Let's get to the heart of the matter...
Centennial taxpayers are forced to pay some of the highest school taxes in the county for sub-par teaching.
Teachers contracts need to be tied to performance. At contract time, if scores have improved, contracts can be increased proportionately. If scores drop, contracts are reduced by an equivalent amount.
No more paying premium prices for inferior results...
Our children deserve better.

So glad my child is in 12th grade & scored Advanced in all areas on last year's PSSAs that just came in the mail the other day. Though, I am not happy for paying all these taxes for these horrible results.

The days of the union should be over! Teachers need to do their jobs and educate our children or be fired! There are some great teachers in Centennial, but there are some that really need to go but are protected by their contract. Poor performance = find another job! Our children are too important!

I think Dr. Pollack and the other financially responsible members of our school board should build some more new schools and give the teachers another new contract with increased pay.....That works right? Oh wait they did that two years ago.....

Residents need to stand up and demand results. Stop spending money for schools,contracts and sound systems and start focusing on the Kids !

The School Board is too busy trying to steal money from Warminster Township and manage their vacant properties. TIme for some changes.

You should have to have a child in the district to be on the board. Representation by folks whose kids went through the system in the 70s is not serving us well at all.

Part of the problem is this ridiculous No Child Left Behind Act. Its like its designed to force vouchers and charters schools on struggling districts instead of fixing the problem. And it basically just forces teachers to teach to a test. Instead of producing competent, well rounded students that know how to think- lets produce kids proficient in filling out little boxes on multiple choice questions. The elementary schools just added an extra half hour to the day yet they have to go on this 6 day schedule so you dont even have "specials" like Music, art or library every week. The time for musical instrument instruction has been cut. Yeah, you can argue that these are "frivolous" but thats what young kids need exposure to, a full well-rounded education. Worst of all, our elementary school kids cant even have Social studies AND science during their week. Half the year they will be taught social studies and the other half science. What???? We add a half hour but there is no time for both???

I agree, get back to basics and teach these kids correctly. We have some good teachers and we have some teachers that collect their nice pay check for doing nothing!! There all also kids who just don't test well and the PSSA testing is not fair. I have kids in College who cannot even read incursive because it wasn't taught to them. What the hell is that. Go to the basic reading writing and math and teach these children correctly for life not these crazy ways that they have so called been teaching. When a high percentage of children in a classroom are not doing well don't you think it's the person teaching? Anyone can get a teaching degree but only certain people have the talent to teach correctly.

This is hilarious! Our school board spent $$$ on a math program that every other school district has gotten rid of because it was not working. They have spent $$$$ on schools that were performing sub par. They have taken every child out of the neighbor school, where they were NAMES and placed them in a mega school where they are now NUMBERS. They have laid off good teachers because they didn't have the money. They have replaced superintendants, who were unfit, with ones who are worse. Personally let the State take the district over, open up some Charters school. This school board is making decision that they are not capable of making. I've said for years that this Board only cared about it's image and keeping up with the CB's, not the education fo the students. What good is a workout room, when your students can't do math, reading or spelling!

And to be fair, there has to be some responsibility on the parents. We're forcing larger and larger class sizes on teachers, because of budget cuts and layoffs - its impossible to give constant individual attention to every single child in a class of 27. The teacher can only do so much but if parents aren't supporting their kids, not helping with homework, not even caring that homework gets done, that aren't sitting with their kids and reading, aren't encouraging any scholarly aspect of their lives- the teachers cant perform miracles! I spend a lot of time, after school, with my kids, going over assignments, reviewing ideas, just talking, reading, etc. Then there are other parents that get their kids tutors if they're struggling or other help. But what about the kids that dont have that? Its not so cut and dried that we can just say its all the teacher's fault. My kids are only in elementary school but I've been very happy with all of their teachers so far and am grateful to them for what they do each day.

