Dara Ware Allen/tidbits

An equity policy was approved by PPS
within the past year. This is a good
start in recognizing that equity requires
focused attention and intentional effort.
As Chair of the Education Committee,
we proactively develop an annual
schedule of educational priorities. 
Two
priority items scheduled for 2011 are:
1)Assuring Equity Across the District-
Follow-up to Achievement Gap/Equity
Report (April) and 
2)Identifying Success Within- developing a process
for identifying promising practices
within our schools to replicate.
Student achievement of all students
is a critical issue facing PPS and our
region. Successful implementation
of the Empowering Effective
Teachers Plan; continuation of the
9th grade Promise Readiness Corps;
implementing period 10 more
broadly as a credit recovery
intervention along with reforming
summer school at the high school
level to stem learning loss; and
addressing inequities across schools
are all opportunities to help boost
student achievement, particularly
among African Americans and high
school students.
PPS has already begun to deal with
the pending proposed cuts to
education in Governor Corbett's
budget. First, the 2011 approved
PPS budget proactively plans for a
loss of $17M in stimulus funding not
being restored. Secondly, Dr. Lane
required all central office
administrators to cut their budgets by
10%. Going forward, I would
authorize cuts that start the farthest
away from the classroom as possible
to minimize the impact on student
achievement.