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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for September 9, 2015:
Make your voice heard at
Education Action Day, Sept. 21
School directors
and administrators from across the state will be converging on the State
Capitol on Monday, Sept. 21 for Education Action Day – your opportunity to push
for a state budget and pension reform. Join PSBA in the Main Capitol-East Wing under the
escalators at 10 a.m. A news conference will be held from 11 a.m.-noon, and
from 1-3 p.m. you may visit with legislators. There is no charge for
participation, but for planning purposes, members are asked to register their
attendance online below. We look forward to a big crowd to impress upon
legislators and the governor the need for a state budget and pension reform
now!
Interested in letting our elected leadership know your thoughts on
education funding, a severance tax, property taxes and the budget?
Governor Tom Wolf, (717) 787-2500
Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Turzai, (717) 772-9943
House Majority Leader Rep. Dave Reed, (717) 705-7173
Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Joe Scarnati, (717) 787-7084
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jake Corman, (717) 787-1377
House Majority Leader Rep. Dave Reed, (717) 705-7173
Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Joe Scarnati, (717) 787-7084
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jake Corman, (717) 787-1377
Quiet Capitol
preludes busy session weeks to come
The PLS
Reporter Author: Jason Gottesman/Tuesday, September
8, 2015
As
budget meetings between Gov. Tom Wolf and legislative Republican leaders
continue in private out of Pennsylvania ’s
capital on the day following the extended Labor Day weekend, the Capitol’s main
rotunda took on a hush reminiscent of the
first few days post-budget veto.
To the
outward observer, not much would appear to be going on at Pennsylvania’s seat
of government. Tuesday morning, a group
representing the Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania even took
advantage of the hushed atmosphere and moved rotunda press conference chairs
into a circle for a prayer session. Despite
its outward appearance, those in the Capitol were working behind the scenes to
prepare for a ramp up in legislative action as the Senate returns to session
next week and the House the following week.
Pa. Budget
Stalemate Squeezes Districts as Schools Open
Education Week By The
Associated Press
Published Online: September 8, 2015
Pennsylvania's
budget impasse continued to put pressure on local schools last week, with some
districts leaning on loans and reserves to fund their schools without money
from the state, and with teachers and support staff in one poor district
heading back to work without any assurance they would be paid. A new state budget was due July 1. But
Republicans who control the state legislature and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf
remained at odds last week over issues including how to cut property taxes that
provide the biggest source of public school revenues, and over public pensions
and liquor sales. Auditor General Eugene
DePasquale, the state's elected fiscal watchdog, on Sept. 1 cited a survey by
the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials that showed many
school districts are considering tapping their reserves, delaying vendor
payments or taking out short-term loans as the 2015-16 school year begins with
state subsidies frozen. "It is
somewhat ironic that the fight over more funding for education is actually
costing school districts money," DePasquale said. The House and Senate are not set to return to
the Capitol until later this month. In the meantime, Wolf shifted strategy last
week, holding private meetings Sept. 1 with top Republican lawmakers, including
Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman and House Majority Leader Dave Reed.
By Kate
Giammarise / Post-Gazette Harrisburg
Bureau September 8, 2015 11:36 PM
Governor
Tom Wolf announced Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) has
approved Pennsylvania 's
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) waiver which allows for a
one-year pause in the use of the state's School Performance Profile (SPP).
Governor Wolf and Education Secretary Pedro A. Rivera had
requested the waiver in using the 2015 PSSA scores to calculate SPP
and teacher effectiveness ratings due to sweeping changes to the assessment
that took effect in the 2014-15 school year. "Fixing our schools is my top priority,
and part of improvement is having fair and consistent accountability
standards," Governor Wolf said "We must
prepare students to be college and career ready in the 21st century,
and we need accountability measures that ensure we are on track to do so, but
we cannot over burden our students and teachers with measures that do not
fairly account for performance or improvement."
