Education Secretary Pedro Rivera Brings Schools That Teach Tour to Pittsburgh to Discuss Education Investments, School Performance

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- State Education Secretary Pedro A. Rivera today brought the Schools That Teach tour to Western Pennsylvania as he met with local leaders, district administrators, students, and teachers to discuss the state's investments in education under the Wolf Administration, as well as the state's proposed accountability system, Future Ready PA Index.  

"Schools across the commonwealth are able to evolve and progress in their mission to provide a high-quality education to students thanks to investments made by the Wolf Administration over the past two years," said Sec. Rivera. "By supporting Pennsylvania's public education system, we are ensuring students leave school ready for college, career, and life."

During his visits to City Charter High School in Pittsburgh and Aliquippa School District, Sec. Rivera had the opportunity to tour the facilities and speak to students and educators, seeing firsthand how investments in Pennsylvania's public education system can benefit schools.

Restoring critical education funding and supporting programs from pre-kindergarten to postsecondary are the hallmarks of Governor Wolf's "schools that teach" initiative. Since taking office, the governor has worked with the legislature to secure historic increases in education funding at all levels, totaling nearly $640 million dollars.

Additionally, over the past two years, the Department of Education has conducted 30 feedback sessions dedicated exclusively to exploring ideas to modify the School Performance Profile, or SPP. The meetings brought together a wide variety of stakeholders, including teachers, administrators, parents, students, policy makers, advocates, industry and higher education leaders to ensure a broad cross section of perspectives were considered.

The existing SPP, which was first used in 2013, is heavily reliant on standardized test scores, which only mark student performance at a single point in time during the school year. PDE's recommendations for the Future Ready PA Index retain several of the indicators from the current SPP; however the weighting of those indicators would be modified.

"The evolution of Pennsylvania's accountability system from the School Performance Profile to the Future Ready PA Index aligns with the governor's goals to give all residents access to schools that teach at every level from pre-K to postsecondary," Sec. Rivera added. "The Department looks forward to continuing to work with its stakeholders in the field, legislature, and community to implement a system that educators find useful and valuable."

To date, the Schools That Teach tour has made stops at more than three dozen schools across Pennsylvania. A Google Map of all tour stops is available here.

MEDIA CONTACT: Nicole Reigelman, 717-783-9802                   

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SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Education