Best Information on Common Core Standards

This article by the internationally known scholar, Dr. Yong Zhao, provides a thoughtful analysis of the Common Core.

Common Sense Vs. Common Core: How to Minimize the Damages of the Common Core

The comments are worth reading as well.

PA Scholarship for Children in Low Performing Schools

PA Department of Education released the list of PA's lowest performing schools today.

The more than 242,000 students (in the 414 school buildings in 74 school districts across Pennsylvania) may be eligible to apply for a scholarship through the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program funded by tax credits from the expansion of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC 2.0).

This program signed into law by Governor Tom Corbett last month is intended to give low- and moderate-income students in low-achieving schools the option to obtain a scholarship to attend a participating public or nonpublic school.

What does this mean for public school students in Pennsylvania?

On this blog, I will try to provide families with information about eligibility requirements and how to apply for the scholarship.  

The PA Department of Community and Economic Development’s website at www.newpa.com, has provided the following information: 

To be eligible, a student’s family income could not exceed:

• Through June 30, 2013 - $60,000, plus $12,000 for each dependent member of the household.

• After June 30, 2013 - $75,000, plus $12,000 for each dependent member of the household.

• An additional amount, to be determined by a formula, would be added to the income limit for students receiving special education services.

The PA Department of Education would annually publish a list of the bottom 15 percent of elementary schools and the bottom 15 percent of secondary schools, based on combined math and reading PSSA scores.

School districts in which a low-achieving school is located would be required to notify parents of the scholarship program with instructions about how to apply.

Eligible students could receive up to $8,500 for a regular education program or up to $15,000 for a special education program.
More details are coming soon. 

When can families expect to be notified by their school district?


According to the Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC):

 

The Department of Education is required by law to notify school districts that have schools identified as low-achieving by Aug. 1, 2012.  In 2013 and each subsequent year, school notification will be made by Feb. 1.

Within 15 days of notification by the department, school districts are required to notify parents and post on its website, a description of the opportunity scholarship tax credit program, as well as instructions on how families may apply.

Which PA schools are on the list?

I will not list all 414 school buildings but you may find the full list here: Pennsylvania Department of Education List of Low Achieving Schools.

Below I've listed the Pittsburgh Public School District (PPSD) schools (the district where my children attend) and will pay particular attention to these schools in the implementation of this program.

It is interesting to note that 7 of these PPSD schools have closed and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that you remain eligible for the scholarship if your child's new school is also on the list.  

Fort Pitt Elementary, Langley High, Murray Elementary, Northview Elementary, Oliver High, Schaeffer Elementary, and Stevens Elementary

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/state-list-of-failing-schools-has-53-in-county-646260/#ixzz21klHHS2Y

Here is the list of Pittsburgh Public School District schools that made the list of the lowest 15% performing schools in the state.  Next to the schools that have closed, I've indicated the new assigned school (from the PPSD website) and if the new school is also on the eligibility list.  

ALLEGHENY TRAD MS ACAD

Regular Elementary/Secondary

ARLINGTON EL SCH

Regular Elementary/Secondary

ARSENAL EL SCHOOL

ARSENAL MS

Regular Elementary/Secondary

BRASHEAR HS

Regular Secondary

CARRICK HS

Regular Secondary

FORT PITT EL SCH

Closed, assigned to Arsenal PreK-5 (eligible), Woolslair K-5 (eligible) and Fulton Pre-K-5

Regular Elementary

GRANDVIEW EL SCH

Regular Elementary

HELEN S FAISON ARTS ACADEMY

Regular Elementary/Secondary

KING M L EL SCH

Regular Elementary/Secondary

LANGLEY HS

Closed, assigned to Pittsburgh Brashear (eligible)

Regular Secondary

LINCOLN EL TECH ACADEMY

Regular Elementary

MANCHESTER EL SCH

Regular Elementary/Secondary

MURRAY EL SCH

Closed, assigned to Arlington Pre-K-8 (eligible)

Regular Elementary/Secondary

NORTHVIEW EL

Closed, assigned to Pittsburgh King Pre-K-8 (eligible) and Pittsburgh Morrow PreK-8

Regular Elementary

OLIVER HS

Closed, assigned to Pittsburgh Perry Traditional Academy (eligible)

