On another post Annette Werner wrote:
"Over 3 years ago I wrote to the Broad Foundation (see below) but never received a reply. It occurs to me that I could pretty much change the date and send the same letter; it is just as applicable today. What is the chance that I would receive a reply?"
PPS Public Hearing Testimony
November 22, 2010
Annette Werner
Good evening. For my testimony I will read a letter I wrote to the Broad Foundation.
November 4, 2010
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation - Education
10900 Wilshire Boulevard
Twelfth Floor
Los Angeles, California 90024
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Broad:
I am writing from Pittsburgh, where we have had a Broad superintendent for over 5 years.
As
shown on the attached charts, the overall improvement in academic
performance of the Pittsburgh Public School District during the past 5
years has if anything been less than the improvement in academic
performance statewide. Year to year ups and downs at particular grade
levels in Pittsburgh closely track year to year ups and downs in
Pennsylvania as a whole, raising the question of whether changes in
performance are the result of adjustments to the level of difficulty of
the tests. This result comes despite an emphasis on testing like we
have never seen before, at the expense of other areas such as sports,
extracurricular activities and the arts.
I
know that accountability is an important part of the Broad approach, so
can you tell me: Are these results consistent with expectations for a
Broad superintendent? Is there something that needs to be added to the
training of these future superintendents? And can you tell us why, in
selecting a new superintendent, we should again consider a Broad
candidate?
Thank you,
Annette Werner
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
On that same day Kathy Fine also spoke before the Board (see below). The Board can and does set set the course of the district through its choice of an administration, and it has the power to change that course district wide in favor of the types of changes suggested in this presentation.
PPS Public Hearing Testimony
November 22, 2010
Kathy Fine
Good evening. I would like to start my testimony by once again thanking everyone in this room for their time dedicated to bettering the educational lives of the students in the PPS. I know that even though we might not agree on everything, we all do agree that a world-class education for all of our children is our common goal.
This evening, I’d like to discuss the support staff in our schools. Let me start by saying that I was not able to get staffing numbers on about 36% of our schools as they were not available on the PPS website, so I will just present the numbers for the schools for which I was able to get data.
We all know that many students have multiple and varied challenges facing them every day that hinder their “school readiness”. Whether it is suffering the effects of living in poverty, the divorce of their parents, being the object of bullying, or dealing with the effects of a learning disorder, many students need support in dealing with everyday struggles. Yet a cursory look at the staffing in our schools reveals that the PPS is woefully unprepared for assisting our children. Of the schools that listed staffing, I found the following:
• The ratio of nurse to student is 555 to 1
• The ratio of counselor to student is 450 to 1
• The ration of social worker to student is 1189 to 1
• The ratio of psychologist to student is 1280 to 1
In addition 45% of schools have no assistant principal, 83% have no parent engagement specialist and only 2 schools have a mentoring program.
We cannot hold teachers accountable when they do not have the support staff in their buildings and their students are not coming to class ready to learn. We cannot seriously address the underachievement of our students without understanding that learning is not only about math and reading. Many students, rich and poor and anywhere in between, come to school with heavy burdens that keep them from learning. When my son was having difficulty concentrating in school and organizing his time, my husband and I were fortunate enough to have the resources to get the counseling we needed to help us keep him on the correct educational path. Many in our public schools are not as fortunate and do not have the resources to gain this type of help.
I am asking, once again, that the policies of this board start to redirect the reform of our schools from the current top down method and make sure that resources are spent at the grassroots level, on our students and on services that directly benefit them. Only then will we help them to realize their potential and truly set them on the Pathway to the Promise.
Interesting: When you run a blog, you can emphasize with bold-face print. No one else can do this. Lots of interesting advantages that come with power and advantage.
Any bold face comes from the original poster. While the blogspot platform may not provide a bold option, code from documents originally prepared in word processing programs can be imported.
LOL! Do you see the little note below the commenting box? It says "You can use some HTML tags,..."
If you really want to bold something, it's available to all. Or get really crazy and italicize! If you don't know how a quickly little search on HTML tags will let you in on this amazing secret.
This non-response practice is prevalent. In my time I have been ignored by a principal more than once. I have emailed The Promise office twice with a question and still wait for a response. I once waited months to get a call back from a former board member before giving up. I have never been ignored by a teacher.
Post a Comment