Resolution Calls for Study of Public School Libraries

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives approved a resolution that urges state agencies to conduct a study on the state's public school libraries. The bill asks that the State Board of Education and the State Education Department conduct research on the number of hours students can access their school's libraries, the amount of up-to-date information that is available, the conditions of books, and if Internet access is available.

State Representative Mark Longietti of Mercer County, says he introduced the resolution at the urging of a group of Shenango Valley librarians and the Public Schools Association. He says that research has shown that test scores are higher in schools where students have regular access to library resources.

Longietti also says that a study would allow the state to better know what schools and programs need improvement on."In order to take the next step what we need is data, and so there's no time like the present to collect the necessary data."

The resolution asks that the Department of Education and the Board make recommendations that the state could follow up on and to hold three public meetings about the study.

Student Loan Grace Period Ends in November

The six-month grace period for student loans of those who graduated in May ends in November. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency encourages borrowers to seek advice on how to pay off their loans. Most college loans include a grace period after graduation to stall repayment until the graduates are financially stable and settled into jobs. PHEAA spokesperson Keith New says that even in the current struggling job market, there are repayment plans that can fit each unique case.

“There are hardship and unemployment deferments and forbearances that are available there are Graduated Repayment Plans, and Income Sensitive Repayment plans,” New says. “So there are a variety of tools out there that are intended to help them should they encounter any difficulties.”

New says that although the repayment defaults have risen in the struggling economy, borrowers are being more proactive in communicating with the loan provider that they need help.

“It benefits everybody to make sure we have our borrowers staying in good repayment standings,” New says. “Our default rate still is very low compared with most parts of the country and we think that’s because of our activity to prevent that from happening.”

New says the PHEAA works proactively with borrowers to prevent defaults but borrowers in trouble must make the first move.

“The trick is to get everybody to call their loan service,” New says. “We need them to run towards the problem not run away from the problem. Too often people encounter difficulties paying a bill and they hope it’s going to go away and as with other things it won’t, but there are tools here to help you.”

The PHEAA customer service staff’s role is to help borrowers discuss the payment plans that fit them best, and New says they encourage graduates to take advantage of free resources that help graduates or soon-to-be graduates to plan for their financial future responsibly.

Classes Resume in Allegheny Valley

94 teachers in the Allegheny Valley School District ended their 20 day strike and returned to the classrooms today. Under state law, the teachers had to go back to work today in order for the students to get the minimum 180 class days by June 15, 2011. The old contract expired June 30 of this year. District supervisors have been teaching seniors the last 10 days so they can graduate on time.
Now the school district and the teachers union enter into nonbinding arbitration and teachers cannot resume their strike during that period that could last 40 days. Union spokesman Butch Santicola of the Pennsylvania State Education Association says that could help....
"The positives are the inclusion of outside people to evaluate the situation. It's a positive but also a gamble because you don't know what the third party is going to determine."
Unless the nonbinding arbitration results in a contract, the teachers could strike again.

Teachers Bonuses Tied to Achievement

The Pittsburgh Public School District and its teachers union are hailing a new contract as "historic" because of its length and and because it includes bonuses based on student performance. The contract agreement was reached last week and approved yesterday by the Board of Education and members of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers. The deal is built around an "Empowering Effective Teachers plan" drafted by the the district and union leadership last year. District Superintendent Mark Roosevelt says the plan changes the way the District hires, supports, compensates and evaluates teachers.

“This agreement discredits the belief that school districts and teacher unions can’t work together around education reform. Our teachers have strongly affirmed the direction the PFT leadership has taken. They have chosen to lead the transformation of public education across the country.”

Union President John Tarka says one of the provisions, known as Voluntary Incentive Earning at Work (VIEW), enables teachers at the top of the salary schedule to earn bonuses of $8,000 annually.
Teachers who opt into the pilot relinquish their rights to negotiated increments at the top of the salary schedule.

Other contract provisions:
--District schools that fall within the top 15% of Pennsylvania schools for growth as verified annually by the Pennsylvania Department of Education will receive a team bonus of $6,000.
--All teachers at the top step of the salary schedule will be eligible to receive a $1,000 bonus in each year of the contract that the District achieves the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standard.
--After School Enrichment Periods will provide opportunities for effective teachers to teach one additional class at $3,500 or two at $7,000 added to their base salary.

The contract additionally includes provisions where every employee covered under the agreement receives annual wage increases.
The five year contract is the longest ever between the district and its teachers.

