Monday, November 21, 2011

The Yin and Yang of School Reform



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The Yin and Yang of School Reform

More than 1 in 5 U.S. children poor, Census says

WASHINGTON | Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:20pm EST
(Reuters) - The number of children in the United States considered poor rose by 1 million in 2010, the U.S. Census said on Thursday, with more than one in five of the youngest Americans now living in poverty.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/18/us-usa-poverty-children-idUSTRE7AG2C920111118

 

Mr. Gureghian’s company runs Pennsylvania’s largest charter school, which Governor Corbett visited earlier this year.  Gureghian was Corbett’s largest individual campaign donor and served on his Education Transition Team.

Palm Beach Florida Daily News

By DARRELL HOFHEINZ
DAILY NEWS HOME & LOGGIA EDITOR
Posted: 4:04 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011

Owners on the record — There’s finally word about who bought 1071 N. Ocean Blvd. and the lot next door for a combined $28.9 million — the year’s second-largest Palm Beach residential purchase by a single buyer.

http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/06/follow-money-contributions-by-vahan.html

 

Despite the large political contributions made by Mr. Gureghian and the pro-voucher Students First PAC, our elected officials may want to stand up and take notice that education voters will not be sitting idly by…..

Chesco school vote tally drags on

It is still not clear whether a coalition's write-in effort won in the West Chester Area School District.

By Anthony Campisi and Dan Hardy, Inquirer Staff Writers November 20, 2011

For as long as anyone can remember, the path to the West Chester Area School District school board led through the Republican Party.  A GOP endorsement was the ticket to primary and general-election victory. That may have changed Nov. 8.  An improbable coalition of moderate Republicans, Democrats, and independents, saying the school board had been taken over by right-wing, anti-public-education forces, decided to fight back.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20111120_Chesco_school_vote_tally_drags_on.html?page=1&c=y

Related websites:

West Chester VOTE.org

Chester County Americans for Christian Traditions in our Nation

 

"The lowest-performing schools are filled with the greatest number of children in poverty, and as a nation, we don't talk about that," he said. "Instead, we threaten the teachers of poor children for not winning a race that's clearly unfair to begin with."

Politics mix with education reforms

State seeking Race to the Top cash, undecided on No Child Left Behind waivers.

By Steve Esack, Of The Morning Call
11:45 p.m. EST, November 20, 2011
Pennsylvania's Department of Education will try to win a share of $200 million that President Barack Obama's administration is giving away in his controversial Race to the Top education grant initiative.
But state officials have yet to decide if they will apply for another of Obama's education plans — one that would waive much-maligned mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act if states agree to adopt many of the same reform measures the president is pushing in Race to the Top.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-pa-race-to-the-top-20111120,0,4615102.story

 

EPLC School Choices Forum on 11/29 in Harrisburg

Sponsored by The Education Policy and Leadership Center

Tuesday, November 29, 2011, Hilton Harrisburg Hotel
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs043/1103584053062/archive/1108649292598.html

 

Franklin and Cumberland County Legislative Forum on Public Education

Thursday, December 1, 2011 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (ET), Shippensburg, PA

Co-sponsored by The Shippensburg University Teacher Education Department and Education Matters in the Cumberland Valley.

RSVP here: http://franklinandcumberlandcountylegislativeforum.eventbrite.com/

 

Video: School Vouchers and a Financial Literacy Update on Terry Madonna’s Pennsylvania Newsmakers
LancasterOnline.com; Education segment runs from 4:27 to 13:00 of the video
This week's Pennsylvania Newsmakers with Terry Madonna features Scott Detrow of StateImpact PA, with a Marcellus Shale update, and Tom Gentzel, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, who discusses school reforms and school choice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4zrw3Olv2U

 

“our failing public schools”

Fast Facts: The success story of Pennsylvania public education

Written on October 6, 2011 by PSBA

http://standupforpubliceducation.org/2011/10/06/the-success-story-of-pennsylvania-public-education/

 


 

Use Education Voters PA website to contact your PA State Representatives today asking them to oppose taxpayer funded vouchers:

For more info/background -  PSBA’s Tuition Voucher Issue Page
http://www.psba.org/issues-advocacy/issues-research/vouchers/index.asp


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Friday, November 18, 2011

“According to disclosures reported in Business Week, Pennsylvania’s Agora Cyber Charter School—K12 Inc.’s online school generated $31.6 million for K12 Inc. in the past academic year."

