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PA Ed Policy Roundup for Oct. 29, 2019
Aument/Topper legislation
would break ground and make PA the first state to include poverty as a factor
in teacher evaluations
Educators testify
they're mostly happy with Aument's remedies to teacher evaluation problems
Lancaster Online by
GILLIAN McGOLDRICK
| Staff Writer October 29,
2019
Lawmakers “very
seldom get it perfect” the first time around, said Rep. Jesse Topper, a Bedford
County Republican. That’s why Sen. Ryan Aument, R-Mount Joy, and Topper each
introduced legislation to break ground and make
Pennsylvania the first state to include poverty as a factor in teacher
evaluations. The state House Education Committee held a hearing about
Senate Bill 751, which would overhaul individual teacher evaluations by
lessening the emphasis on standardized testing and increasing the weight of
classroom observations. Teacher evaluations last changed in 2012, with help
from Aument. But there was a problem: Good teachers in low-performing schools
received lower scores, and teachers at higher performing schools received
artificially inflated scores, just because their schools performed better on
standardized testing, Aument said Monday. Under the 2012 law, teachers were
evaluated 50% based on administrator observations, 15% on building data like
graduation rate and AP course participation, 15% on student performance on
assessments and 20% on district-designed measures. It didn’t include a measure
to include the impact of poverty on student success. “I was wrong then, and
I’ve seen (the law) serves as a barrier for high quality educators,” Aument
said. Both Aument and Topper testified before the House Education Committee,
asking the panel of lawmakers to pass their legislation out of committee and
bring it to the floor for a vote.
What to know about
Gov. Wolf’s charter school reform plans
Philadelphia Metro By Staff Published : October 28, 2019
Things are getting
a bit heated in Pennsylvania's charter school scene. In August, Gov. Tom Wolf
ruffled a few feathers when he announced plans to make sweeping reforms to the
Commonwealth’s “flawed and outdated charter school law.” “Pennsylvania’s
charter school law is unfair for students, parents, school districts, and
taxpayers,” Gov. Wolf said in a release. “While many charter schools are
succeeding, others, especially some cyber charter schools, are underperforming
and we are not doing enough to hold them accountable to the taxpaying public
and the children they serve.” Charter school supporters, meanwhile, have taken
issue with some of the governor’s proposed plans, saying that his reforms will
harm families by limiting their options when it comes to school choice. Critics
of Gov. Wolf also believe that his claims of calling these types of schools
“private” are disingenuous, as charter schools are publicly funded. As the
battle over charter schools continues, here’s what to know about Gov. Wolf’s
plans for reform.
‘It’s not safe for kids to be in this school’: North
Philadelphia parents demand answers about asbestos
Inquirer by Kristen A.
Graham, Updated: October
28, 2019- 4:44 PM
Jesse Stanton kept
his two children at home Monday. Until there are answers from the Philadelphia
School District, he said, he doesn’t want to risk his children being exposed to
asbestos at Thomas M. Peirce Elementary. “My kids said, ‘Why can’t we go to school?’
and I said, ‘I don’t want you to get cancer 10, 20 years from now,’” Stanton
said outside the North Philadelphia schoolyard. Stanton stood with parents from
around the city to demand answers from the district, which they feel waited
too long to address asbestos found at the school. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers’
environmental expert flagged damaged asbestos at Peirce in mid-September. The
school system did not send a crew to examine Peirce for asbestos until The
Inquirer began asking questions last week. District officials were already under
fire for
their mishandling of asbestos
contamination during
construction at the shared Benjamin Franklin High School-Science Leadership
Academy campus, resulting in the abrupt closure of the building and the
relocation of nearly 1,000 students. A district spokesperson said Monday afternoon that the district
attempts to follow up on asbestos reports within 72 hours, but that Peirce was
not addressed more quickly because “we did not have the capacity to do so for
this location” given the involved projects at several other schools.