Don't blame your teachers, blame your school board and superintendant. They tied the teachers hands with what they can teach and how they have to do it. They decided who was laid off. What child wants to sit in class for 1 1/2 hours doing math? Can't wait to see the results this year. Not to mention Leary, Stackpole, WillowDale, Longstreth, and McDonald Davis were all BLUE RIBBON with the same teachers. The school board destroyed that.

Let's not forget that Tennent hasn't reached goal since 2008. So what did this administration do? They took all the assistant principals and placed them in the elementary schools. Guarantee that they blame everything this year on the students!

Should we even discuss the music program and how the kids don't even meet 1x a week. THANK YOU ADMINISTRATION and SCHOOL BOARD for decimating the education and well roundedness of our children.

I'm surprised to find myself agreeing with the unidentified "Southampton Parent" as this is the time our community must become involved. The Education Committee will meet on Tuesday evening October 2nd. The District's "Comprehensive Plan" and the "WTHS Improvement Plan" will be discussed. PDE requires parents and other community representatives to be involved in the development of both plans. I was not interviewed for this article, but; am quoted accurately except for the fact WTHS is in year five of Corrective Action II and (any or all of) the consequences listed above may be imposed.if WTHS is not improved by the end of year five. What I said was "There is no year six of Corrective Action II". Please plan to attend the special meeting of the Education Committee one week from this evening.

Notice they want community involvement. It is mandatory for them, but they won't listen just like every other time the community has come forward. The board and admin do what they want.

I work with all my kids with their work. I work with the teachers and 2 of my kids get basic and proficient . I have also had my kids come home and say the teacher threw up her arms and gives up. The teacher sat on the computer not teaching.I have complained to tennent higher ups and they take out on my children. Thank God they are out of there. But this Math program sucks for elementary. Go back to the basics. Teach them to read and write correctly. Time to clean out the ones that need out. Don't stress out the good teachers and make them want to leave

It only took a week of research for me to find out that every district that used Everyday Math, dropped it. This was before Centennial even implemented it in our schools. So why could I find out it was garbage, but the people making the decisions didn't know it? Once again it was who cares about our students.

Pamela, you are incorrect. There are numerous school districts across the state using Everyday Math successfully, including Wallingford Swarthmore SD which is ranked fifth in Pennsylvania among all 500 school districts. @MarkBMiller1 (on Twitter)

First pf all, mr miller, all do respect but what u say is "crap". The board has no interest in the community or parents being involved in any meetings or decision making! We tried this fir years to stop the building of new mega schools and the board did what they wanted!! As you will continue tp do so. We tacked on 30 minutes to elementary age kids day and why?? For bus issues that no matter what still are required to have kids sitting in the aisle due too way too many kids being jammed on a bus...this school board better hope its not one of my kids or someone i love that gets killed as a result of that mess, thst everyone from the superintendent down refuses to acknowledge...... Lets continue to do what we are since its sll working out so well and then maybe we will have all if the high tech beautiful school grades will continue to drop and enrollment will be down because people have moved out of the district because a once great community has been driven to the ground by a school board that repeatedly buries its head in the sand!

Instead of repeatedly commenting on the patch during a work day shouldnt my tax dollars be put to better use by maybe you doing your job? Just saying!

@annoyed - the school board is NOT paid, so Mr. Miller is not using any of your tax dollars to read and comment on Patch articles.

I think it is so funny that Mark Miller has something to say about this. Mark Miller is the NUMBER 1 cause of half the problems our school district has. He has to be invited in every WRONG decision. We would not have all these problem with the buses it he would step back.

Wouldn't it still be more beneficial if he actually tried to rectify even one problem in the district rather than be on the patch....

Actually, I wish all the School Board members could come on the Patch and see how frustrated people are! Sometimes I wonder if all of them live in a decision making bubble where what they decide has nothing to do with the actual reality of children's education and how they learn and how this affects their lives and those of their parents and other residents.

@annoyed - I don't want to argue about what members of the board should or shouldn't do - I just wanted to make sure that everyone understands that the School Board is not paid.

