Activism around the city

Concerns about graduation test stall State Board of Ed's plan

ACT UP: Condom availability is an urgent student health issue

Freedom Schools foster critical perspective on media

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Concerns about graduation test stall State Board of Ed's plan

Pennsylvania’s General Assembly has responded to protests from education organizations by prohibiting changes to graduation requirements during this school year.

Currently, local districts can use their own assessments to determine if a student is proficient in reading, writing, and mathematics and eligible for a diploma.

To ensure that all Pennsylvania graduates are held to a rigorous standard, the State Board of Education passed proposed regulations in early 2008 to create a statewide baseline for graduation requirements. But groups including the Education Law Center urged that the General Assembly reject the regulations.

“The Ed Law Center and a lot of other groups objected to the prospect of having a student’s diploma withheld... because they failed a simple paper and pencil test,” said Baruch Kintisch of the Education Law Center.

The Board’s planned regulations would have made local districts prove that their assessments met a state standard – or students could have demonstrated proficiency on other tests, including PSSA or a series of new Graduation Competency Assessments (GCAs). GCAs would have been like final exams; students who failed would have been eligible for remediation and retesting.

Rather than instituting “one more paper and pencil test” for graduation, Kintisch said, “it’d be nice for the state to take the time to use the portfolio- or performance-based assessments like other states have done.”

Joining the Education Law Center in its objections were the Philadelphia Student Union, Pennsylvania State Education Association, and Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project, which brought a group from a Philadelphia church to legislative hearings.

The House Committee on Education cited hearing testimony in recommending that the State Board of Education reevaluate the proposed regulations.

-Erika Owens

ACT UP: Condom availability is an urgent student health issue

ACT UP protest at 440 N. Broad St.: Why are there only 13 schools providing condoms?

The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) kicked off a summer campaign with a June 10 march from School District headquarters to City Hall, asking both the District and the mayor’s office to “save lives” by supporting expanded condom distribution in public high schools.

Only 13 out of the 61 high schools in Philadelphia have Health Resource Centers, which provide condoms as well as counseling and information on sexual health issues.

Condom distribution in high schools was first approved by a school board vote in 1991, in response to an ACT UP campaign and the HIV crisis. But 17 years later, that controversial decision has yet to be fully enacted.

Two years ago, ACT UP resumed work on the issue in response to rising HIV infection rates among high schoolaged populations.

“Philadelphia is behind,” said Sam Sitrin, an ACT UP member. “Since 1991, Philadelphia has had this policy in a trial stage without full implementation.”

The current program relies on funding through the city health department.

“We know now that there is condom distribution in a small portion of the School District,” said Douglas Oliver, Mayor Nutter’s spokesperson. “We are supportive of expanding that program districtwide, and our health department under the leadership of Deputy Mayor Donald Schwarz is working on this issue.”

Oliver added that the city is working to identify funding for the expansion.

-Sarah Peterson

Freedom Schools foster critical perspective on media

Media literacy was the focus as students and teachers from the Philadelphia Freedom Schools (PFS) celebrated the end of their summer program August 2 with a public event showcasing students’ social action and media projects.

The 3rd PFS Media Literacy Festival, held at Temple University, featured student- produced videos, research posters, musical performances, and a screening of a documentary on Barack Obama.

An estimated 1,600 K-8 students participated in summer programs at 15 different PFS sites around the city this year.

Students from the Fairhill Elementary program presented their video documenting neighborhood problems and their subsequent community beautification project. The Julia de Burgos program created a news segment entitled “Stop the Violence,” focusing on the influence of violence on TV and in movies.

And in a video from the “Say Yes to Education” program at Bryant Elementary, students analyzed media portrayals of African-Americans.

According to PFS manager Sedrick Miles, media literacy caught on as a regular component of their curriculum following PFS’s participation in a march, which was misinterpreted by news media as a request for more funding. This incident was a lesson in the influence of the media. Students are now encouraged to develop media literacy as a tool for social action.

-Sarah Peterson