Regular Secondary

PERRY TRADITIONAL ACAD HS

Regular Secondary

PITTSBURGH MILLER PRE K-5

Regular Elementary

PITTSBURGH UNIVERSITY PREP

Regular Elementary/Secondary

SCHAEFFER EL SCH

Closed, assigned to Langley K-8 (new school)

Regular Elementary/Secondary

SCHILLER CLASSICAL A

Regular Elementary/Secondary

SOUTH BROOK MIDDLE SCH

Regular Elementary/Secondary

SPRING HILL EL SCH

Regular Elementary

STEVENS EL SCH

Closed, assigned to Langley K-8 (new school), Pittsburgh Westwood K-5, Pittsburgh South Hills 6-8

Regular Elementary/Secondary

SUNNYSIDE EL SCH

Regular Elementary/Secondary

WEIL TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE

Regular Elementary

WOOLSLAIR ELEM SCHL

Regular Elementary

Will the scholarships be available in time for students to start the school year in a new school?  

The answer to this question is unclear.  In an article by Peter L. DeCoursey, Bureau Chief at Capitolwire, it is noted:

There is going to be a concerted effort to make this work this year to help kids.

The Post-Gazette adds,

The new scholarships are scheduled to be available for the upcoming school year, though with districts welcoming students back beginning in late August, several administrative hurdles still must be cleared.

So, I have more questions that I hope to have answered in the coming weeks.  Here is my list, let me know if you have any others.

Which private schools will accept the scholarships (from low income students that went to low performing schools?

What are public schools districts doing to prepare for the potential loss of students?  

Are private schools required to accept children with special education needs?

Berliner on Education, Inequality and Poverty

Just read this article by David Berliner via the Diane Ravitch Blog.  

Sorting out the effects of inequality and poverty, teachers and schooling, on America's youth by David C. Berliner, Arizona State University

Want to read more by David Berliner?  The National Education Policy Center has more papers and articles here.

Common Sense Says Education is more than Academics

"We are at a crossroads in this nation regarding the direction that public education will take in the coming decades. Do we focus on a curriculum that concentrates on a few core subjects or do we gain an appreciation for how public education can develop all aspects of the child to the benefit of each of them as well as society in general?"


In Support of the Whole Child, Huffington Post Posted: 07/03/2012 4:02 pm

 This is a joint posting by 13 Huffington Post Education, Parenting and Health bloggers: Martin J. Blank, Sam Chaltain, Peter DeWitt, John M. Eger, Larry Ferlazzo, Jenifer Fox, Shaun Johnson, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Jennifer Peck, Kate Quarfordt, Sean Slade, Dr. Jim Taylor, & Jill Vialet.

NYT: Looking for Opinions on Excess Testing

The New York Times is asking for readers to respond to this letter to the editor.   Responses will be published in the NYT Sunday Dialogue:

Invitation to a Dialogue: An Excess of Testing  

Published: July 17, 2012

The writer, Stephen Krashen, is professor emeritus at the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education. 

 In his opinion, The mediocre performance of American students on international tests seems to show that our schools are doing poorly. But students from middle-class homes who attend well-funded schools rank among the best in the world on these tests, which means that teaching is not the problem. The problem is poverty.

What do you think?  Comments welcome here and to the New York Times:

E-mail:letters@nytimes.comSTEPHEN KRASHEN

Education Reform for Children Living in Poverty

I wonder when education policy makers will address the effects of poverty on student outcomes? 

I found this compelling and frightening article in Valerie Strauss's column, the Answer Sheet.

Posted at 01:50 PM ET, 07/17/2012

The hard bigotry of poverty: Why ignoring it will doom school reform

by Brock Cohen, a teacher and student advocate in the Los Angeles Unified School District who contends that we can no longer afford to trivialize the critical role that poverty plays in a child’s learning experiences – and that true school reform begins with social justice

PA Legislation Mandates Change in Teacher Evaluation Process for 2013-2014

PA House Bill 1901 (Act 82 of 2012) approved by PA Governor Tom Corbett on June 30, 2012 replaces the old system of teacher evaluation (satisfactory or unsatisfactory).

Source: PA Dept of Education, Pennsylvania's State Assessment System, Proposed Transition July 2012  from the Education Policy and Leadership Center. 

If you live in Pittsburgh you must be wondering how this law might effect the teacher furlough process. According to the current collective bargaining agreement between the Pittsburgh Public School District (PPSD) and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers (PFT), teacher furloughs are based strictly on seniority.