How can people say its not the teachers? Are they not responsible for teaching our kids all day, five days a week for nine months out of the year? Tenure is definitely a problem. I have dealt with this first hand. My son scored advanced on his tests and I can honestly say he learned more from the workbooks I supplied at home then he did from his tenured teacher last year. In most jobs someone would be fired for not performing up to par. Well obviously most of these teachers were not up to par and yet the continue to have jobs. Jobs that help shape our children's future.

The school board members do not care about our children. They come on the patch and make comments about our desire, as parents and citizens, to be heard and then do absolutely nothing to change things. Why did Centennial rank with Bensalem, Bristol, and Bristol Township. Our math program is soo wonderful as Mr. Miller stated then why has California, Texas, part of Tennessee, Mass,Michagan, New Jersey, and Illinois all decided to drop Everyday Math? Why is Kalamazoo, the pride and success story of Everyday Math, dropping it after their test scores declined for math. Can anyone from this admin explain to me why I pay $$$$ in school taxes for a sub par education? Neshaminy/Morrisville/Council Rock/Pennsbury all met AYP.

Why would parents want to lose valuable time spent with their children to join a 'Committee', do research and work, report back with findings, then have all idea's rejected because the Board already had their minds made up prior to any 'Committee' being formed? Until the parents in mass, along with residents demand that action be taken, we are stuck with an inept, ignorant & rude group of Board members. Let the State take over & throw them all out. Mr. miller proves his stupidity with citing Wallingford & ignoring Philadelphia. Mr. Miller drop your pompous attitude,you are not the only educated person in Centennial.

There are other schools around here that have been teaching everyday math, for sometime and their test scores are a lot higher then ours. Our reading scores are not good either. I am aware that our school board doesn't care, that much was evident during the restructuring. However, if other schools can teach the same programs and do well on these tests then why can't we? Don't get me wrong, we have had some wonderful teachers. I do believe some of the tenured teachers play a big part on this.

It's nice to see some opinions I agree with for a change.
While there are many factors contributing to low test scores, including the test itself (probably the biggest factor), there is no reason to blame the teachers. Every district has their fair share of good and bad teachers. Even the worst teachers I've ever had taught me something useful (even something such as how to deal with authority figures you don't respect). School isn't just about reading and math. The district is not meeting AYP because AYP is a huge load of crap and standardized tests don't measure anything except a student's ability to sit in complete silence (probably still half asleep if we're referring to the 11th grade students) and take a test that doesn't mean anything for hours.
Another problem is the parents and children that don't care. I'm sure the parents who are on here giving a crap that their child's school didn't make AYP again work with their kids to make sure they succeed, but there are a lot of parents who don't. Why should I give a shit about my education if my parents don't? (My parents and I do, I'm just playing the Devil's advocate). Kids hear this test doesn't count as a grade for their class (something teachers say so kids don't stress about it) and then don't do as well as they could because they just don't care. I'm not saying it's right, but it's what is happening.
I'm just glad WT made AYP the year my class took the PSSA :)
As per usual, I could go on but I won't.

Having had a son through this district and facing brick walls at times with teachers, I understand your frustrations. I was an involved parent and made it very clear at that time what was to be expected from the teachers. That being said, we have a new superintendent in place who I know from years past is dedicated to doing right by the kids although I know a fine line is walked to keep everyone happy.

