Notes from the news, July 30

PSSA-cheating reforms yield lower scores across Pa. Inquirer
Some schools have experienced drops in test scores of 25 percent or more on statewide exams since security measures have been implemented after evidence came out of widespread cheating.

Charter office again comes under fire from SRC for faulty information Notebook
Tension at Friday's School Reform Commission meeting over erroneous information about Belmont Charter School results in a temporary withdrawal of resolution to renew its charter for five years.

District settles lawsuit on search of student Notebook
Guest blogger and Notebook board chair Harold Jordan wrote about the incident when it occurred. Now that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit regarding the search, Jordan says he hopes it will force the District to pay attention to how student searches are conducted.

Study of Pennsylvania students links texting to poor grammar skills Metro
A recent study that tested 228 kids in grades 6 through 8 at an undisclosed state school district reveals that children who use "techspeak" show poor written grammar skills because they have a difficult time switching from text lingo to the rules of standard English language grammar.

Please email us if we missed anything today or if you have any suggestions of publications, email lists, or other places for us to check for news.

Comments (3)

Submitted by Ken Derstine on Mon, 07/30/2012 - 10:28.

Diane Ravitch's speech to the AFT Convention:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb1Lsod2nts

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 07/31/2012 - 07:04.

Does anyone know when the PA Dept of Ed will release PSSA scores? Since only Philadelphia public schools, a few Philly charter schools and few select districts (Hazelton, others?) had to abide by additional protocols / restrictions for testing, what is the cause of other school's lower scores? Is the PA Dept of Ed assuming that teachers signing the testing document made that much of a difference?

I certainly witnesses some teachers providing excessive assistance during testing (explaining how to solve a math problem, defining terms during reading tests, nodding when something was correct, etc.) but this shouldn't be enough to dramatically lower scores. At high schools, with only one grade tested, it depends on the class. One group of 11th graders don't identically reflect another group of 11th graders.

Does anyone know which administrators in Philly schools are now confessing? What will happen? What about the charters in Philly and Chester?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 07/31/2012 - 10:04.

PSSA scores are usually "made public" the first/second week of August

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