You may recall, on April 25, 2012, the Pittsburgh Public Schools Board of Directors passed a resolution that called for the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Linda Lane, to talk to the Union leadership (due to anticipated furloughs of about 20% of the teaching workforce):

"to improve the current furlough process for teachers in order to consider factors beyond seniority in light of the growing body of evidence around teacher effectiveness as well as the disproportionate impact that seniority-based furloughs have on the district's most vulnerable schools."

Read the article by Eleanor Chute, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, July 3, 2012 12:44 pm: School board wants end to seniority-based layoffs

The controversial resolution caused an uproar in Pittsburgh with teachers, parents, organizations quickly taking sides: Union vs. the District, pro-seniority vs. anti-seniority.  The Union and the District each took a hard stance on either side of the issue (yes, this is the same Union and District that received national recognition for working together to create the Empowering Effective Teachers plan funded with $40 million dollars by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation).

Many argued that for three years PPSD utilized a system developed collaboratively by PPSD and PFT to measure effective teachers, the Researched-based Inclusive System of Evaluation (RISE). In addition, PPSD has available data from two other research-based measures of effective teaching, Value Added Measures (VAM) and the Tripod Student Survey.  Furlough decisions then, in addition to seniority, must consider these data to identify the District's lowest performing teachers.    

Others argued that the collaboratively designed effective teacher measurement system, RISE, was developed only to improve teacher practice, not as criteria for furlough decisions.  William Hileman, Vice-President of the PFT, wrote an editorial (Pittsburgh Post Gazette July 3, 2012 12:44 pm) to convince readers that,

"Teacher-effectiveness measures are not yet adequate to guide layoffs in Pittsburgh"

Read more: Overturning teacher seniority would hurt students

Now, all PA public school teachers, with the exception of Charter School teachers (more about this in last week's post: Charter Schools have a pass), beginning in the 2013 school year will be evaluated based on a system of teacher performance measures instead of their old system of satisfactory or unsatisfactory performance.

For more information, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has published a list of FAQ's (here).  There is no mention of using teacher evaluation measurements as criteria to determine furloughs.

Do you believe this legislation will lead to a change the PPSD teacher furlough process prior to the next collective bargaining agreement due on June 30, 2015?

Highly Effective Teachers are Not Enough

Pittsburgh Public Schools and the Empowering Effective Teachers Program, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, hopes to increase student achievement by ensuring that there is a highly effective teacher in front of every student.

Others have noted that other factors create barriers for children to succeed in our public schools.  

This column by Marian Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund highlights one such obstacle,

"Millions of children in America are denied the opportunity to receive a fair and high quality education. In March, the U.S. Department of Education released new information showing that children of color face harsher discipline, have less access to rigorous course offerings, and are more often taught by lower paid and less experienced teachers."

Read the full column here: CHILD WATCH® COLUMN: "AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS: STILL UNEQUAL AND UNJUST" 

Why I Started this Blog

First, I'll provide a little background information.  Besides my family (immediate, extended and dogs), I am most passionate about public education.  Those who know me have most certainly endured a conversation or two that either went on way too long or never should have started in the first place!  

I was educated in Philadelphia Public Schools and am now guiding my two boys through their own Pittsburgh Public School experiences.  This has proven to be a most challenging job, in the midst of monumental education reform coupled with a financial crisis, and one I haven't taken lightly.  

My experiences of the last 5 years; as a parent, advocate, activist, and volunteer, nourished my desire to gather knowledge and use my voice to shape the future of public education in the US.  

This blog then, is a way for me to share the information I gather daily (from wonderful education bloggers, writers and researchers) and hopefully spark mindful discussion for its readers.  

Thanks for reading! Pamela

Don't Be Tricked by the Parent Trigger Law!

Mayors Support "Parent Tricker" Law

By Diane Ravitch on June 26, 2012 9:05 AM/ Education Week Bridging Differences Blog

"It is frankly bizarre to pass a law allowing 51 percent of the present users of a public facility or public service to seize control and hand it off to a private corporation."

Read More: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2012/06/dear_deborah_on_june_18.html 

Beware: Public School Advocate May Be a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Posted: 07/12/2012 5:59 pm/ Asher Huey Huffington Post

"StudentsFirst and Stand for Children, can look great at first glance. But when you look more closely at the policies they push, and who pays to push them, you have to take pause."

Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/asher-huey/post_3528_b_1632897.html