It not only takes parents to be involved but also good, dedicated teachers who want to teach and not just do it for the pay and benefits. I am against the teachers union to begin with. As in private business, if you don't perform you are out. No tenure, gold plated benefits that we are paying for as taxpayers, and certainly not the over inflated pay for 7 1/2 months work a year. Reality check - if teachers feel so undercompensated, I challenge any one of them to go out in the real world and find a job. Guaranteed they will not make as much as they do and some may not even have anything to offer in the private sector. Finally parents are taking charge of their child's education. If performance is measured in the private sector, why is it so hard to make clear to the teachers that we want measures in place in order to monitor at teacher's ability to teach. Keep the good ones and get rid of the incompetent ones. We the taxpayer are their employers.

paid or not every member of that board took on a responsibility to do the best for our kids...so that is what they should be doing! if they can't then they should all be stepping down! this school district has become the laughing stock of bucks county and immediate areas. it is not the teachers who are doing our kids wrong..sadly i don't think half of them agree with what they are now forced to do..like teaching kids just so the standardize test scores are high and rushing through lessons to get it all done before the tests. i am sorry to say we can rant and rave and "discuss" on this website and in the end not a damn thing gets done...our School board makes decisions on their own and until EVERY one of them is thrown out..unfortunately centennial will continue to tank...at the expense of our children. disgrace!

First of all ,does everyone understand where "WE"-"USA" stand in the world in children's education ?? Try # 37 th. But # 1 in Spending.!. WOW that tells me we are doing something wrong. The top 10 counties make teachers accountable . Not our union teachers !!!!
Any parents out there know what the teachers that are failing to teach your children make? I invite you to research it..Base salary of $106,000.00 + benefits for 10 months work!!! YES that is what most 10+ year teachers that did their credits (most) where making. SO high salary does not buy good teacher or education.
Buildings-Books-and Buses are a very small percentage of the budget but are continually cut to make money available for teachers salaries and pensions

Way to say It right Ingrid ! Like every work place there are bad apples, I am so tired of hearing the struggles of teachers and how its not their fault children do badly. Look at the situation in Chicago, Total disgrace. Always wanting more and more with lack luster results.
One day it would be great to see a Gov. of Pa to stand up to the union machine, I am not holding my breath.

Maybe our schools did so poorly because of everything that was going on. Build MEGA schools and tear down the local "Blue Ribbon" elementary schools. Open those schools eventhough they were not completed. Build a MEGA high school that again was not completed when opened. Take principals away and replace with "temp" principals. Let go GOOD, CARING teachers go because you have to keep those that are there just going through the motions. And while all of that is going on introduce "NEW MATH" to students (not to parents). I am very active in my children's education and also very concerned but who can I go to? Certainly NOT the school board. That is a waste of time and breath!

Mr. Miller, you tell parents to come to the education committee to voice their opinions and concerns. I have done that many times only to have Dr. Pollack roll his eyes at me. How many meetings have parent's come to and voiced their opinions only to have the board reject everything and do what you want anyway. The parents and most of the community have little or no trust or faith in the school board.
You did way to much way to fast and our kids are paying the price for it as usual! When will the board take responsibility for their actions and realize that you have done this to our children?

While I am appalled by this latest development I am certainly not shocked. We have been heading down this path for the last several years and instead of dealing with the issues, the school district keeps going forward with ill-conceived plans. There is not a single issue that is to blame. It is the culmination of several missteps by the school board and administration down through to the teachers. It affects EVERYTHING the school district is doing from busing to buildings to the quality of education. Surprisingly, we are ranked 12th out of 13 on the tax burden according to Patch so I guess we should all be thankful for that (sarcasm...). At least I am not the only one on here posting about this. MAYBE it is not too late but I have to admit, I am not too optimistic about where we are heading.

The No Child Left Behind Act has good intentions but is not totally achievable. Not all children are capable of learning the same materials always or at least at the same rate. There is nothing wrong with having a high expectation and trying. But you can't force learning to occur always, at least by a prescribed time, though it would be advantageous. Let's talk about the elementary schools. Changing the classroom size, or rather increasing it, having a "half time" special ed. teacher and a "half time" aide with one teacher is NOT a magic formula to make learning happen in the elementary classroom. Not enough is spent on additional supports and the teachers are once again blamed when sometimes their hands are proverbially tied behind their backs and they simply are doing all they can with their time and limited resources. Adding time to the day doesn't necessarily help either, when again, support staff and resources are still too low. So, please don't be quick to blame the teachers without looking at other very influential factors. And, remember, home influences performance greatly....for soooo many reasons! I'd rather see people say, "What can I do?" than jump on a blame bandwagon. Maybe more people who have the time should volunteer their time to help with reading and math in the classroom or ask the teachers how they can help.... Just a thought or two...