Visit us on Facebook at KeystoneStateEducationCoalition
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

 

PA House Cancels Voting Days Next Week

PA Capitol Digest November 17, 2011
Speaker Sam Smith announced the House is canceling voting session for next week. The House will return to session December 5

http://pacapitoldigestcrisci.blogspot.com/2011/11/house-cancels-voting-days-next-week.html

 

Excerpts from the Nation article cited below:

 

"According to disclosures reported in Business Week, Pennsylvania's Agora Cyber Charter School—K12 Inc.'s online school, which allows students to take all their courses at home using a computer—generated $31.6 million for K12 Inc. in the past academic year."


"For White Hat Management, the politically connected Ohio for-profit operating both traditional and virtual charter schools, the success rate under NCLB was a mere 2 percent, while for schools run by K12 Inc., it was 25 percent. A major review by the Education Department found that policy reforms embracing online courses "lack scientific evidence" of their effectiveness."

 

"Why are our legislators rushing to jump off the cliff of cyber charter schools when the best available evidence produced by independent analysts show that such schools will be unsuccessful?" asked Ed Fuller, an education researcher at Pennsylvania State University, on his blog.

 

Blogger's note: Agora has never made AYP and is in it's second year of Corrective Action 2 under NCLB.  Charles Zogby, PA's Budget Secretary and Former Secretary of Education under Governor Ridge, served as K12's Senior Vice President of Education and Policy prior to being recruited to serve in the Corbett Administration.

http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2011/11/pa-cyber-charter-pssa-ayp-2007-2011.html


The Nation: Online Learning Buying America's Schools

Education Week's Digital Education blog By Ian Quillen on November 17, 2011 5:26 PM 
In the latest critical look at the world of virtual schooling, left-leaning magazine The Nation today has published an investigative report painting recent reforms to broaden access to virtual schooling as measures drafted with ulterior motives—mainly the desire to line the pockets of big business.  The piece, which will appear in the magazine's Dec. 5 print edition, ultimately questions whether school reform groups that rely on donations from philanthropies and businesses are driven by the desire to reform or the desire to maximize profits for corporate donors in the technology sector.

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2011/11/the_nation_online_learning_buy.html

Here's the full Nation article:

http://www.thenation.com/article/164651/how-online-learning-companies-bought-americas-schools

 

Franklin and Cumberland County Legislative Forum on Public Education

Thursday, December 1, 2011 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (ET), Shippensburg, PA

Co-sponsored by The Shippensburg University Teacher Education Department and Education Matters in the Cumberland Valley.

RSVP here: http://franklinandcumberlandcountylegislativeforum.eventbrite.com/

 

Unofficially, write-ins take at least one seat on WC school board

Published: Wednesday, November 16, 2011
West Chester Daily Local By JEREMY GERRARD jgerrard@dailylocal.com
WEST CHESTER – Unofficial results for the West Chester Area School Board race reveal that the write-in candidates are in a position to take at least one seat from the Republican slate when all the counting is done.
http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2011/11/16/news/doc4ec440948f6e9702230239.txt?viewmode=default

 

EPLC School Choices Forum on 11/29 in Harrisburg

Sponsored by The Education Policy and Leadership Center

Tuesday, November 29, 2011, Hilton Harrisburg Hotel
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs043/1103584053062/archive/1108649292598.html

 

