Daily postings
from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 1500
Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators,
legislators, 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
The “Public” played a
very real role in the budget process for Upper Darby ’s
public schools this year. That’s how
Democracy is supposed to work. There was
public budgeting, public discussion by a locally elected school board, public
engagement with the board and local legislators, public decision making and
extensive coverage in the local press.
Contrast that with the Killion
amendment that would specifically exclude charter school vendors like Vahan
Gureghian from Pennsylvania’s right-to-know laws, or with Pennsylvania’s “successful
EITC program” that specifically
restricts what info the state can collect (and the public can access)
regarding the funds that are spent. And
contrast it with the process that is unfolding in Philadelphia
It’s one part of what
gets lost when schools are privatized…..LAF
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Delco Times Heron’s Nest Editor’s Blog by Phil Heron
It has been a rough couple of months in the Upper Darby School District
This morning, 45 teachers who had been given pink slips as the district struggled to dig out of a $13 million deficit have been rehired, the beloved ‘special’ instruction in arts and music has been restored (albeit not in separate classrooms), and residents are applauding the way the board handled last night’s meeting, attended by more than 300 residents.
This morning, 45 teachers who had been given pink slips as the district struggled to dig out of a $13 million deficit have been rehired, the beloved ‘special’ instruction in arts and music has been restored (albeit not in separate classrooms), and residents are applauding the way the board handled last night’s meeting, attended by more than 300 residents.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 2012
I'm getting to this party a little late, but better
late than never. There was a great story last week on the cover of the
Philadelphia City Paper -- a holiday week when a lot of folks were off or not
paying close attention or both. (Yes, this too was written by Daniel
Denvir...the dude's on
a roll). In addition to the horrible timing, it wasn't about the things
that usually get us all whipped up here -- race (well, maybe a little) or
sports or sex or...did I mention sports? Still, I'm getting the vibe that
the piece threw some of the city's elites into a tizzy, even if the common folk
didn't notice it.
It's a story about power in this town -- who
has it these days, and how they are using it.
And the focus is on Jeremy Nowak, the head
of the increasingly influential philanthropy, the William Penn Foundation. You didn't vote for Mr. Nowak. Nobody did.
But the article makes this case that he has more say over the future of Philadelphia
Here’s a few items on our over-reliance on
standardized testing and the proposed common core, which some are reporting
will dramatically increase the amount of testing we do.
“It is time, he said, to see if Florida
Has Florida
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who hasn’t seen a test
he hasn’t wanted students to take, seems to have come to some sort of epiphany:
The state that has been a national model for high-stakes test-based school
reform just may be testing schoolchildren too much.
Speaking to a conference of newspaper editors
the other day, Scott said that state officials had received an unprecedented number
of complaints from parents about the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
It is time, he said, to see if Florida
As of July
11, 566 Texas
The following is a list of school districts that
have adopted a version of the Resolution Concerning High Stakes,
Standardized Testing of Texas
Public School July 11,
2012 , 566 districts representing more than 3.4 million
students have notified us they've adopted the resolution. That's 55
percent of Texas school districts and 70
percent of all Texas
Protest Builds Against Pearson,
Testing, and Common Core
Posted: 06/13/2012 10:21 am
Huffingtin Post by Alan Singer, Social studies educator, Hofstra University
Wall Street
Journal: School-Test Backlash Grows
Some Parents, Teachers and Boards Rebel, Saying Education Is Being
Stifled
Wall Street Journal Online By STEPHANIE
BANCHERO Updated May 16, 2012
The increasing role of standardized testing in U.S.
In Texas Everett , Wash.
In recent weeks, the protest spread to Florida,
where two school boards, including Palm Beach County, signed on to a petition
similar to the one in Texas. A parent in a third,Broward County
Has your school board
reviewed and considered this sample testing resolution?
PSBA Sample
Resolution Concerning Student Assessment and Achievement
PSBA Board of directors urges congress to reconsider current
assessments under NCLB
Recently, the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania
School Boards Association (PSBA) passed a resolution urging the U.S. Congress to reauthorize
the No Child Left Behind Act and replace the current school accountability
system with one that more accurately assesses student progress.
The new system, according to the resolution, should
"encompass multiple assessments, use more cost efficient sampling
techniques and other external evaluation arrangements, and more accurately
reflect what students know, appreciate and can do in terms of the rigorous
standards essential to their success, enhance the role of teachers as
designers, guides to instruction and leaders, and nurture the sense of inquiry
and love of learning in all students."
The resolution says the board "supports efforts
to appropriately measure student attainment of state and local academic
standards," but the process should use "multiple, ongoing methods of
assessment for knowledge, skills and abilities."
In passing the resolution, the 27-member Board of
Directors, which governs PSBA, expressed concern that there is a misconception
that standardized, high-stakes testing is the most valid measure of determining
student learning. Research shows many reasons why standardized test scores
should never be the determining factor in making major decisions about
students. Instead, the PSBA Board of Directors urges Congress to create an
assessment system that takes into consideration coursework, tests and quizzes,
presentations, projects and papers throughout a student's career.
The PSBA Board of Directors is using the resolution
as a way to clearly define to Congress the assessment system that would help
them, as local school directors, be more flexible in making educationally sound
decisions that expand opportunities for all students, without an overreliance
on standardized test scores, a narrowing of the curriculum, or prescriptive
mandates.
As part of the resolution, the PSBA Board of Directors encourages
local school boards to adopt the same or similar resolution.
The full resolution can be viewed online at http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=3149.
Is Khan Academy
The Khan
Academy
……The myriad ways we learn and the number of
uncontrollable variables involved put usefully precise evaluation of learner
performance far beyond reach. If we can’t do it for one kid in one learning
situation, we’re kidding ourselves if we think that computer-scored tests can evaluate
the quality of thought of millions of kids for a year. We’ve made commercially
produced standardized tests so important we’re blind to
the enormity of their inadequacies and to the damage they’re doing to the
young, to the teaching profession, and to the society for which the young will
soon be responsible.
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 grassroots 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.
Click here for more information.
Mr. Feinberg I see you are very involved with other school districts in the the Delaware Valley, is there any way you can find your way to the Interboro School district? This school district has lost more than half there administrators including Dr. Hacker the Superintendent. I find this issue has gone so far without being addressed by anyone within the educational field. It seems the Delaware County Times are the only paper that has made these issues public and no else seems to care. There is no one running this district and principals have stopped the hiring process and the next two board meetings have been canceled without explanation. Please help this district.
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