First of all the ones to blame are everyone. A- students because they were told writing and science didn't matter So no one tried. B- teachers because this information got out because of them. C-school board because there is not enough pssa prep. That's why the scores were So low

George Washington...not enough PSSA prep? Do you have kids in Centennial? I'm not being sarcastic. My experience has been that I end up teaching my own kids the regular curriculum during homework time because all they do in school is prep for the PSSA's.

I must say I am not a fan of the "Everyday Math" program. I don't like the rotating curriculum. Kids need to learn how to Add, Subtract, Multiply, and Divide first. They need the drill and practice and memorize their math facts. The new reading program isn't much better, we need a phonics based program. Change the curriculum and your PSSA scores will get a lot better.

I honestly think that this no child left behind stuff is a terrible idea to begin with. It's unrealistic that there has to be improvement EVERY year. It's not the teachers. IT'S THE STUDENTS. The students who don't even try, are not naturally intelligent, or are just terrible test takers, are obviously not going to do good on PSSA's. This is coming from a student who has to take these and observes other students at their school.

As an eleventh grade WTHS honor student, I have had nothing but a wonderful experience at the school. The teachers are not the problem and should not be blamed for their students' laziness. The fact that some of the BEST teachers I have ever had could be affected by this is absurd! No matter what type of standardized test is put in front of students, some are bound to score low. " Replacing Staff" would do more harm than good!

I just learned about this situation and was checking the website for the story. First I have to agree everyday math is crap. I have been doing Khan academy on line to have my kids learn what is not happening at school.
My oldest (honor student) in 9th was asked by other kids in his class what country he came from ?? Some of the kids (I do not know the percent) do not even speak English.
I think if I do not feel it is getting better I will start looking for a better situation. The level of failure as described is unacceptable and the board should resign.

Folks you do realize that special education students are included in AYP reporting? If this population doesn't make progress, no AYP...think about it...kids are special ed for a reason...for anyone to expect them to be proficient or advanced is unfair and causes many of these comments that turn community members against community members.

Sporty Mom and Shannon yes their are lazy kids and some good and some bad teachers. I had an honor student and a regular student who struggled go through tennent. My honor student got the best teachers and she went through great my other student Hated every teacher and came home complaining she was put in the class with all bad kids and teachers who didn't care. So you tell me who's fault this is. I am on both sides of the spectrum.

As a former Tennent student (class of 2010), I've had teachers that care about my progress. Now granted, I took all honors courses but I'm not going to deny the fact that there are teachers at Tennent that do not perform to their hightest ability in the classroom. However, just teachers aren't to blame. I'm studying to be a teacher and from what I've learned, the pressure that these educators are under is extreme. I will learn soon how they will feel later but I do not believe that every teacher should be penalized for this. I know that there are a lot of students at Tennent that do not care about school (there are a lot that do as well), but in order to receive a proper education, the work has to come from both ends, the teacher and the student. Even the parents/guardians of the students have to assist their child when they come home from school. But besides the fact that there are special education students in the classroom, there are a lot of "at-risk" students as well.. students that have tough lives at home or can't afford food and come to school hungry and just have a rough situation on their hands which makes it harder for them to work. There are a lot of factors that come into this, but for the faculty to be punished is absolutely horrible. I believe that NCLB should be altered in a way to accommodate for these conditions in the classroom. Every school is different....

