Anonymous wrote:
"
New Post:A renewed focus on UPrep by outside groups( http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2016/10/03/At-City-of-Pittsburgh-school-district-s-University-Prep-task-force-aimed-at-addressing-violence-set-to-disband/stories/201609290064 ).
Interesting that Dr. Hamlet is not referenced in the article.
Notably, Burley Consultants will provide direct consultation, professional development and mediation training. Has Mr. Burley "locked arms" with Rich Milner, who over the summer hosted a professional development session for U Prep teachers?
In what way are the PSSA's incorporated into this professional development?
Are these outside groups mentioned in the article working together as one?
Is Mr.Horne guiding and leading the culture shift?"
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39 comments:
Dr. Milner is well connected and knowledgeable and is working hard at making a difference at PPS through the Center for Urban Education. I pray this alliance is what UPrep needs to get on track with preparing their students with what they need (educationally, socially, emotionally) to be successful now and in the future!
PSSA's need NOT be referenced here or anywhere with the corresponding achievement levels. PSSA's are assessments that MUST come AFTER the PA-PDE English and Reading,
ELA PA STANDARDS are online at PDE with a full description of each and every skill that students must learn to become minimally educated.
These PA Literacy STANDARDS should and must be embedded routinely in school life, classrooms, interactions, etc at EVERY grade level and EVERY CONTENT/SUBJECT AREA.
These are NOW (and have been) readily accessible on the PA SAS website (which, admittedly, is vast and details and takes time to navigate) but, if adults (and older students) persist, they will become PROFICIENT and EDUCATED!
Sala Udin, largely silent during the Linda Lane years, seems to want to leave a foot print on U Prep. Disbanding the task force may be premature. Lessons learned take time.
Asked but never answered 3:51PM
Can you point to a place of learning where the PA literacy standards are and have been embedded routinely in school life, classrooms, interactions, etc at every grade level and every content/subject area?
If not why not?
Is this perhaps a 'script' in and of itself?
"These PA Literacy STANDARDS should and must be embedded routinely in school life, classrooms, interactions, etc at EVERY grade level and EVERY CONTENT/SUBJECT AREA."
Can you imagine the horror! Such lovely little robots you have (programmed) Ms Robinson.
Perhaps the author of the above quote might want to revisit the wisdom of their post? "Standards-based interactions"? Yikes!
Teacher POV: how this was interpreted at various schools-- cause it isnt just Milliones-- is that PE teachers, art teachers etc. needed to post yet again more posters to show that "hey we are on the standards too" much like "the script" this becomes totally artifical- of course gym teachers use language well duh! but having to put it into plans etc is totally phoney
Has anything changed with the arrival of Dr. Hamlet- are teachers feeling less of a need to put on a show?
Years ago when the development of a "PA Standards aligned curricula" did not exist as it does now, it was hard to tell what was being taught let's say for example in a Science classroom at a school on the West End versus a Science classroom at a school on the North Side. So students may have moved on back then to the next grade level on one side of the city more prepared than students on the other side of the city based on what content was taught.
I don't know if we are feeling less of a need to put on a show but it helps to know that WHAT I'm teaching - not necessarily HOW I'm teaching it (which I hope would be effectively)- matches content students in Science (again for example) across the district are being taught. Otherwise we've got apples and oranges when students go to take any standard exam in Science.
It's terrible to feel like you have to put on a show but if you know what your students are suppose to be learning and what/why you are teaching it, it really isn't a show if there's meaning behind it.
It's all about the students! I hope Dr. Hamlet realizes this and somehow I think he does.
If I'm following the above correctly, it is not so much the apples and oranges of it all but the thinking skills embedded in the content which enables our students to be proficient and educated. So if apples are taught on the west side in science and oranges on the south side what is the standard is the 'thinking skills' needed to , compare and contrast, for instance, the two.
