PA. says 600 more schools failed because of less cheating by teachers, not loss of 14,000 teachers [View all]

[JPZenger]

Last edited Mon Oct 1, 2012, 09:39 AM - Edit history (1)

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120929/NEWS90/209290330/-1/NEWS

See the linked AP article.

600 fewer PA. schools met federal standards on their standardized testing results than last year. Several school districts blamed the declines on massive elimination of teaching positions. The Republicans cut almost $1 billion in school funding, which resulted in the elimination of 14,000 teachers and teacher aide positions.

The PA. Ed Secretary then issued press statements and verbal statements that said the failure rates were only caused by the fact that it is harder for teachers to cheat on the tests than it was last year. He then had to apologize for the statement.

In an earlier article, it was noted that 31 percent fewer schools in Pa. hit their federal targets than last year. The Superintendent of the Bethlehem Area School District responded to the Ed. Secretary by describing the cutbacks in teachers, teachers aides, family specialists and tutoring funds that resulted from the state funding cuts. "It's a farce. It's a joke." said the Superintendent in response to the Ed. Secretary's remarks. There also were some higher targets than last under the federal standards.