I dont think its right to just blame the teachers. Yes, like every other profession, there are some rotten apples, and yes, those should be eliminated, but the teaching profession should be respected. They provide a valuable service- they are teaching the next generation! We should collaborate with and support teachers, not disparage their salaries. Ok, our taxpayer dollars pay the salaries, but our taxpaper dollars pay for a lot of other thing that are probably a waste (how about most of Congress's salaries for one, if you want to talk about taking lots of vacations and not doing much work) I feel teachers have one of the most important jobs out there and the biggest issue lies in the NCLB Act. Children learn differently. Not everyone is a great test taker. A bad score on a standardized test is not always an indication of a poor student or a poor teacher. 33 states have received waivers on NCLB because the requirements are ridiculous and a set up for failure. And I dont want my children's teachers putting all their focus on this test- rather than just being free to teach. Its so limiting and counter productive. And yes, there are other districts that score Proficient but again, so many factors are involved- the home situation of students, the support they receive from parents. I'm not arguing that there are no bad teachers in this district but there are many great ones as well.

I am fascinated by the great lengths everyone is going through to blame other people while offering little in the way of constructive ideas. Say you fire all the teachers, administrators, aides, janitors, etc and vote out the current school board. How do you remediate the problem?

Rational discourse is the start towards a plan. The board will need the support of the community to make necessary changes. The administration will, in turn, need the support of the board to make curricular and staffing changes. And teachers will need the positive support of the administration as they implement changes.

Time is short and bickering solves nothing.

And just in case its not clear that the results, at least for the middle schools and elementary schools relates directly to economically disadvantaged and special education students- here is the proof.

And take a look at the article link below- nearly every district is having warnings or has had warnings. Something is wrong with this system.

"Klinger and Log College middle schools received a warning, as did Fred J. Stackpole Elementary School, because not enough special education students were proficient in math.

Willow Dale Elementary School also received a warning because not enough Latino and economically-disadvantaged students were proficient in reading and not enough special education students demonstrated they were learning at grade level in math and reading."

http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/levittown/state-gives-four-local-districts-warnings-because-of-pssa-results/article_4f2b984e-3ceb-57da-9653-7d11b016eeed.html

I feel that the kids are told these tests don't count towards their grades and therefore fill in any circles and make a joke of it. Maybe the test should count towards their grade and maybe they would take the test more seriously. If this may mean the jobs of all of their teachers, let's make them care a little more. My kids score really well but they do care about them and like to see the good scores.

Let's put a scenario out there to show just how ridiculous NCLB and AYP testing is. Suppose you have several students entering our district who have just come to this country from Russia. None speak English, but if the kids are of high school age, they are put in the ESL demographic group, and expected to read, write at a high school level. If enough of them fall below average (why shouldn't they? they only speak russian), then the state fails the district at AYP. It doesn't matter that all the US born students ace the tests, if that special ESL group, or any other group (autistic, special ed, econ disadv.) don't have enough students that pass the test, then the district fails. So you know what the district has to do? Well, they have to hire russian reading specialists (at 100K a tutor) to get those kids up to speed and reading/writing at a high school level next year. How much money you think goes into that? Who's fault is that? The school boards? The teachers? It's the law that needs to be changed.

Let's be Real about NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND Mr. Hezel. While it is a crock, NCLB WAS implemented in 2001. William Tennant has FAILED AYP for the last 4 years! That would be 2008- 2011 So why did WT pass for 7 years? It is not the teachers, or the students, or the law. It is the way the students are being taught. Here's an idea. Instead of implementing new math programs, and new block schedules, go back to what worked for the elementary kids. As far as the high school, well you got me on what they do over there. My daughter graduated last year and I can honestly say it was a waste of my tax dollars. She learned more on her own. There are plenty of schools in Bucks that are passing AYP. It must be the SD. As this point I honestly hope CSD fails AYP next year. I truly believe the children and the community would best be served by the State taking over.

