Education in PennsylvaniaThe Good,The Bad, andThe Ugly

Education in Pennsylvania: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

Standards – In 2010, Pennsylvania’s English language arts (ELA) and math standards received a D and F, respectively, from the national Thomas B. Fordham Institute.1 On July 2, 2010, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education adopted the rigorous Common Core State Standards in ELA and math for grades K–12.2 These new standards received a B+ and an A- for ELA and math, respectively, from the Fordham Institute.3 Mastery of these standards will help ensure that Pennsylvania students are prepared for success in college and the workforce.

Data System – Pennsylvania’s state longitudinal data system contains nine of the ten core elements that the Data Quality Campaign deems essential. The state still must work to publicly report student-level course completion (transcript) data. Pennsylvania must also work to maximize use of data capacity in driving effective decision making to improve system and student performance.4

Charter School Laws – According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools’ 2011 ranking of state charter school laws, Pennsylvania’s public charter school law is ranked 12th in the nation, with no arbitrary cap on the number of charters permitted to operate. However, some school districts such as Philadelphia have placed a moratorium on new schools and issued enrollment caps. Pennsylvania law provides that applications denied by local school boards can be appealed to a state appeals board. Pennsylvania allows a variety of charter school options, including new start-ups, public school conversions, and virtual schools. Pennsylvania can improve its law by prohibiting district-mandated restrictions on growth, ensuring authorizer accountability, providing authorizer funding, expanding authorizer options beyond local school boards, allowing multi-school charter contracts or multi-contract governing boards, and ensuring equitable funding and access to facilities. For the 2010-11 school year, Pennsylvania has 87,000 students attending public charter schools.5

Below is a survey of the state of education in Pennsylvania:

The Bad

Teacher Policies – In its 2009 State Teacher Policy Yearbook, the National Council on Teacher Quality gave the state of Pennsylvania an overall D for state policies focused on teachers.6

Specifically, the state received grades on its ability to perform in the following areas:

• Delivering well-prepared teachers: D+• Expanding the pool of teachers: C-• Identifying effective teachers: D• Retaining effective teachers: D+• Exiting ineffective teachers: D-

Return on Investment – Student achievement in Pennsylvania is low relative to state spending on education according to the 2007 national Leaders and Laggards report. Pennsylvania received a D and ranked 35th among all states for its return on investment, which was measured by its students’ performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)—an independent measuring stick also known as the Nation’s Report Card—relative to its per-pupil spending ($8,651, after controlling for student poverty, the percentage of students with special needs, and cost of living).7

Education in Pennsylvania: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Graduation Rate – Pennsylvania reports a 90% graduation rate,8 but the national Diplomas Count report calculates a rate of 78%.9 Below is the percentage of students graduating in 2007 in Pennsylvania as compared to the United States.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

69%78%

90%

Percentage of Students Graduating in 2007

United States(Diplomas Count-reported)

Pennsylvania (Diplomas Count-reported)

Pennsylvania (State-reported)

The Ugly

Student Achievement – Like many other states, Pennsylvania paints a misleading picture of how well its students are performing. While the state reports proficiency rates of 70% or higher for 4th and 8th graders in math, NAEP reveals a 46% or lower proficiency rate for both grades.10

8th Grade Math4th Grade Math

State TestNAEP0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

81%

46%

70%

40%

Student Achievement in 4th and 8th Grade Math

Education in Pennsylvania: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Endnotes1 ThomasB.FordhamInstitute,The State of State Standards – and Common Core – in 2010,July2010.2 NationalGovernorsAssociationCenterforBestPracticesandtheCouncilofChiefStateSchoolOfficers,Common Core State Standard Initiative: Preparing America’s Students for College and Career,October2010.(http://www.corestandards.org/in-the-states)3 ThomasB.FordhamInstitute,The State of State Standards – and Common Core – in 2010,July2010.4 DataQualityCampaign,2010-11 Survey Results,2011.(http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/survey/states)5 NationalAllianceforPublicCharterSchools,Measuring Up to the Model: A Ranking of State Charter School Laws,January2011.6 NationalCouncilonTeacherQuality,2009 State Teacher Policy Yearbook,January2010.7 U.S.ChamberofCommerce,Leaders and Laggards: A State-by-State Report Card on Educational Innovation,November2007.8 U.S.DepartmentofEducation,EDDataExpress,StateGraduationRate,AllStudents:2006-07(http://eddataexpress.ed.gov/data-element-explorer.cfm). AccessednoFebruary9,2011.9 EditorialProjectsinEducationResearchCenter,Diplomas Count 2010,June2010.10NewAmericaFoundation,Federal Education Budget Project,September2010.(http://febp.newamerica.net/)11U.S.DepartmentofEducation,InstituteofEducationSciences,NationalCenterforEducationStatistics,NationalAssessmentofEducationalProgress(NAEP),2009.12AllianceforExcellentEducation,Pennsylvania High Schools,2010.(http://www.all4ed.org/files/Pennsylvania.pdf)

For more information on the National Chamber Foundation visit www.uschamber.com/ncf. Learn more about the Chamber’s education agenda at www.uschamber.com/icw.

Achievement Gap – Not only is the state performing insufficiently overall, but some groups of students are faring even worse. There is over a 25-point gap in scores between Pennsylvania’s black and white students on both 4th and 8th grade reading and math tests.11 This is morally unacceptable and a significant threat to continued prosperity and economic competitiveness in Pennsylvania and the nation.

Dropouts’ Effect on the Economy – The Alliance for Excellent Education estimates that the lost lifetime earnings in Pennsylvania for the 2010

class of dropouts alone would total over $8.9 billion. If Pennsylvania graduated all students ready for college, the state would save as much as $125 million a year in community college remediation costs and lost earnings. In addition, if the state increased its male high school graduation rate just 5%, Pennsylvania’s economy would see a combination of crime-related savings and additional revenue of about $288 million each year.12 Significantly reducing dropouts each year would multiply these positive outcomes.