On another post Anonymous wrote:
Don't know if this belongs here or is a new post:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/pennsylvania-charter-school-test-results-sag-671691/
Friday, January 25, 2013
Testing today
On another post Anonymous wrote:
Testing today-- new topic please
Please someone clarify neighborhood discussion:
I know we have all complained about the4 amount of testing etc.
But now I am hearing that teachers are actually documenting 43 days to testing out of a 90 day semester? Also, new policies not allowing teachers to see the test prior to giving it-- so no study guide like info.
Enough people live and have families in other districts etc. to KNOW this isnt how high school goes. So no worry about "testing to the test" Do you really wonder why people are looking to charters, parochial, private, moving-- anything so their kids have a normal "study for finals" kinda life-- and yet, we want "college ready??"
Testing today-- new topic please
Please someone clarify neighborhood discussion:
I know we have all complained about the4 amount of testing etc.
But now I am hearing that teachers are actually documenting 43 days to testing out of a 90 day semester? Also, new policies not allowing teachers to see the test prior to giving it-- so no study guide like info.
Enough people live and have families in other districts etc. to KNOW this isnt how high school goes. So no worry about "testing to the test" Do you really wonder why people are looking to charters, parochial, private, moving-- anything so their kids have a normal "study for finals" kinda life-- and yet, we want "college ready??"
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Motion passed to obtain a new estimate to renovate Schenloey
On another post Anonymous wrote:
Maybe another post-but this the first sign of a different stroke of votes!!!!!!!
Pittsburgh Public Schools board member Regina Holley Wednesday tonight successfully persuaded her colleagues to get up-to-date estimates of how much it would cost to renovate the former Pittsburgh Schenley High School in Oakland.
Maybe another post-but this the first sign of a different stroke of votes!!!!!!!
Pittsburgh Public Schools board member Regina Holley Wednesday tonight successfully persuaded her colleagues to get up-to-date estimates of how much it would cost to renovate the former Pittsburgh Schenley High School in Oakland.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
PPS Enrollment
Mark Rauterkus wrote:
Topic: what is better, in the eyes of PPS
Topic: what is better, in the eyes of PPS
In the eyes of PPS, is it better to have more or fewer students?
Is it better to manage decline or growth?
Then,
if a student is not enrolled in PPS, is it better to have the student
in a home school, a private, or Catholic, or special, or else a charter
school?
What option is less of an impact?
Friday, January 18, 2013
Schenley news
A good roundup of all of today's news about Schenley, from the PG:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/pittsburgh-public-schools-opens-bids-for-the-former-schenley-high-670988/
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/pittsburgh-public-schools-opens-bids-for-the-former-schenley-high-670988/
Thursday, January 17, 2013
"We Promise" program
On another post Anonymous wrote:
This should be a new thread.
Today the district pulled out African American males from high schools and sent them to Greenway for some kind of mentoring program. We were notified of this yesterday in an e-mail. This program was called "We Promise" These students were pulled out, when most teachers are reviewing for the God awful CBA's/Midterms next week. These exams make up 20% of a students semester grade. These are the students who need the most help, these students make up the Achievement Gap. These students they took need these reviews the most. Why would the Board do this a week before Midterms. These CBA's count against our B.S. Vam scores. I know that the people who run this district lack common sense but give me a break, they must want kids to fail so they can blame the teachers. When these students did return to school they came back to class and disrupted the review by making fun of the things they did at Greenway. It was kind of sad because the students were making fun of the stuff they did such as addressing each other as Black Men. They kept saying "Hello Blackman" "Hello Blackman" Then they starting using the N word to address each other, to mock what ever they did actualy learn at Greenway.
Some of the students did not even return to class once they got back to school, hell basically I see the achievement gap running the halls of our building and showing up for classes 15 minutes late constantly.
Its is Crazy in the buildings this year, the kids do what ever want with no real disipline. Start holding kids accountable for their behavior and test scores might go up. Administrators would rather have one bad students drag down the whole class then disipline anyone.
The biggest joke was combining PSP and Main Stream classes. Now the disruptive children are able to negatively affect other students educations by constantly interupting classes and teachers. The Boards rationale was the PSP students would lift up the strugling students, but in truth all they did was lower the amount of learning that used to occur in PSP classes. They must have waited to do this untill this year because we are taking the Keystone Exams not the PSSA's. So inturn, we will not beable to see the negative effects of combining PSP and mainstream because their will be no drop in test scores because of the new exams.
When will this reform end, it is killing our school district, everthing is worse than it was 6 years ago and these people are still running the show.
This should be a new thread.