The SPP
is a significant part of Pennsylvania 's obligations
under the federal accountability system established by the ESEA. The SPP
was first used in the 2012-13 academic year to provide students, families,
school districts, and the general public with information to review the
performance of Pennsylvania schools
using a common measure. The SPP relies heavily on student scores on the
Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), measuring both achievement and
growth. The PSSA, administered in grades 3 through 8 in English Language
Arts and math, was fully-aligned to the more rigorous PA Core Standards for the
first time in 2015, and the results on the most recent assessment cannot fairly
be compared to those in previous years. The
waiver means schools that administer Keystone Exams will continue to
receive SPP scores. That means the only schools that administered PSSAs in 2015
that will have SPP scores will be those that also administered Keystone Exams.
The Keystone Exams will be the only test used to help establish the SPP scores.
"A NewsWorks analysis
found an average 35-percentage-point drop in math and a
9-percentage-point drop in reading proficiency scores from 2014 to 2015.
The state Department of Education has not yet released the full 2015 results."
Waiver means
no ratings for many Pa.
The state got federal permission
not to grade all schools, in view of changes to the PSSA exam that resulted in
a sharp drop in scores.
the
notebook By David Limm on Sep 8, 2015 05:15 PM
After steep
statewide drops in test scores that resulted from overhauled PSSA exams,
Pennsylvania has been granted a one-year break from giving all schools an
annual performance grade. Gov. Wolf
and his education secretary, Pedro Rivera, said Tuesday that the U.S Department
of Education approved a one-year waiver so that schools with only K-8 students
do not have to be assigned School Performance Profile (SPP) scores. Schools
serving high school grades, where students take Keystone exams, will still
receive SPP scores. Since 2013, each
Pennsylvania public school has received an annual SPP score, an overall
performance rating based on measures including standardized test results,
attendance, and graduation rates. “While
it is critically important to hold our schools and educators accountable for
student success, we must take care to do so with indicators that are fair and
accurate,” said Rivera in a statement. “This year’s PSSA scores establish the
new baseline from which we can most effectively measure student progress in
future years.” A NewsWorks analysis
found an average 35-percentage-point drop in math and a
9-percentage-point drop in reading proficiency scores from 2014 to 2015.
The state Department of Education has not yet released the full 2015 results.
Penn
Live By Wallace McKelvey |
WMckelvey@pennlive.com Email the author | Follow on Twitter on
September 08, 2015 at 5:00 PM, updated September 08, 2015 at 7:09 PM
"State Education
Secretary Pedro Rivera said in a news release, “While it is critically
important to hold our schools and educators accountable for student success, we
must take care to do so with indicators that are fair and accurate.”
By
Eleanor Chute and Mary Niederberger / Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette September 8, 2015 11:53 PM
Just
weeks before the state is expected to deliver bad news about test results, the
U.S. Department of Education has given the state permission to pause for a year
in the way it uses the results of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment
tests. The PSSA results won’t be used
for computing School Performance Profile academic scores — which give school
buildings throughout the state a rating of 0 to 107 — nor will they be used in
teacher evaluations during the pause, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Tuesday. Without
the federal permission, Pennsylvania
would have had to calculate the SPPs, which likely would have been lower than
those for the prior year, potentially affecting whether teachers were
considered proficient and causing image problems for schools. State officials later this month plan to
release school-by-school results, which are expected to show that districts
throughout the state have fewer students who are considered proficient or
advanced on the PSSA tests in math and English language arts in grades 3-8.
"Scores from the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment won't be used to
measure school performance or teacher evaluations due to a one-year waiver from
the U.S.
PSSA scores won't be used to rate school
performance this year
By Jacqueline
Palochko Of The
Morning Call
Septeember 8, 2015
This
year's sagging state test scores won't be used to rate elementary and middle
schools — or to evaluate their teachers — under a one-year waiver from the U.S.
Department of Education. Gov. Tom
Wolf announced the moratorium Tuesday, saying the state sought the waiver out
of a sense of fairness to teachers and students. Pennsylvania System of School Assessment
scores are used to determine a school's annual report card, known as a School
Performance Profile. They are also used to evaluate teachers. The test was aligned with the rigorous
Pennsylvania Core Standards — the state's version of Common Core — in the
spring. In July, the state Department of
Education acknowledged a significant drop in 2015 PSSA scores from 2014. "We
must prepare students to be college and career ready in the 21st century, and
we need accountability measures that ensure we are on track to do so,"
Wolf said in a statement. "But we cannot overburden our students and
teachers with measures that do not fairly account for performance or
improvement."