Enough kids to open a day care: Activists push anew to
shut down Berks detention center
Inquirer by Jeff Gammage, Updated: October 29, 2019- 5:00 AM
The Berks County
detention center now holds enough children to fill a day-care center. Two
1-year-olds. Two 2-year-olds. Two 3-year-olds. There are also a 4-year-old and
two 6-year-olds, according to the legal nonprofit group that represents
undocumented immigrant families held there. Seven other children are between
ages 7 and 10, and seven more range from ages 11 to 16. “Detention for kids is wrong, no matter the
age,” said Bridget Cambria, a lawyer with ALDEA–the People’s Justice Center. The
96-bed center in Leesport, about 75 miles northwest of Philadelphia, has long
been assailed by critics as a “baby jail." The Berks County Residential
Center drew international attention this month for holding a 3-month-old boy in
what his mother described as filthy and frigid conditions. The British mother,
husband, and son were arrested after what they said was a
wrong turn at the Canadian border, and subsequently
deported by federal immigration authorities who said they had deliberately crossed into the United States. The
attention came as the
population at Berks has surged, and the pressure of pending local and national elections offers
leverage to activists
who demand the center’s closure.
SB850 would create a
Community Integrated School for Success Pilot Program
SB850 is being
considered by the Senate Ed Committee this morning
Sponsored by Senator
Wayne Langerholc, Jr. and Sen. Patrick M. Browne
Here’s the cosponsorship
memo:
In the near future,
we plan to introduce legislation to establish the Community Integrated Schools
for Success pilot program. The goal of the program is to better support the
needs of our students by integrating community-based services into our schools.
A recent hearing of the Senate Education Committee highlighted how several
programs led by innovative and creative thinkers can have a tremendous impact
on our students. The approach used by these schools connect students and their
families with community-based organizations that address both academic and
nonacademic barriers to learning. By providing these programs at the school,
physical and behavioral health resources, in addition to basic needs such as
food and clothing, can be provided to students quicker. We would like to expand
this success to more schools in this Commonwealth. Specifically, this
legislation creates a pilot program, where schools can be designated as a
Community Integrated School by the Secretary of Education. The school will then
appoint a program manager to implement a community integration plan and to
serve as the point of contact to facilitate the relationship between the school
and community.
Funds available to improve school’s access to local food
Lewistown Sentinel OCT
28, 2019
PHILADELPHIA– Last
week, Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding joined Fox Chase Elementary
students for lunch during their third annual PA Preferred® Day. There, Redding
announced the availability of $500,000 through the PA Farm Bill’s Farm to
School Grant Program for Pennsylvania elementary schools to improve access to
healthy, local foods and increase agriculture education opportunities for
pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. “Jumpstarting an interest in
agriculture can be as easy as improving childhood access to nutritious, local
foods,” said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. “This Farm
to School Program is planting seeds in the minds of our youngest Pennsylvanians
about opportunities available through agriculture.” A result of Gov. Tom
Wolf’s Pennsylvania Farm Bill, signed in July of this year, the Farm to School
Grant Program aims to enrich the connection communities have with fresh,
healthy food and local producers by changing food purchasing and education
practices at schools and early childhood education sites.
Teenagers need to
start school later, but school districts should work together toward solution
[opinion]
Lancaster Online
Editorial by THE LNP EDITORIAL BOARD October 29, 2019
THE ISSUE: The Pennsylvania General Assembly
released a report this month titled “Sleep Deprivation in Adolescents: The Case
for Delaying Secondary School Start Times.” The report, by a committee of
educators, health professionals, transportation administrators, parents and
students, calls sleep deprivation among teenagers a “public health crisis of
epidemic proportions,” LNP’s Alex Geli
reported Friday, Oct. 25. And it
concludes that schools could help address the crisis by moving secondary school
start times to 8:30 a.m. or later. We agree. Sleep deprivation is a serious issue for our teenagers. And it
makes sense that an answer might involve starting the school day later. But
this is a complex issue. There are myriad interlocking pieces for families,
businesses and communities related to the schedule of a school day. And so we
believe careful examination of this issue is needed in Lancaster County. And
that it might be best if some of our school districts join forces on that
research. One thing we find unfortunate in this discussion, however, is that
some people believe sleep deficiency is a self-created problem that exists
because of undisciplined teenagers and/or parents. Some say teens aren’t as
hardy as the “old days.” Or that parents let electronic devices rule their
kids’ lives. “Our society is raising wimps,” stated one commenter
How did your child’s school perform on state exams? You
can find out here
Results of
the 2019 Keystone Exams and Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests were
recently released.