Today the district pulled out African American males from high schools and sent them to Greenway for some kind of mentoring program. We were notified of this yesterday in an e-mail. This program was called "We Promise" These students were pulled out, when most teachers are reviewing for the God awful CBA's/Midterms next week. These exams make up 20% of a students semester grade. These are the students who need the most help, these students make up the Achievement Gap. These students they took need these reviews the most. Why would the Board do this a week before Midterms. These CBA's count against our B.S. Vam scores. I know that the people who run this district lack common sense but give me a break, they must want kids to fail so they can blame the teachers. When these students did return to school they came back to class and disrupted the review by making fun of the things they did at Greenway. It was kind of sad because the students were making fun of the stuff they did such as addressing each other as Black Men. They kept saying "Hello Blackman" "Hello Blackman" Then they starting using the N word to address each other, to mock what ever they did actualy learn at Greenway.
Some of the students did not even return to class once they got back to school, hell basically I see the achievement gap running the halls of our building and showing up for classes 15 minutes late constantly.
Its is Crazy in the buildings this year, the kids do what ever want with no real disipline. Start holding kids accountable for their behavior and test scores might go up. Administrators would rather have one bad students drag down the whole class then disipline anyone.
The biggest joke was combining PSP and Main Stream classes. Now the disruptive children are able to negatively affect other students educations by constantly interupting classes and teachers. The Boards rationale was the PSP students would lift up the strugling students, but in truth all they did was lower the amount of learning that used to occur in PSP classes. They must have waited to do this untill this year because we are taking the Keystone Exams not the PSSA's. So inturn, we will not beable to see the negative effects of combining PSP and mainstream because their will be no drop in test scores because of the new exams.
When will this reform end, it is killing our school district, everthing is worse than it was 6 years ago and these people are still running the show.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Consultants hired to envision the future
On another post Anonymous wrote:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/pittsburgh-public-schools-approves-consultants-to-envision-the-future-670644/
I want to publicly thank Dr.Holley and Mr.Brentley for showing the public that there are still some responsible adults on the school board. I know Questioner does not like name-calling, but there are a number of choice descriptors that I would call Linda Lane and the board members who voted for this shlock.
Good God! When will the public finally become outraged at what is going on in the offices on Bellefield???????
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/pittsburgh-public-schools-approves-consultants-to-envision-the-future-670644/
I want to publicly thank Dr.Holley and Mr.Brentley for showing the public that there are still some responsible adults on the school board. I know Questioner does not like name-calling, but there are a number of choice descriptors that I would call Linda Lane and the board members who voted for this shlock.
Good God! When will the public finally become outraged at what is going on in the offices on Bellefield???????
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Improved public access to Board deliberations
On another post Anonymous wrote:
New Post?
The Board has made another effort to make more information public. Mr. Brentley has been asking for committee meetings to be available on ppstube and the audio effort is a compromise worth commending.
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/school-board-moves-some-meetings-to-larger-room-670408/
New Post?
The Board has made another effort to make more information public. Mr. Brentley has been asking for committee meetings to be available on ppstube and the audio effort is a compromise worth commending.
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/school-board-moves-some-meetings-to-larger-room-670408/
Common core
On another post Anonymous included a link to a PG article from last October and wrote:
NEW POST:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/city-schools-phase-in-new-standards-including-tougher-math-for-5th-grade-657630/
Finally PPS is addressing the Common Core State Standard which are NOT NEW!
As has been cited on this blog before, 87% if what are being referred to as "old standards" by PPS Chief Academic Officer, ARE the "new" Common Core State Standards.
If Pittsburgh Schools (other than CAPA) had been following the PA State Standards (the so-called "old standards") all of PPS students would not have a problem "ratcheting up" to CCSS. Instead, all Pittsburgh Schools that did not reach the State 2012 goals of Reading at 81% and Math 73% (after 10 years if trying) will have difficulty with CCSS. Those few, very few, schools in PPS who met the previous goals will sail easily into the upper levels of Common Core State Standards. However, it will be a sad struggle for the majority of PPS who have not met the PA Standards for the past 10 to 15 years of inadequate curricula and instruction.
as adults in the world at large.
NEW POST:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/education/city-schools-phase-in-new-standards-including-tougher-math-for-5th-grade-657630/
Finally PPS is addressing the Common Core State Standard which are NOT NEW!
As has been cited on this blog before, 87% if what are being referred to as "old standards" by PPS Chief Academic Officer, ARE the "new" Common Core State Standards.
