News in brief
Scores up, but schools hit with added targets
Jordan takes over as PFT president
Breakthrough on fares:students travel free
Email this article to:
News in brief
Scores up, but schools hit with added targets
Scores on the state’s standardized reading and math test improved in Philadelphia this year, with more students reaching proficiency levels in every area tested except third grade math.
Despite the continued growth in test scores, however, the District announced in August a drop in the number of schools meeting their 2007 “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) performance targets under the No Child Left Behind Act.
This year’s gains on the Pennsylvania System of State Assessment – the fifth year in a row of overall test score improvement – were more consistent across the board than last year’s, when scores in several areas dipped.
Districtwide student proficiency rates ranged from a high of 52 percent for fourth grade math to a low of 31 percent in 11th grade math.
But in 2006-07, just 107 of 268 Philadelphia schools met all their NCLB targets, a decrease of 24 schools from last year. Over three years, the percentage of District schools making all their AYP targets has dropped from 60 percent to 40 percent, despite rising District scores during that period.
Interim CEO Tom Brady attributed the drop to different measurement standards; this year, more schools had to meet additional targets for demographic “subgroups” of students.
NCLB requires schools to achieve certain percentages or gains in proficiency in reading and math for the overall group of students tested and for certain subgroups – racial groups as well as low-income students, English language learners, and those in special education.
A particular subgroup target applies to a school whenever there are 40 or more tested students from that group. This year, because testing was extended to more grades, nearly half the schools had to meet the targets for at least one additional subgroup. Schools with more subgroups are typically less likely to meet all their targets.
With NCLB up for reauthorization by Congress and its accountability mechanisms facing criticism, Brady declined to call the subgroup provisions unfair but said, “We’re recommending changes.”
Jordan takes over as PFT president
Ted Kirsch stepped down on July 1 after 17 years at the helm of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, handing the reins to longtime second-in-command Jerry Jordan, who will become the first African American to head the 17,000-member union.
The PFT’s executive committee voted unanimously for Jordan to serve out the rest of Kirsch’s term, which ends on June 30, 2008. An election will be held in February and Jordan plans to run.
Jordan, 58, a former Spanish teacher, has been vice president since 1990. While he said that he did not anticipate any major shifts in policy direction, he said that there would be some changes.
“I want to put more emphasis on what’s happening in high schools,” he said, citing statistics showing that up to 50 percent of Philadelphia students don’t graduate. He said there often are too few course choices, a dearth of counselors, and a lack of extra-curricular activities.
Jordan said that more immediately, he would fight for smaller class size, the elimination of split grades, and more preschool; look for ways to promote teacher retention; and work “to restore order and civility” to classrooms.
As he stepped down, Kirsch took credit for uniting a once-fractious union and moving it from an unyielding bargaining unit to an organization interested in educational reform. Throughout Kirsch’s long tenure, the PFT went on strike only once, for a weekend. His departure comes at a time when charter schools are eating into the District’s enrollment.
Kirsch said that he would devote full-time to his relatively new role as president of the AFT Pennsylvania, the statewide umbrella organization for the PFT with 40 locals and about 38,000 members.
Breakthrough on fares:students travel free
In past years, a family with two high school students who traveled by SEPTA bus or subway to school would have to come up with $72 a month to pay for school tokens – creating a significant barrier to school attendance for some families.
But this fall, many Philadelphia students who had been paying their own fares are riding public transit to and from school for free – the result of an agreement providing additional funding from the state and SEPTA.
The fact that Philadelphia, with the highest population of low-income students in the state, was alone in requiring students to pay for travel to school, had long been protested by local advocacy groups such as Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth and the Philadelphia Student Union.
The agreement, announced by Gov. Ed Rendell and State Sen. Vincent Fumo in August, provides free weekly Transpasses to 36,000 students in grades 7-12 attending public, charter, private and parochial schools. Students in those grades who live a mile and a half or more from school are eligible. Younger students travel free on school buses.
Passes will be distributed at school on a weekly basis and may be used between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday during the school year.