State learns a tough
lesson about harder standardized tests
School leaders say
many parents are in for a shock, and they are upset that the state hasn't
softened the blow.
Frequently
Asked Questions about the new 2014-2015 PSSA results
Education Voters PA September 2015
Over
the summer of 2015, the PSSA results from the 2014-15 school year were released
with scores that are significantly different than the previous year. Read about
the changes .PSSA_FAQs.pdf
PSSA
scores dropped statewide. What happened?
In March of 2014, as part of a nationwide movement to create new standards (called the Common Core), the PA Board of Education replaced PA’s academic standards with new “PA Core Standards,” the first revision in 10 years. These are very rigorous standards, which significantly changed the content that students in PA are to learn in public schools. At the end of the 2014-2015 school year,Pennsylvania students in grades 3-8 took new
PSSA tests that were based solely on the new PA Core Standards. The 2014 PSSAs
are very different from the PSSAs that students had taken in previous
years. The format and content of the tests were new and some content
was tested a full grade or more earlier than on previous PSSAs. Statewide, scores on the new PSSA s
declined sharply. On average, in grades 3-8, the number of students scoring
Advanced or Proficient dropped by 9.4% in Language Arts and by 35.4% in Math.
In March of 2014, as part of a nationwide movement to create new standards (called the Common Core), the PA Board of Education replaced PA’s academic standards with new “PA Core Standards,” the first revision in 10 years. These are very rigorous standards, which significantly changed the content that students in PA are to learn in public schools. At the end of the 2014-2015 school year,
Partial delay
in charter school payments on tap for Harrisburg School
Penn
Live By M. Diane McCormick | Special to
PennLive on September 08, 2015 at 8:10 PM,
updated September 08, 2015 at 8:11 PM
In case
of a lingering state budget standoff, Harrisburg School District
"Marjorie Neff,
chairwoman of the School Reform Commission, also couldn't help bringing up the
unresolved funding when it was her turn at the podium: "I wish I didn't
have to say it because this is a celebratory day, but unfortunately, this is
the kind of thing that really affects us greatly: This is the 69th day that our
state government is without a budget. I ask that as you start your school year,
you take a moment to contact your state representatives and tell them about the
year ahead for you and to ask for a budget for Philadelphia schools that allows
us to provide a world-class education where all students have access to a great
school."
Unresolved Pa.
budget looms over start of Philly schools
DANA DIFILIPPO & SOLOMON LEACH, DAILY NEWS STAFF WITERS DIFILID@PHILLYNEWS.COM, 215-854-5934 POSTED:September
9, 2015, 12:16 AM
OUTSIDE
OF G.W. Carver High School of Engineering and Science in North Philadelphia,
towers of black and gold balloons greeted students yesterday for their first
day of school. Looming large over the
well wishes and jokes about homework, though, were tensions over the unresolved
state budget. "It doesn't impact us
today, but it will impact us in the long run," Superintendent William Hite
told reporters before he addressed a few dozen students and parents gathered at
Carver to mark the first day, along with Mayor Nutter and other local
dignitaries. "We only can spend the cash we have on hand, and at some
point, we will run out of cash, without the historical $413 million we
generally get from Harrisburg between July and August. That has not come this
year. It will not come until they approve a state budget. And so like every
other entity and agency that depends and relies on the state, we're concerned
about that." If the budget is still
unresolved by the end of October, the district will have to take steps to
reduce spending, Hite said. District officials are asking vendors to take
reduced payments and charter schools to see if they can operate with less until
state funding comes through.
A back to
school night for homeless students at Eliza Shirley House
Philly Daily News by HELEN UBIÑAS
POSTED: Tuesday, September 8, 2015, 12:18 AM
TODAY
BEGINS another school year in Philadelphia where students are asked to make do
with little or less. For thousands of students - 3,652 according to the school
district - making do starts way before the first bell rings. The Eliza Shirley House is an emergency
homeless shelter in Center City for women and children run by the Salvation
Army. The shelter is full every night.