Recruit New Teachers from Business & Industry

By a vote of 46-1, the State Senate has approved legislation designed to attract mid-career professionals to teaching in Pennsylvania. The measure, which now goes to the House Education Committee, would create a streamlined process for those with expertise in key fields, such as science and mathematics, to earn a teaching certificate and bring their knowledge to the classroom.
The sponsor, Democratic Senator Andy Dinniman of Chester County, says if the Secretary of Education determines there is a statewide or regional shortage of teachers, then the Secretary would have the authority to issue the Residency Teaching Certificate.
Dinniman says one reason Pennsylvania did not win federal funds in the first round of the "Race to the Top" program is that the state does not have an alternative certification process. Pennsylvania applied June 1st for the 2nd round of federal grants along with 35 other states and the District of Columbia.
Dinniman says the idea is to tap the experience of business professionals for use in the classroom and a side benefit would be that it helps those professionals who have been downsized out of a job.
An applicant for the residency certification must have a bachelor’s degree in the subject area, along with at least five years of relevant work experience; or,a master’s degree in the subject area, along with at least two years of relevant work experience; or, a doctoral degree in the subject area.

The candidates must also complete a four-month program that focuses on instructional strategies, child development, emotional support, and assessment skills.

Richland Teacher Gets National Award

A Johnstown teacher is being honored by the White House for her math teaching skills. Richland High School’s Becky Piscitella was awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. A math teacher in each state is chosen for the award which includes a trip to Washington D.C to meet the President and to take part in a multi-day educational and celebratory gathering. It also comes with a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation. Piscitella says she was very “surprised and excited” by this week’s announcement. Piscitella teaches 11th grade trigonometry and statistics. She submitted a video of a class where she was teaching statistics using several different learning tools including manipulatives, computer technologies and a student generated written response to the material. She says it helped the kids to understand a very difficult concept. Piscitella also submitted a written description of the class and why she chose to use the tools she used. Piscitella encourages other teachers to submit applications in the future. She says even if you do not win it is a rewarding experience, “it allows you to spend time reflecting on what it is you do in your classroom and actually tying your lessons to things you learned in college about correct pedagogy and how students respond to that.” Piscitella says she had a lot of time to reflect on the class, it was recorded back in May of 2009.

High School Students Win Award

Two seniors from McKeesport Area High School won $2,000 in seed capital for their business Made in the Shade, in the 5th Annual George W. Tippins Annual Business Plan Competition. Their business will help those who are color-blind with a durable iron on tag designed to indicate primary color clothing.

The winners, Keena Simmons and Ryah Gadsen will get the money and additional support to create their product over the summer.

The competition is sponsored by Entrepreneuring Youth that works with academically at-risk youth.

Similar products exist on the market.

Law Enforcement: Don't Trim Early Education $

Governor Ed Rendell is pushing for another increase in basic education funding in Pennsylvania in this year’s budget.
But his spending plan calls for slight reductions in early education line items. A group of law enforcement officials wants lawmakers to change that.
Rendell’s budget would lower Pre-K Counts spending from 86.4 to 85.9 million dollars, and drop the Head Start supplemental line item from 39.5 to 38.7 million.
64 district attorneys, police chiefs and sheriffs have sent a letter to House Speaker Keith McCall asking for level funding of those line items.
Cumberland County DA David Freed says the research results are simple – more spending on early childhood education means less of those kids will grow up and run into trouble with the law.

"I certainly won’t stand here and ask my legislators to vote for any sort of increase. But what we need is for this funding to remain at status quo. Because this is the point of all these programs. It works. The research shows that it works."

Freed and the others say a bit more early childhood spending can lead to reductions in the corrections budget. He points out the commonwealth spends about 35-thousand dollars on every person in the state prison system. Rendell wants to increase corrections spending to 1.7 billion dollars this year.

Education $ Could Be Budget Sticking Point

Lawmakers have 27 days to go before this year’s state spending plan is due.
Following budget negotiations at Governor Rendell’s official residence, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi said he sensed a “willingness” on Rendell’s part to get the budget passed by the June 30th deadline.

"It would require a degree of compromise by him and the administration towards the position of the General Assembly. We didn’t see that flexibility in June or July, or even August last year. That started to come in October."

But a few hours later, Rendell told reporters he wants to see another increase in basic education spending, and he’s happy to drag negotiations into mid-summer to make sure that happens.

"There’s room for compromise, but let me say, there’s nothing more important to the commonwealth’s future. Nothing. And you know how much I’ve devoted myself to education, and seeing that our schools have the resources that our kids can have the full potential. And guys, I’m ready. I’m ready for 101 days, if necessary."