If Pittsburgh Schools (other than CAPA) had been following the PA State Standards (the so-called "old standards") all of PPS students would not have a problem "ratcheting up" to CCSS. Instead, all Pittsburgh Schools that did not reach the State 2012 goals of Reading at 81% and Math 73% (after 10 years if trying) will have difficulty with CCSS. Those few, very few, schools in PPS who met the previous goals will sail easily into the upper levels of Common Core State Standards. However, it will be a sad struggle for the majority of PPS who have not met the PA Standards for the past 10 to 15 years of inadequate curricula and instruction.
as adults in the world at large.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Proposal for Warhol charter or private school
From the PG:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/schenley-alumni-push-for-warhol-school-670059/
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/schenley-alumni-push-for-warhol-school-670059/
Discipline and PELAs
On another post Anonymous wrote:
New topic please-- discipline in the PELA era
The first comment I personally ever heard that seemed like a weird script was afoot was the mantra of," when you remove a disruptive child from the classroom, you lose your POWER. My first thought was -- if a student s disrupting learning, that student was in the power position. As I went aling to get along, i saw PELA principals hit ( in hall siruations cause you cant put them out of class) and students struggling to learn while students performed. As this became the law of the land, schools ot more and more chaotic, at least according to parents. It seemed that with the new script, all students mst remain in their classrooms while principals roamed with laptops. In the past, teachers actually worried that a parent or olde school principal would get upset if a student WASNT removed in a timely manner.
Fast forward to today-- listened to the director of Clayton Academy-- sorry didnt get his name-- say that one of the first moves with a disrutive student is to " remove the student fom hid audience" then, work on WHY he was acting out--in school, or out of school issues. Hmm sounds pretty old school order to me.
Maybe the reason that we have o bring in a company like SuccessSchools is that Broad/ Gates forbids really "running" a school.
New topic please-- discipline in the PELA era
The first comment I personally ever heard that seemed like a weird script was afoot was the mantra of," when you remove a disruptive child from the classroom, you lose your POWER. My first thought was -- if a student s disrupting learning, that student was in the power position. As I went aling to get along, i saw PELA principals hit ( in hall siruations cause you cant put them out of class) and students struggling to learn while students performed. As this became the law of the land, schools ot more and more chaotic, at least according to parents. It seemed that with the new script, all students mst remain in their classrooms while principals roamed with laptops. In the past, teachers actually worried that a parent or olde school principal would get upset if a student WASNT removed in a timely manner.
Fast forward to today-- listened to the director of Clayton Academy-- sorry didnt get his name-- say that one of the first moves with a disrutive student is to " remove the student fom hid audience" then, work on WHY he was acting out--in school, or out of school issues. Hmm sounds pretty old school order to me.
Maybe the reason that we have o bring in a company like SuccessSchools is that Broad/ Gates forbids really "running" a school.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Auditor General: "Strong case to reopen Schenley"
From the change.or website, Schenley petition:
Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner included observations about Schenley in the cover page of his audit released on Monday. The full report can be found at http://www.auditorgen.state.pa.us/Reports/School/schSDoftheCityofPittsburgh010213.pdf , including the following:
"...recently there has been debate regarding whether the decision to close the school was a wise one, and whether the asbestos contamination is as significant as once projected to be.... The divided Board is a clear indication that some members believe that Schenley is still a valuable asset to the school district. Community members have made a strong case for the school to be re-opened, and for the original decision to be reconsidered."
Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner included observations about Schenley in the cover page of his audit released on Monday. The full report can be found at http://www.auditorgen.state.pa.us/Reports/School/schSDoftheCityofPittsburgh010213.pdf , including the following:
"...recently there has been debate regarding whether the decision to close the school was a wise one, and whether the asbestos contamination is as significant as once projected to be.... The divided Board is a clear indication that some members believe that Schenley is still a valuable asset to the school district. Community members have made a strong case for the school to be re-opened, and for the original decision to be reconsidered."
Thursday, January 3, 2013
VAM for administrators
On another post Anonymous wrote:
New Post please:
Tomorrow evening at the 5:30 PPS Education Committee meeting, the District will present its plan for Teacher Evaluation based on VAM (value added measurement).
I found this great article that calls for a VAM score for the Secretary of Education. We could easily adapt this system to evaluate our administration (Dr. Lane and staff). What do you think? If our teachers are evaluated in this way, shouldn't the folks in central office be evaluated as well?
Educators Issue VAM Report for Secretary Duncan
By Anthony Cody on April 10, 2012 1:50 AM
Guest post by Educators for Shared Accountability.
A new group, Educators for Shared Accountability (ESA), has issued the first-ever Value-Added Measurement (VAM) evaluation of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Secretary Duncan was rated "ineffective," based on four indicators.
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/04/educators_issue_vam_report_for.html
New Post please:
Tomorrow evening at the 5:30 PPS Education Committee meeting, the District will present its plan for Teacher Evaluation based on VAM (value added measurement).
I found this great article that calls for a VAM score for the Secretary of Education. We could easily adapt this system to evaluate our administration (Dr. Lane and staff). What do you think? If our teachers are evaluated in this way, shouldn't the folks in central office be evaluated as well?
Educators Issue VAM Report for Secretary Duncan
By Anthony Cody on April 10, 2012 1:50 AM
Guest post by Educators for Shared Accountability.
A new group, Educators for Shared Accountability (ESA), has issued the first-ever Value-Added Measurement (VAM) evaluation of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Secretary Duncan was rated "ineffective," based on four indicators.
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/04/educators_issue_vam_report_for.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)