org/2018/10/pa-school-boards-association-honors-innovation-in-public-education/
Joan L. Benso to Receive the William Howard Day Award Recognizing Outstanding Contributions to Public Education
PSBA Website Mechanicsburg, PA, October 17, 2018 –
The Pennsylvania Public Education Foundation (PaPEF) created the William Howard Day Award in 2015 to recognize outstanding contributions to public education by individuals, groups or organizations across the commonwealth. The PaPEF board of directors is pleased to award the 2018 William Howard Day Award to Joan L. Benso, President and CEO, PA Partnerships for Children. Benso will be presented the award at the Excellence in Public Education Leadership and Awards Dinner during the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at the Hershey Lodge & Convention Center. Benso will join the company of past recipients Senator Patrick Browne and Auditor General Eugene DePasquale in receiving the award that was named in honor of the first African-American school board president in the United States. William Howard Day served the Harrisburg City School Board for six terms starting in 1878 and was a member of the Pennsylvania State Directors’ Association, the predecessor of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA).
https://www.psba.org/2018/10/joan-l-benso-to-receive-the-william-howard-day-award-recognizing-outstanding-contributions-to-public-education/
Miseducation: Is There Racial Inequality at Your School?
ProPublica By Lena V. Groeger, Annie Waldman and David Eads, October 16, 2018
Based on civil rights data released by the U.S. Department of Education, ProPublica has built an interactive database to examine racial disparities in educational opportunities and school discipline. Look up more than 96,000 individual public and charter schools and 17,000 districts to see how they compare with their counterparts.
Data Sources: Most of the data in our interactive comes from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), which is administered by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The department collects data every two years from all schools and districts across the country on a range of topics from Advanced Placement enrollment to suspension rates. The most recent data release, and the one displayed in our interactive, covers the 2015-16 school year. All public schools and districts are required to report data to the department. Many of the fields are broken down by race and ethnicity, providing a snapshot of inequities across the nation’s schools. The CRDC data was used as the master list for all schools and districts to be included in the interactive. Our interactive also includes data from the department’s Common Core of Data (CCD) from the 2015-16 school year. The maps in our interactive include geographic information from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE) dataset from the 2015-16 school year. For the homepage and district pages, we included data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA), which was compiled and analyzed by researchers from the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis, including Sean F. Reardon, Demetra Kalogrides, Andrew Ho, Ben Shear, Kenneth Shores and Erin Fahle. The SEDA dataset, which is comprised of pooled test score data from the 2008-09 to 2014-15 school years, reveals the average difference in grade-level equivalence of students from different racial groups.
https://projects.propublica.org/miseducation/
Groups To Sue Department Of Education For Information On Issue Of Arming Teachers
They want to know if the NRA had a hand in the agency’s decision to allow schools to use federal funds to buy guns.
Huffington Post By Rebecca Klein10/17/2018 05:00 am ET Updated 57 minutes ago
A coalition of advocacy and teacher groups will sue the Department of Education on Wednesday morning for information related to its decision to allow schools to purchase firearms using federal funds. The American Federation of Teachers, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence say the Department of Education is violating federal law by not releasing records related to the decision in a timely manner. In August and September, the groups filed two Freedom of Information Act requests for more information on the decision. The requests, filed on behalf of the groups by Democracy Forward, were designed to glean information on issues such as whether the Education Department was influenced by the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights groups. A request also sought information on which school districts were interested in arming teachers using federal funds. The government is required to determine whether to comply with a FOIA request within 20 days. But according to the lawsuit, also filed by Democracy Forward, the government has fallen short of its statutory obligation. The plaintiffs are requesting expedited processing of their information request, which the government previously denied.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/education-department-betsy-devos-guns-teachers-lawsuit_us_5bc63be1e4b0d38b58727f1d
Math Scores Slide to a 20-Year Low on ACT
Education Week By Catherine Gewertz October 17, 2018
The newest batch of ACT scores shows troubling long-term declines in performance, with students’ math achievement reaching a 20-year low, according to results released Wednesday. The average math score for the graduating class of 2018 was 20.5, marking a steady decline from 20.9 five years ago, and virtually no progress since 1998, when it was 20.6. Each of the four sections of the college-entrance exam is graded on a 36-point scale. “We’re at a very dangerous point. And if we do nothing, it will keep on declining,” ACT’s chief executive officer, Marten Roorda, said in an interview. The pattern in math scores is particularly worrisome at a time when strong math skills are important for the science, engineering, and technology jobs that play powerful roles in the U.S. economy, he said.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/10/17/math-scores-slide-to-a-20-year-low.html
Testing Resistance & Reform News: October 10 -16, 2018
FairTest Submitted by fairtest on October 16, 2018 - 1:55pm
More assessment reform progress to report with Pennsylvania about to roll back its high school exit test and Indiana offering graduation pathways that do not rely on testing. But, there are still many stories about the negative impacts of testing overkill, particularly the damage done to minority and low-income children.
http://www.fairtest.org/testing-resistance-reform-news-october-10-16-2018
“Not only do we have a superstar lineup of keynote speakers including Diane Ravitch, Jesse Hagopian, Pasi Sahlberg, Derrick Johnson and Helen Gym, but there will be countless sessions to choose from on the issues you care about the most. We will cover all bases from testing, charters, vouchers and school funding, to issues of student privacy and social justice in schools.”
Our Public Schools Our Democracy: Our Fight for the Future
NPE / NPE Action 5th Annual National Conference
October 20th - 21st, 2018 Indianapolis, Indiana
We are delighted to let you know that you can purchase your discounted Early Bird ticket to register for our annual conference starting today. Purchase your ticket here.
Early Bird tickets will be on sale until May 30 or until all are sold out, so don't wait. These tickets are a great price--$135. Not only do they offer conference admission, they also include breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and brunch on Sunday. Please don't forget to register for your hotel room. We have secured discounted rates on a limited basis. You can find that link here. Finally, if you require additional financial support to attend, we do offer some scholarships based on need. Go here and fill in an application. We will get back to you as soon as we can. Please join us in Indianapolis as we fight for the public schools that our children and communities deserve. Don't forget to get your Early Bird ticket here. We can't wait to see you.
NSBA 2019 Advocacy Institute January 27-29 Washington Hilton, Washington D.C.
Register now
The upcoming midterm elections will usher in the 116th Congress at a critical time in public education. Join us at the 2019 NSBA Advocacy Institute for insight into what the new Congress will mean for your school district. And, of course, learn about techniques and tools to sharpen your advocacy skills, and prepare for effective meetings with your representatives. Save the date to join school board members from across the country on Capitol Hill to influence the new legislative agenda and shape the decisions made inside the Beltway that directly impact our students. For more information contact federaladvocacy@nsba.org.
2019 NSBA Annual Conference Philadelphia March 30 - April 1, 2019
Pennsylvania Convention Center 1101 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA 19107
Registration Questions or Assistance: 1-800-950-6722
The NSBA Annual Conference & Exposition is the one national event that brings together education leaders at a time when domestic policies and global trends are combining to shape the future of the students. Join us in Philadelphia for a robust offering of over 250 educational programs, including three inspirational general sessions that will give you new ideas and tools to help drive your district forward.
https://www.nsba.org/conference
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