Posted at 02:32 AM ET, 11/17/2011

Private vs. Public: No advantage

Washington Post Class Struggle Blog By Jay Mathews
People who live in affluent neighborhoods such as Northwest Washington may wonder: Will it hurt my kid's chances of getting into Harvard if I let her stay in the public schools after elementary school?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/private-vs-public-no-advantage/2011/11/16/gIQAfMlSTN_blog.html

 

U.S. Supreme Court rejects petition from religious group barred from distributing promotional flyers in elementary school

NSBA Legal Clips Blog
According to Courthouse News Service, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a religious group's petition for certiorari seeking review of a three-judge panel decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.  The panel ruled that a Missouri school district's restrictions on the group's opportunity to distribute promotional flyers in school did not violate its constitutionally-protected free speech rights.

 

 


 

Use Education Voters PA website to contact your PA State Representatives today asking them to oppose taxpayer funded vouchers:

For more info/background -  PSBA's Tuition Voucher Issue Page
http://www.psba.org/issues-advocacy/issues-research/vouchers/index.asp


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Thursday, November 17, 2011

"our failing public schools"......... 14 Pennsylvania schools awarded Blue Ribbon status

Visit us on Facebook at KeystoneStateEducationCoalition
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg

 

Franklin and Cumberland County Legislative Forum on Public Education December 1st

Thursday, December 1, 2011 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM (ET), Shippensburg, PA

Co-sponsored by The Shippensburg University Teacher Education Department and Education Matters in the Cumberland Valley.

RSVP here: http://franklinandcumberlandcountylegislativeforum.eventbrite.com/

 

HB 1980 approved 15-8 by the House Education Committee

Teacher evaluation proposal includes charter and cyber schools

November 16, 2011 By Stacy Brown | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — Attempting to ensure Gov. Tom Corbett's request that students receive the most efficient education, the House Education Committee voted to include cyber and charter schools in a new teacher rating system.  But cyber and charter school advocates said they have their own effective evaluation system for their teachers.
"To fix a problem that doesn't exist is wrongheaded," said Dennis Giorno, director of legislation and policy for the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, or PCPCS, a group that advocate for charter school laws and regulation. "To have a one-size-fits-all mentality is not right."
State Rep. Mike Fleck, R-Huntingdon, Mifflin and Blair, introduced an amendment to the teacher evaluation bill that uses student test scores and more rankings for assessment purposes. The amendment also includes intermediate units and vocational technical schools.
"I can't imagine why we wouldn't include cyber and charter schools," said Fleck, who added that the goal is to have uniform rules throughout the state's $26-billion, taxpayer-funded education system, which also include cyber and charter schools
http://paindependent.com/2011/11/teacher-evaluation-proposal-includes-charter-schools/

 

Governors, squared repeat their education policy approaches
November 15, 2011 WITF.org Written by  Mary Wilson
Governors past and present called for different approaches to education funding in Pennsylvania, their Capitol Rotunda rallies separated by less than an hour.

http://www.witf.org/state-house-sound-bites/governors-squared-repeat-their-education-policy-approaches

 

How the school voucher program would play out in some NW Philly schools

November 15, 2011 By Vanessa Martinez for WHYY NewsWorks
A few weeks ago, the Pennsylvania Senate passed legislation approving the voucher bill, SB 1, which, if approved by the House of Representatives next, would give taxpayer-funded tuition vouchers to students from under-performing schools to afford private and parochial schools.
NewsWorks recently spoke with two Northwest schools on the logistics of applying, school capacity and obstacles the voucher students would face at higher performing schools.

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/flexicontent/item/29925-school-vouchers-/

 

Reading Eagle Opinion by Louis M. Shucker 11/16/2011

Voucher legislation ill conceived, won't help Pa. schools

An epic battle is shaping up that will determine the course of education in this country for years to come, and Pennsylvania is one of the fronts on which this battle is being waged.

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=346076

 

"our failing public schools".........

