 |
|
for 2006 Pennsylvania Primary Election Legislative Candidates
1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Pennsylvania's system of funding public education? What should the Pennsylvania Legislature do, if anything, to improve the system of funding public education? (75 words or less) The strengths and weaknesses are that the cost is unfairly placed on property owners when the Constitution guarantees that the STATE provide every child with an education. Spending caps, eliminatiom $400,000 WAM for Senators, cutting excessive unnecessary spending in other areas and like ideas could make money available for education while reducing taxes. Gambling is NOT tax reform! Gambling money will never meet the estimate, and any bonds Gov. Slick Eddie takes will indebt us further and cost additional tax increases. Our schools' children rank 45/50, which is pitiful! Money s hould go to the classroom first, then to buildings, physical plants, and administrators. 2. How should the Pennsylvania Legislature assist school districts to meet the requirements of Pennsylvania's regulations for academic standards and graduation requirements as well as the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) that expects every student to demonstrate proficiencies on state assessments in reading, math and science by 2014, and for all schools to demonstrate "adequate yearly progress" (required by NCLB) toward that goal? (75 words or less) NCLB is a very poor mandate. I've read the entire law, volumes of peripheral materials, and conclude that basing a national mandate on success in one Texas school is irrational. My problem lies with expecting slow learners, average learners, and gifted learners to achieve the same on standardized tests. I believe the assessment modailty has to chage. Teachers are teaching to the test. Multiple choice questions instead of essays are a serious errors, but the tests require this. Standardized tests do NOT test or assess the student's ability to think cognitively, to relate facts to life, to interrelate info, to prepare for careers, or even to undertand the paragraph or question, for example, in context of the whole. Check what Piaget said. Adequate yearly progress is a joke! Are slower students going t o be passed so the school passes? Annual report cards? Right! I get it - let's keep track of what kids are learning, but do so in a practical, logical manner. 3. How should the Pennsylvania Legislature assist school districts to close the academic achievement gaps that exist among groups of students in schools and school districts across the Commonwealth? (75 words or less) Students in innercity poor schools will not have the same expectations or opportunities as those in parochial or rural neighborhoods. There are dynamics in both which must be considered. Assessment cannot be limited to standardized tests! Students within schools are very different, work at different levels, achieve at different rates. What ever happened to helping a child achieve HIS or HER potential? The result of putting this type of pressure on children makes them afraid, discouraged, and willing to do less than they could if challenged. Creativity is stilted. The ability to reason and relate information is stunted. The drop out rate will increase as our youngest children get older. It is unrealistic and this NCLB was mandated by a President who doesn't even like to read. I rest my case! 4. What, if anything, should the Pennsylvania Legislature do to increase access for young children in Pennsylvania to high-quality pre-K programs and full-day kindergarten programs? (75 words or less) I'm for full-day kindergarten for MOST children, but what about the ones you do not go to preschool and have a starting disadvantage? NCLB does provide for tutoring and extra help, but who will provide it? Teachers work within their contracts, not on 24-7 basis. School choice or FREE pre-school programs at existing facilities would be nice, but not practical. Not all parents can afford preschool. Pre and after school care is good if the money is there to provide it. Legisaltors have to get their heads out of the sand! I don't think most of Them have a clue about what is required to educate a child!!! My great-grandfather was an educator for 53 years right here in Bath - Alvin O. Shiffer. He instilled a love of reading and learning in me which took me to college, a masters, paralegal and elder law studies over a period from 1964 - 1994. I wrote essays. I learned to THINK, not just to spit back answers! Legislators need a crash course on Piaget and others who wanted to understand the mind and cover the basis before they mandate anything in public education! It also helps to be a parent. There is no school like parenthood for understanding public education !!! 5. What is your vision of the public education opportunity that should be available to every child in Pennsylvania and what will you do to accomplish that goal? (75 words or less) Every child should have the choice of attending school in an environment which is condusive to learning. Every child must learn to read and write. I taught I the college PSI lab when I did my MA and found most college students - in 1984! could not write an essay or put a sentence together! I'm for bringing diagraming back to the English classroon for starters.Every child should be encouraged and nurtured to reach HIS or HER maximum potential and awarded for thinking outside the box. How many Einstein's are we losing today because they can't score high on standardized tests? I know personally - I never could do multiple choice or true and false tests, yet I did a one year MA in History with a 4.0, 4 children, full-time job and 1.25 hour commute - BECAUSE I WANTED TO LEARN!!! No child should be promoted without basic skills, no matter how the school report card looks. It's insane to push kids into a mold then penalize them by rewarding them (passing them on without teaching them) and it does far more harm than good. I am all for creativity in the classroom, small classes, good textbooks, and learning as an environment no matter where the school is located or what it looks like. I met with a head honcho in PA Dof Ed and she told me the newer and fancier the facility , the better kids learn. I went to OLD neighborhood schools and I learned! 6. Is there anything else that you will do to strengthen Pennsylvania's public education system? (75 words or less) I want to legislate to close the gaps in NCLB and would encourage my fellow Senators to refuse to comply with NCLB PROVIDED they would be willing to work with me to find the funding outside the box. Gambling money should NEVER be used for education! What kind of message does that send the children? Finally, I want to state that I am working to find the loopholes, speaking with teachers and administrators in several states, looking at existing legislators in other states which could serve as an example for our state, and trying to prepare a detailed statement prior to the general election. If I can pull it off, I want to rent a large auditorium, invite all educators, administrators, and parents to meet there to present what I have and to gather more info from the people on the front lines. I believe most teachers are qualified. I also believe poorly created and quickly mandated programs like NCLB frustrate teachers and students alike, creatae an anti-learning atmosphere, put all the emphasis on testing and non on teaching and learning. Skills for life are not generally yes and no answers, but some are multiple choice. Reading is at the root of all education. I think it is discouraging to young children to pressure them with standardized tests in early grades, place emphasis on what one paragraph says but not how it fits into the whole story. That is not learning !How many times is it necessary to make a list - two columns for and against - to decide which way to go on a decision. There is nothing mystical about this. It is common sense - teach material which is useful in a challenging manner and children WILL learn.
|