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Archive for “Education” news
Powerful Pro-School-Voucher Group May Have Violated State Law [Updated]
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/26/2013
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Students First PAC, a pro-school-voucher group backed by three managers of Bala Cynwyd-based Susquehanna International Group, may have violated state election law. Susquehanna's Jeffrey Yass, an ardent charter and voucher advocate, and two like-minded associates, first got into the political game in 2010, pouring an unprecedented $5 million from Students First into State Senator Anthony Williams' campaign for governor. Yass and his family have continued to push for vouchers since then. The possible violation is related to a Students First* campaign donation funneled to a Philadelphia state senate candidate last spring with the help of embattled former city employee John
Penn Admits Fewer Women Than Most Colleges
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 2/22/2013
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More women attend college than men. (Part of why we must now confront the "end of men" phenomenon.) At Penn (and a few other Ivies) the trend hasn't caught on. This DP chart is confusing, but the bar on the left represents men.
Why might this be? "Graduate School of Education professor Peter Kuriloff attributes the disparity to probable systematic affirmative action towards men at most elite institutions and liberal arts schools," even though the pools of women are stronger. Where most schools take what they can get, Ivies can afford to exclude better candidates in the name of gender balance,
West Chester School Uses Yoga Balls Instead of Character-Building Chairs
By Joel Mathis 2/21/2013
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AP reports on Robby Giuliano's fifth-grade class at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School in West Chester, where she's replaced uncomfortable wooden and plastic chairs with … yoga balls: "The balls first began to surface in schools as aids for kids with attention problems or autism, said Michelle Rowe, executive director of the Kinney Center for Autism at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. The equipment has since gone mainstream. "It takes away the taboo of wiggling, which most kids do anyway," said Rowe, who also is a professor of health services. "I don't like sitting on a chair all day ... so I started sitting
Will the Feds Get Involved in Philly School Closures?
By Joel Mathis 1/29/2013
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Hot on the heels of Monday's announcement of a lawsuit challenging the proposed closing of Philadelphia schools—closings brought about because of massive budget deficits—comes news that the feds are investigating similar closures in New York City.
The U.S. Department of Education will investigate a claim that the Bloomberg administration's plan to close 26 low-performing public schools this year discriminates against minority and special-education students.
The complaint made by a New York City parent is one of dozens filed recently by opponents of school closures, who are targeting the practice in cities nationwide, including Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit. Schools chosen for closure generally
Bucknell Says It Inflated SAT Scores, May Destroy College Rankings Systems
By Joel Mathis 1/28/2013
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Turns out those smart kids at Bucknell University … aren't so smart:
The president of Bucknell University says an internal investigation has revealed that school officials falsified students' average SAT scores.
President John Bravman says mean SAT results were inflated over the past seven years by about 16 points on a 1,600-point scale.
Bravman disclosed the problem in a letter Friday to students, staff and alumni of the selective liberal arts school in central Pennsylvania.
Inside Higher Ed says the scandal should make it harder to rely on rankings like those generated by US News & World Report:
David Hawkins, director of public policy and
Upper Dublin High School Put on Lockdown after Umbrella Was Mistaken for Gun
By Simon van Zuylen-Wood 12/17/2012
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Understandably, tensions are high at schools across the country today. So much so at Upper Dublin High that the police were called and the school was briefly locked down after a student's umbrella was reportedly mistaken for a rifle. The lockdown, which went into place not long after an emergency call was placed at 8:30 AM, has been lifted. [ABC 6]
Pennsylvania’s Fourth Graders Are the Only Group to Increase National Vocabulary Test Scores
By Nick Vadala 12/06/2012
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Turns out Pennsylvania actually does have something that's better than in the rest of the country: our fourth graders. That news comes thanks to the absolutely deplorable national standardized vocabulary tests results showing a huge drop in American students' already limited word banks. Administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the tests found that, across the board, our students (regardless of age) are losing their ability to process unfamiliar words. Fourth graders in particular showed the worst decline between 2009 and 2011, with scores declining by three points. PA fourth graders, however, actually increased their scores and were the
Future Disappointing Test Results Kick Off Next Week
By Timothy Haas 11/27/2012
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Starting on Monday, 11th-grade students across Pennsylvania will get their first official crack at the Keystone Exams, the state's new series of annual standardized tests. The exams, designed to tie into the state's Common Core standards and be more rigorous than the PSSA they are replacing, won't count for the current crop of takers, but failing them will mean no diploma for members of the Class of 2017 and beyond. Some local school districts are already managing expectations downward:
Some districts are wary of the change. Students who took practice Keystone tests last year did not do well: less than 40
Penn Wants Face Time With Every Single Applicant
By Timothy Haas 11/20/2012
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In a move certain to cause a scandal in a few years when "inadvertently recorded" interviews are "accidentally leaked" onto the internet, Penn's Office of Alumni Relations has announced an initiative to speak with every applicant in person or by Skype. Currently just half of the students who apply actually get to talk to someone even vaguely associated with the school. Most excited about the program are kids wishing to escape from Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota, where there were no in-person alumni interviews last year because no Penn graduate could conceivably live there. [The Daily Pennsylvanian]
Billboard Wars II: Someone Thinks of the Children
By Timothy Haas 11/16/2012
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The long-running dispute over advertising on the Electric Factory building at 7th and Callowhill — thought finally put to rest after its most tireless proponent, Frank DiCicco, retired from City Council — has been reignited by a new bill from DiCicco's replacement, Mark Squilla. And why does Squilla think implacably opposed advocacy groups will suddenly welcome a huge digital sign? A cut of the ad revenue worth up to $125,000 annually for three local schools, that's why. [Inquirer]