Inside are families in survival mode. But between trying to make sense of how
they got here and what they need to get out, preparations are made for the
first day of school.
Optimism, theme
of equity emphasized at Philly first day of school ceremony
the
notebook By Dale Mezzacappa on Sep 8, 2015 07:04 PM
As the
familiar yellow buses crisscrossed the city in an unmistakable sign that summer
is over, Superintendent William Hite continued to sound a theme of
optimism and hope Tuesday morning at the ceremonial bell-ringing to
open the new school year. The site he
chose for the first-day festivities was Carver High School of Engineering &
Science, which accepts students from around the city for a highly selective
program focused on preparing them for jobs in a high-tech economy. This year, the school is adding 7th and
8th grades to better prepare students for the academically rigorous high
school. In addition, with a grant from
the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, it is creating a Saturday STEM Scholars program
that will recruit students from its North Philadelphia neighborhood near Temple
University. Despite the school's
location, North Philadelphia – one of the city's poorest neighborhoods
with some of its most troubled elementary schools – is not heavily represented
in Carver's student body.
By Vince Sullivan, Delaware County Daily Times POSTED: 09/08/15, 10:03 PM
EDT
MEDIA
COURTHOUSE >> President Judge Chad F. Kenney will press leaders of the
Chester Upland School District for information about how they plan to address
the school system’s funding crisis during a heating this morning. Kenney sent an order last week seeking
information from Chester Upland Receiver Francis V. Barnes and leaders from the
Pennsylvania Department of Education about when he can expect a new plan and
what the time frame for its implementation will be. Barnes submitted an amended financial
recovery plan on Aug. 18 to address the district’s structural deficit, which
stands at about $22 million. The plan called for alterations in the way charter
schools are reimbursed, the postponement of a loan repayment, the hiring of a
financial turnaround specialist and the performance of a forensic audit. Kenney
denied the bulk of the plan, which called for charter school tuition reimbursements
for special education students to be lowered from about $40,000 to $16,000 and
for cyber charter tuition rates to be capped at $5,950. In explaining his decision, Kenney said that
the plan didn’t address nearly $9 million in money already owed to charter
schools that hadn’t been paid. He said the proposal failed to wholly address
the district’s financial problems.
First charter school opens
in William Penn School District
Delco Times By Nick Tricome, Times Correspondent POSTED: 09/08/15, 10:05 PM EDT
LANSDOWNE >>
Tuesday marked the grand opening of Vision Academy Charter School, a K-8 school
that is the first of its kind in the William Penn School district, and one that
board members said was three years in the making. Adam Oz, the CEO of Vision Academy, said
talks about the possibility of creating a charter school began in 2012. From
there, local community members began meeting on a regular basis, working
together on the project and eventually forming the school’s board of directors. “We all came together under the vision of
developing a charter school in the William Penn School District,” Vision
Academy’s fundraising chair Carletta Mason said. “We didn’t know one another,
we just all met up through mutual friends from “I know this person, I know that
person in the community that would love to start up a charter school.” “That is how we all came about,” Mason added.
“We didn’t know each other from a can of paint, but we just all worked
diligently together for the last three years, like a family.”
Beaver County Times By Daveen Rae Kurutz dkurutz@timesonline.com |2 comments Posted: Tuesday, September 8, 2015 4:00
am
The number of Beaver County Central Valley
and Western Beaver -- have seen a decrease in the number of students leaving
for charters. Officials credit that change with an onslaught of new program
offerings in-house. “We’ve done a good
job of keeping kids here at Central Valley ,”
said Superintendent Nick Perry. “”A lot of that has to do with the fact that
kids are looking for more choice, and we took it upon ourselves to provide more
choice to our kids.” Like many other
local districts, Central Valley began its own
cyber program that allows children to take classes online. Perry said that
students have the opportunity to take every class in person or as an online
offering in grades six through 12.