Penn Live By Teresa
Bonner | tbonner@pennlive.com and Megan Lavey-Heaton | mheaton@pennlive.com Updated 11:31 AM; October 28, 2019
(Note: Those viewing this article through the
PennLive app should click
here to be
able to see the databases. Please note that those on smaller phones may want to
view this article in landscape mode.) The state Department of Education has
released school by school results of the 2019 Keystone Exams and the 2019 Pennsylvania
System of School Assessment tests.
PennLive has organized the results into two searchable databases, which you’ll
find below. It allows you to see how any public school in the state performed
on either of the two exams. The Keystone
Exams and the PSSAs are both part of the
state’s schools accountability system, required under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. PSSAs are
administered in grades 3 through 8 for both English Language Arts and Math; and
grades 4 and 8 in Science. The Keystone Exams are end-of-course assessments in
Literature, Biology, and Algebra I.
Centre County kids are benefiting from increased pre-K
funding, but statewide gaps still exist
Centre Daily Times BY MARLEY PARISH OCTOBER 28, 2019 11:09 AM, UPDATED OCTOBER 28, 2019 11:09 AM
FERGUSON TOWNSHIP -
With help from a
boost in state funding, what used to be empty space at the Learning
Station is now
home to a classroom for 3- and 4-year-olds who receive what director Lynda
Mussi calls an “authentic” and high-quality early educational experience. The
increase in pre-K funding in the 2019-20 state budget — a total of $30 million in additional funding for Pre-K
Counts and Head
Start Supplemental Assistance programs — led to the 3035 Enterprise Drive school receiving a
$157,000 grant to create a classroom for up to 20 additional 3- and
4-year-olds. But while Learning Station has seen a direct benefit from the
increased state funding, statewide gaps in pre-K education still exist. In
Pennsylvania, 56% of eligible children — 97,702 — do not have access to
high-quality pre-K programs, according
to Pre-K for PA. Out of the
3,019 pre-K locations eligible to participate, an additional 4,885 pre-K
classrooms are still needed to reach Pre-K for PA’s 2022 goal.
Quakertown School District to join in lawsuit against
vaping product makers
The
Quakertown Community School District has authorized attorneys to prepare
litigation against makers and marketers of e-cigarettes and vaping products.
Doylestown Intelligencer By Chris
English Posted at 4:32 PM
Quakertown
Community School District officials said vaping at the high school is a serious
problem. The Quakertown Community school board has authorized attorneys to
prepare litigation that would join the district with other plaintiffs in suing
companies that manufacture and market electronic cigarettes and vaping
products. School district officials said the timeline for filing the lawsuit
isn’t yet determined. But like officials in many districts across the country, they said that vaping among students has become
a serious problem. “We haven’t even scratched the surface of the damage these
things are doing to our kids,” school board member Keith Micucci said in a
recent article on the school district website, qcsd.org. “From a health care
perspective, we know it’s leading to acute respiratory distress syndrome. I
really feel strongly that these are marketed toward our most vulnerable
population, which are our teenage students who are trying to figure out their
way in the world.” Quakertown Superintendent Bill Harner said the number of
high school students who have vaped has increased dramatically, though
officials did not have specific numbers. He said a student who recently became
unconscious immediately after vaping in a bathroom stall with other students
was taken from the high school by ambulance.
McKeesport Area approved for flexible learning days
Post-Gazette by DEANA CARPENTER OCT 28, 2019 6:31 PM
The McKeesport Area
School District’s application to the state Department of Education for flexible
learning days was approved and the district will be using its five days in the
event of bitterly cold weather. The flexible learning days were passed in Pennsylvania
as part of Act 64 earlier this year and enable students to be able to complete
their studies from home in the event that school is cancelled. Superintendent
Mark Holtzman said the district has up to five flexible learning days to use
for the school year. “It’s going to be use specifically for those cold weather
days,” when the temperatures fall below zero, but the teachers can still report
to school, Mr. Holtzman said. He said students will be provided with materials
so they can complete their studies at home.
Activists call on
Pittsburgh Public Schools to extend suspension ban up to 5th grade
Trib Live by NATASHA LINDSTROM | Monday, October 28, 2019 11:07 p.m.