We have some wonderful, dedicated, seasoned teachers in the pps. Why two outside consultants to work with these professionals in order to best serve our children? Would one or two more staff people make a difference, or are these individuals uniquely qualified? I see a lot of disdain for contracts and consultants usually. Would these gentlemen be better positioned if they were district employee's or are they better off being outsiders? Hmmm
9:46- It seems clear (and sad) that there is NOT a clear understanding of what "standards-based interactions" means or that our students are "yikes" if they learn how to "think". Don't we send them to school to learn these skills. Just because they are called "standards" does not make them a aberrant or abhorrant! Really, let's know what "standards" mean before we dismiss them so categorically!
"The more you talk about it, the more you think about it, the further from it you go;stop talking, stop thinking, and there is nothing you will not understand."__Seng-ts'an.
Clearly, "thinking skills" are not the gold standard in the phenomenon and processes of learning but neither can they dismissed.
Rehashing over and over , what is meant by the "standards" in this blog has not resulted in a clear understanding of them. So perhaps we should heed the words, " Good speech is silver, but silence is pure gold."
No, you don't get it 7:29! If students are learning about cell division in one school across town and students in another are being taught about photosynthesis and both teachers are adept at embedding the thinking skills needed to evaluate and analyze these concepts BUT the standardized exam is testing students' knowledge of the how the digestive system works, students aren't prepared to transfer their learning and thinking to a topic they weren't taught no matter how brilliant the instruction. As stated at 4:35, common ground for what is being learned is what is needed for content consistency in classrooms. The standards do not assist in, or even override, that need.
Content consistency across schools must be provided so that teachers can TEACH!
7:29 "gets it" but does the school district (in Science Content)??? Consistency in skills and/or content taught in our schools MUST be consistent in Math, Literacy and Science. All other subjects/content is teacher/district discretion with reading and math skills embedded and reinforce at teachable moments!
The PA Core Standards are LOUD, CLEAR, DETAILED and DEVELOPED for ALL on the PA SAS Website. No mysteries there!
7:42 - Who are the outside consultants? What are their skills set? Do they have experience and expertise in PA Core Standards?
If not, they are relatively useless! PPS needs to catch up to the "standards" assessed with each and every PA/PPS student? --- Not those in other states!!!!!
9:25-Dr. Richard Milner who according to a previous poster is "well connected and knowledgeable and is working hard at making a difference at PPS through the Center for Urban Education" would be considered to have experience and expertise in PA Core Standards. Does he "get it" and is he an effective messenger for the "standards" ?
The SAS website in itself is a conglomerate of multi-content, multi-grade level standards that uses the same assessment samples that repeat over and over for many different standards with minimal questions that are literal in nature and that do not promote thinking. The resources are confusing also. SAS is a disappointing tool that cannot be easily accessed. Recommend not putting all of our hopes and energies into this option.
9:25
Who does have experience and expertise in PA Core Standards other than your seemingly self and why aren't they making themselves "useful" ?
9:21
Closely examine your thinking about content consistency vs skill consistency.
They're very different. Sorta like uh apples and oranges.
Yes, Yes, Yes! Agreed, absolutely! But one is generally delivered and learned through the other. Not always, but ideally in schools.
Content MUST be culturally relevant so that skills are not ignored!
Good question, 12:11, but then no one in PPS goes to the PDE development sessions or PD sessions in Harrisburt. (For the last 10 years!) Why?
11:29-N, we should NOT put "all our hopes and energies in thePDE SAS website, especially sections that you cite here for your evidence. This is just a resource for those who would like to be informed about embedding relevant SKILLS sets.
So sorry that you found no value in the skills/standards/descriptions/examples displayed there and cannot create a culturally relevant VOLUNTARY MODEL for PPS students!
Do you think it is better to continue with the abysmal PPS academic results, among the lowest 30 out of 500 PA districts??
If so, be BLESSED on this pathway . . .
Rich Milner is a good man with the right perspectives, BUT he is from South Carolina NOT PA. He will do what is required as CUE moves forward in its process of EDUCATING new, young teachers for PPS and elsewhere.
Sometimes it takes time (too often) to know where we need to "get to" and how to "get" there.
(It is not a bad thing to consider those who "seemingly" have learned over the last 10 years. Dismissing knowledge, experience and expertise is not the best path as some who post protests to "standards" here on a regular basis.)
