Two C’s and a D is hardly a report card that would seem to earn Pennsylvania any sort of bragging rights.
But since 31 other states fare worse than Pennsylvania, the Keystone State’s overall grade of D+ might not sound so bad.
StudentsFirst, a national school reform advocacy group, issued the first of what is intended to be an annual State Policy Report Card today. Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools, leads the organization.
Based in Sacramento, Calif., the group grades states on their progress toward implementing policies and laws that the group sees as essential to improving public education.
The report card, which is receiving mixed reactions, graded state policies on 24 specific policy objectives that fall in the areas of elevating teaching, empowering parents and spending wisely and govern well.
Among them are fair funding for charter schools, merit pay for teachers, portable pension systems, linking school expenditures to student data, and notifying parents if their child’s teacher has been rated as ineffective for two or more years.
Pennsylvania earned a C- in the teaching category; a D- in parent empowerment; and a C+ in the spending/governing area.
Click here to read the full article by Jan Murphy published on PennLive.com (January 7, 2013)
