“Middle-class American students who attend
well-funded schools rank at the top of the world on international tests.” Stephen
Krashen, professor emeritus of the Rossier School of
Education at the University of Southern California August 12, 2012
Daily
postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1600
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, members of the press and a
broad array of education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook
and Twitter.
These daily
emails are archived at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us
on Twitter at @lfeinberg
Keystone Exams: During the 2011-2012 school year,
PSSA training, testing and retesting impacted 45 instructional days in my
school district. That was just under 25%
of the school calendar. For 2012-2013 we
anticipate that 106 instructional days, or 57% of the academic calendar will be
impacted.
Pennsylvania Department of Education – Standards
Aligned Systems website
More info from PDE on
Keystone Exams:
Education Budget Cuts
From Sequestration Could Be Devastating, Duncan
Says
Huffinton Post 07/25/2012 5:07
pm
Schools, HIV testing,
childcare and unemployment programs are all "under threat" as
across-the-board cuts, known as sequestration, are scheduled to strike in
January 2013, according to a new U.S. Senate report released Wednesday.
But Sen. Tom Harkin
(D-Iowa), who chairs the senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees
nonmilitary spending, chose to center a Wednesday hearing on these cuts
specifically to examine how the billions lost could affect America 's
schools. "Education will provide an instructive example of the kinds of
arbitrary cuts [that kick in] ... if sequestration goes into effect,"
Harkin said.
We must avoid sequestration: Savage cuts in education funding would
cripple our schools
Post-Gazette Opinion By Jamie Baxter May 3, 2012 4:15 am
Jamie
Baxter, director of legislative policy and advocacy for the Allegheny
Intermediate Unit, is president of the Committee for
Education Funding, a coalition of more than 90 education organizations.
InWashington and in Harrisburg
the theme seems to be cut, cut, cut. The question is ... when will the cuts
end? They
surely will not end early next year when a huge reduction in federal funding is
scheduled to take place. "Sequestration" is set to occur Jan. 2. This
means that, unless Congress acts, all federal discretionary spending, including
education, will be cut by as much as 9.1 percent
In
With Romney Nominated, Campaign Milks Choice
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and
his campaign used the night of his acceptancespeech to
make the case that he was an advocate for education as governor of
Massachusetts—and would make expanding school choice a K-12 priority if he wins
the White House. "When it comes to the school your
child should attend, every parent should have a choice, and every child should
have a chance," Romney told the crowd here. But although his 39-minute
speech included pointed attacks on President Barack Obama's performance on the
economy, defense, and health care, he was silent on the president's K-12
record.
Who might be Romney’s
education secretary?
So who might Mitt Romney pick as his education
secretary should he win the November presidential election?
Here’s a list of some of the probable
candidates, based on the people that Romney chose to be on his Education Policy
Advisory Group, or that his campaign has used as “surrogates” to speak on
education, or that are beloved by Republicans as important education reformers.
In the latter category would be people such as Michelle Rhee and former Florida governor Jeb Bush and even Joel Klein.
Jeb Bush’s ed speech at
GOP convention — text
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush addressed the
Republican Convention on Thursday night, giving a speech about education reform
that is likely to fuel talk that he could be Mitt Romney’s education secretary
should
Here's the speech by Bush — who predictably attacks President
Obama and teachers union — as well as remarks by a Florida teacher and student:
Common Core
State Standards Dividing GOP
The Common
Core State
Standards: A state-led effort to help improve learning outcomes throughout the
nation—or "Obama Core?" It's clear here at the Republican convention that
there's a major split emerging in the party on that question.
On the one hand, there's Jeb Bush, a key Romney
surrogate and the former GOP governor of Florida .
He points out that a majority of GOP governors haveembraced the
standards. And then you've got Gayle Ruzeicka, president of the Utah Eagle
Forum, and a delegate to the Republican National Convention.
"We call it Obama Core," she told me
in an interview on the convention floor Monday, an obvious play on
"Obamacare," GOP activists' name for the president's landmark health
care law. "It's been co-opted by the Obama administration. They've done
everything they can to tie us into these standards. We're Republicans and we're
letting Obama take over our education system."
Obama vs. Romney: 5 Ways
They Differ On Education
Care2 News Network by Judy Molland August 29, 2012
Who knows where President Obama
and Mitt Romney stand on education? Hard to say, since the
topic has not been taken center stage in election coverage so far. In case
you’re wondering, here’s a primer on some of their most important positions on
educational policy.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/obama-vs-romney-5-ways-they-differ-on-education.html#ixzz255CVLFQl
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/obama-vs-romney-5-ways-they-differ-on-education.html#ixzz255CVLFQl
If you have received an absentee ballot it must be
postmarked by September 10th
Bios of candidates slated for 2013 PSBA offices 8/15/2012
At its May 19 meeting
at PSBA Conference Center ,
the PSBA Nominating Committee interviewed and selected a slate of candidates
for officers of the association in 2013.
Upcoming PSBA Professional Development Opportunities
To register or to learn
more about PSBA professional development programs please visit: www.psba.org/workshops/
2012 PASA-PSBA
School Leadership
Conference Oct. 16-19, 2012
Registration is Now Open! Hershey Lodge & Convention Center, Hershey, PA
www.psba.org/workshops/school-leadership-conference/
Registration is Now Open! Hershey Lodge & Convention Center, Hershey, PA
www.psba.org/workshops/school-leadership-conference/
EPLC’s 2012 Arts and Education Symposium: Save the Date, Thursday, October
11
Education
Policy and Leadership
Center
Please mark your calendars and plan on joining EPLC, our partners, and
guests on October 11 in Harrisburg
for a full day of events. Stay tuned to aei-pa.org for information about our 2nd Arts and Education
Symposium. Scholarships and Act 48 Credit will be available.
Outstanding speakers and panelists from Pennsylvania
and beyond will once again come together to address key topics in the arts and
arts education and related public policy advocacy initiatives. This is a
networking and learning opportunity not to be missed!
http://www.aei-pa.org/
NSBA
Federal Relations Network seeking new members for 2013-14
School directors are invited to
advocate for public education at the federal level through the National School
Boards Association’s Federal Relations Network. The National School Boards Association is
seeking school directors interested in serving on the Federal Relations Network
(FRN), its grass roots advocacy program that brings local board members on the
front line of pending issues before Congress. If you are a school director and
willing to carry the public education message to Washington , D.C. ,
FRN membership is a good place to start.
Click here for more information.