No one is dismissing knowledge, experience and expertise. Everyone's needs are different and everyone is at a different stage along the path. But , as with any recipe book, you choose what method will work best for you in your own evolution towards the learning. Teachers and students alike.
So TRUE! Does PPS follow this "recipe"?? Also, most recipes are tweaked by those using them. But the tweaking is done, usually, with purpose and goals in place.
PPS is tweaking it's recipe with new leadership. We will see if the ingredients are transformative.
To 11:05 PM. This pathway (as you term it) is fully lined with PA Core Standards aligned curriculum. Aligning the curriculum to PA Core Standards and embedding those skills within content lessons is what you are advocating and that has been the case for YEARS for both PPS curriculum and assessments. Not sure why you refuse to accept this fact.
ALL PPS CURRICULA ARE ALIGNED TO THE PA CORE STANDARDS AND SKILLS NEEDED FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING IN PA.
What are you attributing the abysmal PPS academic results to if those standards and skills are addressed daily in classrooms? The wrong approach? The wrong type of professional development? Or the wrong teachers? Surely you don't believe SAS is the "fixer" when PPS curricula is aligned to the standards that are listed on it.
What is the actual agenda here?
The ONLY agenda is to improve declining Academic Achievement, especially for African American students! Are you challenging the fact that the achievement is abysmal??? How so??? Are you blaming the failure of improved achievement on the students?
Do schools (not teachers) have the responsibility to educate ALL of its children?
Who has done the alignment that you speak about? What is the exposure, experience, expertise that PPS people have acquired to do this? WHY IS IT NOT MOVING ACHIEVEMENT FORWARD AFTER 10 YEARS?
Claims at alignment are specious! PPS does NOT attend Harrisburg PDE PD for educators across the state (except for a rare mandate that sent one or two for one day at Focus and Priority Schools overview. These were not the people aligning curriculum?
The classrooms visited exhibited very little, if any, alignment to PA Core Standards! Who is supervising and providing the PD for teachers in classrooms across the District? What are their qualifications?
The AGENDA is providing ALL of PPS students with the minimum competency SKILLS that will allow them to function successfully in the world!!
The SAS is not a "fixer"---particularly if its to much time, trouble, or energy to use----as a MODEL not a rubber stamp for educators in our schools.
Are there any schools with comparable demographics that went to Harrisburg PDE and whose students now show those competency skills?
Yes, some are known to have moved forward as much as 26 points after much LESS than a year! Not so in PPS!
Can ANYONE (District or Other) answer the QUESTIONS being asked about PPS ?
Can you provide a few examples- which districts and what years?
Yes, but not going to do that! It is available. Do the work! For yourself, its the only way that you will believe it!
Few want to believe it. Why?
There doesn't seem to be any reason to insist that each person "do the work" so we have to wonder if such examples actually exist.
I doubt that there are any Harrisburg officials who have the exposure, experience, or expertise to come to PPS and develop year long curricula for grades K-12 that are aligned to PA Core Standards, adopt texts that meet the criteria (with equity) as to what should be learned in each content, create formative and summative exams that assess student understanding with reteaching opportunities, and then are able to TEACH students with the ability to connect authentically with kids and also modify the standards-aligned lessons for learning differences without compromising the level of rigor needed to challenge everyone in the class.
Now tell those of us on this blog the names of those in Harrisburg who are equipped to produce the above results.
Or do we have to also do the work of discovering those people for ourselves???
2:17- Is it not obvious by now that no one is equipped to produce the above results except 1:16PM? No one has the knowledge, experience and expertise to improve achievement especially for African American students than 1:16PM.
My suggestion to 1:16 is take a child under your wings and do it better!
Hi folks just wondering how is everything going at UPREP? Is the school running smoothly? How are the students? Good? Unruly?
How are things different now then in the 80s or 90s with the African American students ooooooo they weren't babied or labeled in the 80s or 90s so give me a break these kids need tuff love and tuff education that's how we were educated and i am black and well educated thank you to the old school teachers who made you learn even if i didn't want to
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