Rendell is asking for a 354 million dollar basic education increase this year, but hinted he’s willing to settle for less. Pileggi and other Republican leaders say this year’s 1.2 billion dollar budget shortfall means Rendell’s education request is unrealistic.
Rendell acknowledged the final budget will likely be lower than the 29 billion dollar spending plan he submitted in February.

States to Share New Academic Standards

Pennsylvania is jumping onboard a plan to standardize education across the nation.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative would have all states assess their students in the same way. Pennsylvania Department of Education spokeswoman Leah Harris says that would help states compare results, which is hard to do with so many different state tests.

“With the Common Core Standards, we’ll be able to do that comparison so we can find out, ‘Whoa, Pennsylvania’s doing really great in science, but for some reason is falling behind our neighbors in math,’ and then gather those resources to see what we could be doing better,” says Harris.

Harris says the Pennsylvania Board of Education must first vote to pass the Common Core standards. She says that shouldn’t be hard because they’re almost the same as the current state standards.

Harris says after the proposal passes the state board, it must then go through an Independent Regulatory Review Commission and a public comment period. She says the whole process could take a year or so.

The Common Core State Standards website says the federal government is not involved in the creation or updating of the standards.

Representative Wants to Change PA School Pensions

A House Republican wants to change Pennsylvania law for public school workers’ pension funds.

Representative Glen Grell of Cumberland County says the pension fund of the Public School Employees’ Retirement System is under-funded and getting progressively worse.

Grell says employee benefits increased when investments were returning well in 2001, and employer contributions fell presumably to curb property taxes. Grell says the investment losses the fund experienced in 2008 and 2009 caused the balance to plummet.

Grell says his bill would remove the benefits multiplier for years of service. For example, someone who’d worked 30 years would get 30% of their final salary in benefits, not 75%.

The bill would also set up a 5% employee-employer contribution plan that would be similar to a 401k plan. The employee would still receive Social Security benefits as well.

Grell says its important to note that the Pennsylvania constitution mandates that all current school employees’ contracts not be changed.

Pennsylvania To Let Students Graduate Early

Pennsylvania is among eight states that will pilot a plan that will allow students to earn a high school diploma and enter college at the end of the 10th grade.

The plan was announced by The National Center on Education and the Economy. The program would involve 10-20 schools that volunteer beginning in fall 2011.

Students would take exams at the end of their Sophomore years. If they pass, they would receive a high school diploma and enroll at a school with open admissions whether it be a community college or a technical school.

The program was funded by a grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.

School Districts Running Low on Snow......Days

Although school districts are starting to get back to normal, many, if not most, have used up the snow days that were built into their academic calendars. That means they will have to convert school holidays or in-service days into classroom days to meet the state-mandated 180 class days by June 30th. If they are unable to meet the deadline, districts can apply for a waiver from the state.
Michael Race, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, says typically school districts have calendars that end in mid-June "so there is a little bit of a buffer toward the end of June to add days to the calendar."
Race says most districts have contingency plans "but when you get into a large number of snow days, it becomes an issue of fitting in the 180 days. But the 180 day rule remains in effect regardless of the weather conditions we may have."
Race says waivers are not granted for the weather itself, but rather extenuating circumstances caused by the weather such as power outages at schools or the loss of heat which makes it "impossible or extremely inconvenient" to keep schools open

Chatham Students Protest Electronically

Chatham University students took to their cameras today to protest Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s proposed tax on college tuition.

More than 100 of the school’s on-campus population of about 600 wrote personalized messages on white boards and sent photos of themselves to the mayor’s office.

Chatham Class of 2010 President Jenn Hollern says the students were tired of being politely ignored.

“We’ve written letters, written editorials, written to the newspapers. We’ve talked with members of Council, tried to talk with the mayor but haven’t been successful, says Hollern. “We’ve called with emails. We’ve done all of these peaceful, not-so-aggressive tactics and obviously gotten no results, so we wanted to organize a protest.”

Hollern says they were too busy with final exams to organize in the flesh, but she says this electronic version only helps the students’ appeal by showing their ingenuity and value to the city.

“This way of organizing shows that beautifully,” says Hollern.

She says the students have been taken as "financial hostages" to get the city's educational institutions to pay more to Pittsburgh in lieu of taxes.

The students’ protest pictures can be found on Facebook, and a 30-second video clip has been sent to all City Council members and the mayor.