Officials have
been addressing audit issues, working on improvements
York Daily Record By Angie Mason amason@ydr.com @angiemason1
on Twitter UPDATED: 09/08/2015 10:45:20 PM EDT
A York charter school criticized by the state
auditor general a few months ago made changes this summer, including a major
staff overhaul, and is billing itself as new and improved as the school year
begins. At the end of June, state
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale released an audit covering 2010 to 2013 that
blasted Helen Thackston Charter
School
Saucon Valley teachers, school district finally agree
on a contract
By Jacqueline
Palochko Of The Morning Call
September 8, 2015
It's finally over. After almost four years of bitter
negotiations, the Saucon
Valley School
District
School volunteers deal
with new background-check requirements
Changes to state
law require unpaid helpers to obtain background clearances
York Daily Record By Angie Mason amason@ydr.com @angiemason1
on Twitter UPDATED:
09/05/2015 10:18:29 AM EDT
Planning to help out
with cafeteria duty at your second-grader's school, or tag along on the
fifth-grade field trip? Then recent changes to state law matter to you. A host of changes to state laws regarding the
reporting and investigation of child abuse included the expansion of groups
required to get various background checks, extending that requirement to
volunteers who work with children. Schools,
most of which already required some checks on their own, are working to make
sure the volunteers that help make their schools hum are in compliance with the
new laws.
Which volunteers
need checks?
The new requirements
say that volunteers in schools, child care centers or other programs who are
responsible for a child's welfare or have "direct volunteer contact"
with children must obtain three background checks: state child abuse and
criminal history checks, and an FBI criminal history check. The FBI check can
be skipped if you're a volunteer who has lived in Pennsylvania for 10 years and
can swear you have not been convicted of certain crimes. Tina Phillips, director of training for the
Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, said the language was changed to try to
clarify exactly which volunteers would be affected. "Direct volunteer
contact" is defined as the care, supervision, guidance or control of
children, and routine, regular interaction with children.
It's really up to
school districts to make a determination as to who fits the state's definition
of volunteer, she said. And the law sets out the minimum, so they can go above
and beyond that.
Blogger note: Archdiocese
schools receive significant diverted PA tax dollars through the EITC and OSTC
tax credit programs. Public schools are
required to accept all students, no pledge required.
Archdiocese: School
parents must sign pledge
KATHY BOCCELLA, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Wednesday, September 9, 2015, 1:08 AM POSTED: Tuesday,
September 8, 2015, 6:26 PM
Parents of children
attending Archdiocese of Philadelphia schools are now being required to sign a
document pledging support for the schools' "Catholic identity" and
recognizing that in all questions involving church law, "the final
determination rests with the archbishop."
The archdiocese is asking all its schools to include the one-page
"Memorandum of Understanding" in entrance applications and school
handbooks, said spokesman Ken Gavin. The
purpose "is to simply inform parents that we are Catholic schools, that we
will teach the doctrine of the church, and have them sign that they understand
and are in agreement," he said. The
document requires parents or guardians "to uphold all principles and
policies that govern the Catholic school."
Newsweek ranks Garnet
Valley, Haverford high schools as among best in the country
Delco Times By Kevin Tustin, ktustin@delconewsnetwork.com, @KevinTustin on Twitter POSTED: 09/04/15, 10:09 PM EDT
Garnet Valley and
Haverford Senior high schools will be starting the 2015-16 school year with the
distinction of being classified two of the best public high schools in the
country. Newsweek ranked the Delaware
County schools at 168 and 440, respectively, in its America’s Top High Schools
2015 list published on Aug. 19, taking a broad range of criteria to compile a
list of the 500 best secondary education institutions across the country. Schools were ranked by a weighted college
readiness index based on six indicators: College enrollment rate (25 percent);
graduation rate (20 percent); weighted Advanced Placement/International
Baccalaureate/dual enrollment composite (17.5 percent); weighted SAT/ACT composite
(17.5 percent); student retention [change in student enrollment between 9th and
12th grades] (10 percent); and counselor-to-student ratio (10 percent). The only county schools to rank, Garnet
Valley placed seventh among the 22 Pennsylvania schools on the list, with
Haverford taking the 22nd spot. They earned respective college-readiness scores
of 82.1 and 77.