Fourteen Pennsylvania schools awarded Blue Ribbon status; Principal Karen Daugherty of Rose Tree Elementary School in Media one of seven  honored for outstanding leadership

Education Secretary Celebrates Top Schools and Their Leaders at 2011 National Blue Ribbon Schools Awards Ceremony

Seven principals honored with Terrel H. Bell Awards for outstanding leadership in challenging situations
US Department of education NOVEMBER 15, 2011
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today honored 315 schools as the 2011 National Blue Ribbon Schools at an awards luncheon at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. The Blue Ribbon School award honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools that have helped close the achievement gap and whose students attain and maintain high academic goals. The schools—266 public and 49 private—are among more than 6,000 that have received the coveted award over the past 29 years.

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-secretary-celebrates-top-schools-and-their-leaders-2011-national-blue-

 

Click here for the list of Pennsylvania schools awarded Blue Ribbon status

 

 


 

Use Education Voters PA website to contact your PA State Representatives today asking them to oppose taxpayer funded vouchers:

For more info/background -  PSBA's Tuition Voucher Issue Page
http://www.psba.org/issues-advocacy/issues-research/vouchers/index.asp


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Fourteen Pennsylvania schools awarded Blue Ribbon status



"our failing public schools",,,,,

Fourteen Pennsylvania schools awarded Blue Ribbon status; Principal Karen Daugherty of Rose Tree Elementary School in Media one of seven  honored for outstanding leadership


Education Secretary Celebrates Top Schools and Their Leaders at 2011 National Blue Ribbon Schools Awards Ceremony

Seven principals honored with Terrel H. Bell Awards for outstanding leadership in challenging situations
US Department of education NOVEMBER 15, 2011
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan today honored 315 schools as the 2011 National Blue Ribbon Schools at an awards luncheon at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. The Blue Ribbon School award honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools that have helped close the achievement gap and whose students attain and maintain high academic goals. The schools—266 public and 49 private—are among more than 6,000 that have received the coveted award over the past 29 years.

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-secretary-celebrates-top-schools-and-their-leaders-2011-national-blue-



·                                 2011 Blue Ribbon Schools

There are 14 Pennsylvania schools on the 2011 National Blue Ribbon Schools list:

Aiken Elementary School
881 Greentree Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15220-3400
Principal: Mrs. Bobbi-Ann Barnes

Carbondale Area Elementary School
103 Brooklyn Street
Route 6
Carbondale, PA 18407-2207
Principal: Dr. Paul Kaczmarcik

Case Avenue Elementary School
36 Case Avenue
Sharon, PA 16146-3424
Principal: Ms. Traci Valentino

Central High School
1700 W. Olney Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19141-1198
Principal: Dr. Sheldon Pavel

Coebourn Elementary School
1 Coebourn Boulevard
Brookhaven, PA 19015-1641
Principal: Dr. Holly Acosta

Corpus Christi Catholic School
920 Sumneytown Pike
Lansdale, PA 19446-0194
Principal: Mrs. Wanda Costello

Forest City Regional Elementary School
100 Susquehanna Street
Forest City, PA 18421-1355
Principal: Mr. Kenneth Swartz

Memorial Elementary School
500 Market Street
Bloomsburg, PA 17815-2134
Principal: Mr. Ryan Moran

Nativity of Our Lord School
585 W. Street Road
Warminster, PA 18974-3292
Principal: Ms. Roselee Maddaloni

New Eagle Elementary School
507 Pugh Road
Wayne, PA 19087-1906
Principal: Ms. Karen Whyte

Northern Bedford County Elementary School
217 NBC Drive
Loysburg, PA 16659-9549
Principal: Ms. Carol Louden

Pleasant Valley Elementary School
250 East McMurray Road
McMurray, PA 15317-2948
Principal: Mr. Michael Fisher

Pocopson Elementary School
1105 Pocopson Road
West Chester, PA 19382-7049
Principal: Dr. Andrew McLaughlin

Rose Tree Elementary School
1101 First Avenue
Media, PA 19063-1206
Principal: Ms. Karen Daugherty
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