Onorato: Spur Economy via Higher Education

At CCAC this morning, Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato released the first component of his plan to jump-start the state economy. He says higher education is the key to innovation and quality job creation.

As governor, he would provide two grants for matching funds of $25 million each for industry-sponsored research into new technology and for colleges and universities seeking federal research funds.

Pennsylvania recently got an "F" for college affordability on the National Report Card for Higher Education. Onorato would change that with more student grants that could be used at any institution in the state. When he was the first in his family to go to college, he said the many state and federal grants available then enabled him to graduate with a small, easily paid off debt, but that's no longer the case for students today.

Onorato says his policies would increase the number of higher degrees awarded to state residents by 25,700, or 6%, over the next 4 years.

Upcoming policy papers relating to economic development will address Onorato's plans to improve K thru 12 education and to promote a more business-friendly environment.

Hearing Held On State Funding Of Education

Democratic Chair of the State Senate Education Committee Andy Dinniman held a public hearing on Tuesday to discuss education spending in Pennsylvania. Dinniman focused the hearing on a two year old costing out study that looked at the cost associated with ensuring that every Pennsylvania student reaches the states academic standards. The report led to a change two years ago in Pennsylvania's funding system for education and Dinniman wanted to look at how the system is working and evaluate its effectiveness. Dinniman says the state needs to compare the states funding system with the reports recommendations and determine whether or not and changes need to be made.

Safe Schools Rules Soon to Come

State education officials are rolling out a new set of initiatives they say will lead to safer schools across the commonwealth. Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak and State Board of Education Chairman Joe Torsella want to establish clear guidelines and mandates spelling out what Pennsylvania’s schools need to do to ensure a safe and welcome learning environment. Torsella says the effort is modeled after the expectations the state sets for teachers when it comes to education, “We set forth clearly what it is that we want, for example, a fourth grader to be learning in math class. We need to set forth as clearly what our behavior expectations are for that student and others in the hallways outside of math.” The guidelines will be introduced at a Board of Education meeting next month. Torsella says he hopes to have them in place before the 2010-2011 school year begins. The officials are also endorsing legislation requiring educators to collaborate with their local police districts on setting procedures for what to do if a student breaks the law while on school grounds.

Pittsburgh School Board Rated

A+ Schools, Pittsburgh's education watchdog group released its first report card of the school year based on observations by its Board Watch volunteers.

The school board got a B-, the same grade they got last school year but Carey Harris, the group's executive director says it is a stronger B- because the group showed improvement in several areas.

At least three volunteers attend agenda reviews and legislative meetings and judge the bard members on five criteria. They are how well they manage time, transparency, conduct, role clarity and competency.

Regional Homeless Children Summit

A summit was held on Friday at The Rivers Club in Pittsburgh. Titled "Summit to Ensure Quality Education of our Homeless Children and Youth," it focused on the on the barriers homeless children face in getting an education, such as transportation to school from homeless shelters, tutoring, mentoring and accessing health services.

There are about 600 homeless children living in shelters in the Pittsburgh area. Over the last ten years, the homeless children's education fund has established learning centers in ten Pittsburgh-area shelters and provided after-school and summer activities.

About 75 social service providers, education specialists and others attended the summit.

Pittsburgh School Board Approves $40 mil. Gates Grant

Earlier this year Pittsburgh was one of ten school districts and charter school groups selected to apply for a portion of the $500 million fund created by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to promote teacher effectiveness. In September they were revealed to be one of four chosen to receive money, and last night the school board voted to approve a $40 million grant, which is a part of a more than $85 million effort to change the way teachers are hired, trained, evaluated and compensated. John Tarka, head of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers says they have been behind the project from the beginning. He acknowledges that the similar programs have been opposed in other districts, but he's confident that Pittsburgh teachers will be supportive after the collective bargaining nuts and bolts have been worked out. He says Pittsburgh has some great teachers and they are looking forward to harnessing those skills and replicating them across the district.

The teacher effectiveness initiative will include a teacher training academy, introduce pay for performance and incentive based pay for teachers who choose to tackle difficult assignments. It would also rework the tenure system and introduce more outreach for teacher recruitment.

Hillsborough County, Florida, Memphis Tennessee and Los Angeles College-Ready Promise charter schools have also been chosen for the grant.

“Each of these sites will implement groundbreaking approaches to recruit, retain and reward effective teachers,” Gates Foundation Co-Founder Melinda Gates said. She added that this is the largest domestic investment the Gates Foundation has made since its inception in 2000.