Pittsburgh Public
Schools should extend the district’s suspension ban for nonviolent offenses to
apply to students in third through fifth grades, a group of education advocates
said Monday night. “We understand that suspensions don’t work, they don’t
change the behavior, and kids are actually missing critical learning time by
not being in the classroom,” said Angel Gober, Western Pennsylvania organizing
director for One Pennsylvania, a statewide social justice advocacy
organization. Gober was among several speakers at a peaceful rally outside the
district’s headquarters in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood before a
non-voting school board meeting. The group of activists, teachers, parents with
young children and legal advocates held signs such as “Counseling not cops,”
“Solutions, not suspensions,” and “Stop criminalizing kids.” They called on the
nine-member school board to do two things: expand the suspension ban, which
currently is in place only for students in preschool through second grade; and
listen to community input as the district negotiates a new, 10-year agreement
with Pittsburgh police.
Erie student group puts climate change on its radar
GoErie By Kevin
Flowers Posted
at 5:58 AM Updated at 6:04 AM
The Erie County
Student Coalition, which has been vocal about gun violence, is now making the
environment and climate change a major focus. When Greta Thunberg garnered both
applause and criticism internationally, Lauren Seliga and Tricia Rinderle paid
attention. Thunberg is the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who has been
nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She generated worldwide headlines in
September when she admonished world leaders for not taking drastic action to
avert climate change’s worst effects and warned that her generation would face
environmental catastrophes if things don’t change. Some critics lashed back at
Thunberg, citing her age and even her Aspberger’s Syndrome diagnosis as a way
to discredit her. The coalition made headlines in May 2018 when its members
successfully pushed for an in-person
meeting with U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, of Butler, R-16th Dist., at his Erie office in the wake the Feb. 14,
2018, school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland,
Florida, in which 17 people were killed. The group also helped organize events
at their schools to protest gun violence, and participated in the March for Our
Lives rally in Washington, D.C., in March 2018.
Pa. state commission postpones vote on controversial
school mascot
WHYY By Aaron Moselle October 28, 2019
An expected
vote by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to decide whether the
Neshaminy School District can continue calling some of its sports teams 'The
Redskins' has been delayed until November.
It’ll be another
month before the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission votes on the fate of a
controversial school mascot in Bucks County. The PHRC was expected to announce
its decision on Monday. The highly-anticipated vote is now scheduled for Nov.
25. The commission said that it postponed the decision to give itself more time
to review the matter. It wrapped up public hearings on the matter in January. At
issue is whether the Neshaminy School District can continue calling some of its
sports teams “The Redskins,” a term the commission says is a racial slur for
Native Americans. The commission also argues the nickname creates a “hostile
educational environment” for district students. The district, home to more than
9,400 students, has denied the commission’s allegations, calling them
“unfounded.” The debate over the decades-old mascot has been kicking around for
six years.
How a lawsuit over
Detroit schools could have an ‘earth-shattering’ impact
“Every
school in the country would be affected,” one expert said. “There could be a
lot of litigation.”
NBC News By Erin
Einhorn Oct. 28, 2019, 5:06 PM EDT
After two years of
struggling to pass any of his community college classes, Jamarria Hall, 19,
knows this for certain: His high school did not prepare him. The four years he
spent at Detroit’s Osborn High School were “a big waste of time,” he said,
recalling 11th and 12th grade English classes where students were taught from
materials labeled for third or fourth graders, and where long-term substitutes
showed movies instead of teaching. What’s less certain, however, is whether
Hall's education in Detroit’s long-troubled school district was so awful, so
insufficient, that it violated his constitutional rights. That’s the question
now before a federal appeals court that heard arguments last week in one of two
cases that experts say could have sweeping implications for schools across the
country. The cases, now snaking their way through the federal courts, could
yield “enormous, almost earth-shattering change in terms of educational funding
and educational opportunity,” said Derek Black, a law professor at the
University of South Carolina whose research has focused on educational rights
and constitutional law.
Children are the losers in Elizabeth Warren’s plan for
charter schools
Washington Post By Editorial Board Oct. 28, 2019 at 7:08 p.m. EDT
“I HAVE a plan” is
the battle cry of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) as she campaigns for the
Democratic presidential nomination. She has laid out a series of detailed
policies that challenge what she sees as powerful interests standing in the way
of better lives for Americans. But when it comes to education, Ms. Warren has a
plan that seems aimed more at winning the support of the powerful teachers
unions than in advancing policies that would help improve student learning. As
part of a comprehensive K-12 education plan recently released, Ms. Warren took a page from the union playbook
in calling for a clampdown on public charter schools. In addition to banning
for-profit charter schools (which make up about 15 percent of the sector), she would subject existing charters to more scrutiny and
red tape and make it harder for new charters to open by ending federal start-up
funding and allowing only local school districts to authorize charter schools.