The new charter school
scheme: This is how GOP and privatizers have bled Pennsylvania
Teachers work for free in a school district
bled by charter schools and state government neglect
Salon.com by JEFF BRYANT TUESDAY, SEP
8, 2015 08:00 AM EDT
As schools across Pennsylvania open their
doors for the new school year, there’s one district in the state where teachers
will be hard at work even though they’re not likely to get paid.
The teachers are
actually already on the job, having reported for work a week early as
originally expected. But when the district’s administration announced it could
not meet a scheduled payroll on September 9, a week after classes start, the
teachers – along with janitors, nurses, and other school personnel – held an
impromptu meeting and voted to temporarily forego pay. The teachers are employed by the financially
strapped school district of Chester Upland , located about 20 miles west of Philadelphia . Years of
deliberate under-funding by the state, coupled with policies that favor the
rapid expansion of publicly funded but privately operated charter schools, are
bleeding the district. The dedication of committed and caring educators seems
to be one of the few forces binding the shattered school community together. “We aren’t broken,” says Dariah Jackson, one
of the teachers working for no pay tells Salon in a phone interview. Jackson, a
Special Education and Life Skills Support teacher in grades 3-5, says, “I’m in
my classroom, as are my colleagues, ready for the students to walk through the
door next week.” When asked how long is
“temporary” in their resolve to work with no pay, Jackson says, “No one has set a time limit
for now. We have to be here for our students. They need a place to go.” But while Jackson and her colleagues show
their determination to meet the needs of the students, there are forces acting
in Chester Upland, and across Pennsylvania ,
focused on anything but that.
"Russakoff’s story, in
brief, is that Zuckerberg, knowing little about education reform, naïvely put
his faith in the charismatic Booker, a champion of the reform movement. Booker
advocated the usual things: more teacher accountability, more charter schools
and new agreements with the teachers’ union that would allow for the best
teachers to be rewarded — and the worst to be fired."
Zuckerberg’s Expensive Lesson
New York Times Opinion by Joe Nocera SEPT. 8, 2015
It’s just hitting
bookstores, but Dale Russakoff’s new book, “The Prize: Who’s
in Charge of America’s Schools?,” has already become a source of enormous
contention, both in Newark ,
where the story takes place, and among education advocates of various stripes. The plotline revolves around what happened to
the Newark school system after Mark Zuckerberg,
the young founder and chief executive of Facebook, donated $100 million in 2010
to transform the city’s schools, a sum that was matched by the prodigious
fund-raising of Cory Booker, Newark ’s
former mayor (now the state’s junior senator). The stated goal of the grant,
according to Zuckerberg at the time, was to turn Newark ’s schools into a “symbol
of educational excellence for the whole nation.” Five years later,
with the money basically gone, I think it is fair to say that hasn’t happened.
The Waltons’ War Against
Public Schools and How Regular Folks Beat Them in Their Own Backyard
Diane Ravitch's Blog
By dianeravitch September
8, 2015 //
Learn how the
Waltons–the billionaires who own Walmart–are trying to replace public schools
with privately managed charters and vouchers and to eliminate teachers’ unions.
Learn how the people of Arkansas
said no and defeated them in the state the Waltons think they own.
This
article, by Kali Holloway, describes how the billionaires got beaten
in their attempt to privatize all of Arkansas ’s
public schools.
This past
January, nearly 60 years after Arkansas ’ first
desegregation efforts, the state board of education dissolved Little Rock Arkansas
Testing Resistance & Reform News: September 2- 8,
2015
Fairtest Submitted
by fairtest on September 8, 2015 - 1:40pm
With school doors
now opening across the U.S. ,
FairTest kicks off its 30th Anniversary of advocacy for assessments that are
valid, open and educationally useful. Working with grassroots activists across
the country, we are currently making great progress to roll back test misuse
and overuse in both the K-12 and university admissions arenas, as our weekly
new clip summaries demonstrate.
Register Now for the Fifth
Annual Arts and Education Symposium Oct. 29th Harrisburg
Thursday, October
29, 2015 Radisson Hotel Harrisburg Convention Center 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Act
48 Credit is available. The event will be a daylong convening of arts education
policy leaders and practitioners for lively discussions about important policy
issues and the latest news from the field. The symposium is hosted by EPLC and
the Pennsylvania Arts Education Network, and supported by a generous grant from
The Heinz Endowments.
