Wednesday, April 10, 2013
One Pittsburgh woman says so. Sewickley Patch readers chime in.
An opinion piece recently published in the Post-Gazette has created quite the buzz on Facebook. Kathy Newman, an English professor and mother of a third grader, wrote that she is having her son "opt out" of this year's PSSA because the stressful tests "warp the educational environment." Her son attends Pittsburgh's Linden Elementary School. Quaker Valley students in third through eighth grades began taking the PSSAs on Tuesday. Fifth grade took the tests last month. The annual PSSA tests in reading and math are administered each spring. Last year, Quaker Valley School District exceeded all proficiency targets established by the state Department of Education in accordance with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. As a result, the district …
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Gov. Tom Corbett's 2013-14 budget ties sale of state liquor system to a $1 billion grant for school safety, early education programs, individualized learning and science/math programs.
Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed 2013-14 budget, which he presented Feb. 5, contains an interesting cocktail that mixes the sale of the state's liquor system with funding of a public schools grant. Under his proposal, $1 billion obtained by the proposed privatization of the state's liquor sales would be used to create the Passport for Learning Block Grant that would focus on school safety; enhanced early education programs; individualized learning; and science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses and programs. The $1 billion in revenue to fund that grant will come from the three- to four-year process of selling the Liquor Control Board: $575 million from the wholesale license process, $224 million from the Wine and Spirits retail …
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
A parent meeting is planned for Nov. 7 in the high school auditorium to discuss the test results and curriculum updates.
Quaker Valley School District achieved Adequate Yearly Progress at every level on state standardized tests, according to the 2011-12 state System of School Assessment and AYP results on the state Department of Education web site. Tina Vojtko, district spokeswoman, said Quaker Valley was one of only five districts in Allegheny County that made AYP student performance targets on every level, including subgroups. PSSAs are one of the tools used to evaluate students and school success. "That's something to really be proud of," Vojtko said. The district plans to host an informational meeting for parents to discuss assessment results and curriculum updates. The meeting takes place twice at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 7, in the Quaker …
Outraged Citizen
4:21 pm on Thursday, April 11, 2013
We can quibble all day regarding the method of measuring classroom effectiveness, but the fact remains that parents and taxpayers have a right to know what ROI we’re getting out of our schools. Teachers cannot simply say “trust me, I’m the expert here” and expect us to open our wallets to fund their every demand. We owe to our children and our community to question whether our schools and … more ›