Other parts of the union-pleasing plan: an end to rigorous testing for all
children to measure whether they are in fact learning.
Register now for PSBA’s
Sleep & Student Performance Webcast OCT
31, 2019 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 27,
2019 IN PSBA
NEWS
Our students face
many issues today, but who would have imagined sleep deprivation could be a
significant issue? The Joint State Government Commission established an
advisory committee to study the issues, benefits and options related to school
districts instituting later start times in secondary schools. Register now to hear from the executive director of the Commission, Glenn
Pasewicz, commission staff and David Hutchinson, PSBA’s appointee to the
commission, on the results of their study and work.
Film Screening: PERSONAL STATEMENT with director Julie
Dressner Penn C89 Sat, November 9, 2019, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM EST
Location: Zellerbach
Theatre, Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia,
PA 19104
Please join us for
a free screening and panel discussion of PERSONAL STATEMENT. This award-winning
documentary film created by a Penn alumna features three inspirational high
school seniors who are working as college counselors in their schools and are
determined to get their entire classes to college, even though they are not
sure they are going to make it there themselves. Screening will be followed by
a panel discussion with director Julie Dressner (C’89), cast member Enoch
Jemmott, Netter Center founding director Dr. Ira Harkavy (C'70 GR'79), and
others. Free and open to the public! (Registration strongly encouraged but not
required.)
Webinar: Introduction
to PSBA’s Equity Toolkit
NOV 12, 2019 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
The equity toolkit
supports school entities as they incorporate equity into district practice.
This webinar will offer a walk-through of the components of the toolkit, from
the equity lens approach to the equity action plan. Participants are encouraged
to ask questions and share experiences throughout the webinar.
Facilitator: Heather Bennett J.D., Ph.D., director of equity services
Pennsylvania School Boards Association
Pennsylvania School Boards Association
Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1261156731797681154
*Note: registration closes one hour prior to the event.
*Note: registration closes one hour prior to the event.
UPDATE: Second Workshop Added Thursday, November
14, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm: Adolescent Health and School Start Times:
Science, Strategies, Tactics, & Logistics Workshop in Exton, PA
The first workshop on November 13 sold out in
less than 4 weeks. Thanks to recent additional sponsorships, there will
be a second workshop held on Thursday, November 14. Register HERE.
Join school administrators and staff,
including superintendents, transportation directors, principals, athletic directors,
teachers, counselors, nurses, and school board members, parents, guardians,
health professionals and other concerned community members for a second
interactive and solutions-oriented workshop on Thursday,
November 14, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm Clarion Hotel in Exton, PA.
The science is clear. Many middle and high schools in Pennsylvania, and across
the nation, start too early in the morning. The American Medical Association,
Centers for Disease Control, American Academy of Pediatrics, and many other major
health and education leaders agree and have issued policy statements
recommending that secondary schools start no earlier than 8:30 am to
allow for sleep, health, and learning. Implementing these recommendations,
however, can seem daunting. Discussions will include the science
of sleep and its connection to school start times, as well as proven
strategies for successfully making change--how to generate optimum community
support and work through implementation challenges such as bus routes, athletics,
and more.
For more information visit the workshop
website www.startschoollater.net/workshop---pa or
email contact@startschoollater.net
Congress, Courts, and
a National Election: 50 Million Children’s Futures Are at Stake. Be their
champion at the 2020 Advocacy Institute.
NSBA Advocacy
Institute Feb. 2-4, 2020 Marriot Marquis, Washington, D.C.
Join school leaders
from across the country on Capitol Hill, Feb. 2-4, 2020 to influence the
legislative agenda & shape decisions that impact public schools. Check out
the schedule & more at https://nsba.org/Events/Advocacy-Institute
Register now for
Network for Public Education Action National Conference in Philadelphia March
28-29, 2020
Registration, hotel
information, keynote speakers and panels:
Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then
Call for Charter Change!
PSBA PA Charter
Change Website September 2019
Any comments contained herein are my comments, alone, and
do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any other person or organization
that I may be affiliated with.