The John Stoops Lecture
Series: Dr. Pasi Sahlberg "Education Around the World: Past, Present &
Future" Lehigh University October 8, 2015 6:00 p.m.
Baker Hall |Zoellner Arts
Center | 420 E. Packer Avenue | Bethlehem , PA 18015
Baker Hall |
Free and open to the
public! Ticketing is general admission -
no preseating will be assigned. Arrive early for the best seats. Please plan to stay post-lecture for an open
reception where you will have an opportunity to meet with students from all of
our programs to learn about the latest innovations in education and human
services.
Register now for the
2015 PASCD 65th Annual Conference, Leading and Achieving in an Interconnected World, to be
held November 15-17, 2015 at Pittsburgh Monroeville Convention
Center.
The Conference
will Feature Keynote Speakers: Meenoo Rami – Teacher and Author
“Thrive: 5 Ways to (Re)Invigorate Your Teaching,” Mr. Pedro Rivera,
Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, Heidi Hayes-Jacobs – Founder and President
of Curriculum Design, Inc. and David Griffith – ASCD Senior Director of Public
Policy. This annual conference features small group sessions focused on:
Curriculum and Supervision, Personalized and Individualized Learning, Innovation,
and Blended and Online Learning. The PASCD Conference is a great
opportunity to stay connected to the latest approaches for innovative change in
your school or district. Join us forPASCD 2015! Online
registration is available by visiting www.pascd.org <http://www.pascd.org/>
Slate of
candidates for PSBA offices now available online
PSBA website July 31, 2015
PSBA website July 31, 2015
The
slate of candidates for 2016 PSBA officer and at-large representatives is now
available online, including bios, photos and videos. According to
recent PSBA Bylaws changes, each member school entity casts one vote per
office. Voting will again take place online through a secure, third-party
website -- Simply Voting. Voting will
open Aug. 17 and closes Sept.
28. One person
from the school entity (usually the board secretary) is authorized to register
the vote on behalf of the member school entity and each board will need to put
on its agenda discussion and voting at one of its meetings in August or
September. Each person authorized to register the school entity's votes has
received an email on July 16 to verify the email address and confirm they are
the person to register the vote on behalf of their school entity.
Register Now for PASA-PSBA
School Leadership Conference Oct. 14-16, 2015 Hershey Lodge & Convention
Center
Save the date for the
professional development event of the year. Be inspired at more than four
exciting venues and invest in professional development for top administrators
and school board members. Online registration is live at:
Register Now – PAESSP
State Conference – Oct. 18-20 – State College, PA
Registration is now
open for PAESSP's State Conference to be held October 18-20 at The
Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel in State College, PA! This year's
theme is @EVERYLEADER and features three nationally-known keynote
speakers (Dr. James Stronge, Justin Baeder and Dr. Mike Schmoker), professional
breakout sessions, a legal update, exhibits, Tech Learning Labs and many
opportunities to network with your colleagues (Monday evening event with Jay
Paterno). Once again, in conjunction
with its conference, PAESSP will offer two 30-hour Act 45 PIL-approved
programs, Linking Student Learning to Teacher Supervision and Evaluation
(pre-conference offering on 10/17/15); and Improving Student Learning
Through Research-Based Practices: The Power of an Effective Principal (held
during the conference, 10/18/15 -10/20/15). Register for either or both PIL
programs when you register for the Full Conference!
REGISTER TODAY for
the Conference and Act 45 PIL program/s at:
Apply
now for EPLC’s 2015-2016 PA Education Policy Fellowship Program
Applications are
available now for the 2015-2016 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP). The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in
Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC). With more than 400 graduates in its
first sixteen years, this Program is a premier professional development
opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and
community leaders. State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available
to certified public accountants. Past
participants include state policymakers, district superintendents and
principals, charter school leaders, school business officers, school board
members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders,
education advocates, and other education and community leaders. Fellows
are typically sponsored by their employer or another organization. The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day
retreat on September 17-18, 2015 and continues to graduation in June
2016.
Click here to read about
the Education Policy Fellowship Program.