We've only been in this district for 5 years and I have to tell you, each year just gets worse than the previous year. I'm a parent who is not new to schoolage children, just this district. I've had a child in school every year since my oldest started preschool in '91 and I feel bad for my 2 youngest. They have started here in kindergarten and preschool and I can see the difference in how & what they are learning. This district doesn't have any good preschool/kindergarten program. My 4th grader had some diffuclties when she started kindergarten here which blew my mind because she already knew how to read & knew all the sight words already. Her teacher recommended title 1 not because she couldn't keep up, she was doing great in the classroom, she just was to shy & didn't test well externally. This district is more concerned about testing than teaching. She is now in 4th grade & she is doing great. She scored advance in the PSSA in both reading & math. I hear everyone bashing the phila. public schools but my kids started there for preschool & kindergarten & they were more advanced than the kindergarten program here. My 2 oldest had full day kindergarten in philly (one in 1992), after that they moved to the catholic school for 1-12th grades (oldest, my 2nd child started 4th grade here). The parish we were at was more advanced than here. I was going through old books & realized my 4th grader didn't even learn roman numerals & she can't really read cursive. How sad!

Oh please, bring in the Charter schools. I would definitely rather take my chances with them then what is being run by this SB. Mr. Hezel helped create all of these problems. My eldest went to Philly schools, and it wasn't because of the quality of education that we left. You want to blame this on teachers and their salary. Neshaminy pays the highest, has fought right and left between teachers and community, guess what. THEY PASSED AYP. Don't blame this on disadvantage and ESOL. They didn't just show up last year, they have been here for years and the elementary schools passed every other year. It is your class sizes, curriculm and Admin.

Amazing, once again it is excuses. Blame it on demographics. Not the curriculumn or class size or the fact that the teacher do not even understand the math program, (which doesn't cover the material on the PSSA's). This current SB is no better than the previous, nor is the Admin. They approved the larger class sizes, and, this ridiculous block schedule that you have to write on a calendar to keep track off. I would absolutely love to have the option of a charter school, maybe then this SB would be put back in their place. As far as running for this SB, you couldn't pay me to take a seat. It is a nest of vipers. Just look at how they act towards each other and the community during their meetings, and when they retire/resign they go public with details that they knew about all along but never told the community.

Special interest groups headed by the Koch Brothers, The Waltons, Betsy DeVos and their friends have corrupted the education process to bolster the profits of special interest groups operating and managing Charter and Cyber Charter Schools.

They have paid off politicians on both sides of the aisle. In Pennsylvania, the most money on the Democratic side went to State Senator Anthony Williams who has accepted more than $5,000,000. On the Republican side, Governor Tom Corbett got more than $1,000,000.

Upon his election, Gov Corbett hired former member of Whiteboard Advisors and owner of Camden Learning Corp's Ronald Tomalis as Sec'y of Education. He is Mr NCLB. Corbett also named former K-12 Cyber Charter Exec VP, Charles Zogby, who still receives compensation from K-12. K-12's highest paid employee last year was its Superintendent Ron Packard who earned $5,000,000.

The FBI has stepped in to investigate the charter agencies our state has allowed to operate with impunity.

No, the state will never apply for NCLB waivers, then they would not be able to turn whole school districts over to the EMO's who control key politicians. Even if every student in every school achieves proficient or advanced on their PSSA, there will still be 15% worst performing schools eligible for sanctions.

Please come to the Education Committee on Tuesday evening, Oct 2 @ 7pm. You came this far. Anonymous talk is cheap. Show yourself and Stand up for Public Education. (@MarkBMiller1)

@MARK MILLER

CHILDREN DONT GET GRADED ON PSSA TESTS.

SO THEY PLAY CONNECT THE DOTS!!! THEY DONT EVEN TRY, DID YOU???

IF YOU WANT BETTER SCORES MAKE IT PART OF THEIR GRADE!!!

NEXT OPINION:

EVERYDAY MATH IS AN EXCELERATED PROGRAM THAT DOESNT FOCUS LONG ENOUGH ON ANYTHING TO REALLY LEARN IT. YOU OVERVIEW FIVE THINGS AT ONCE AND KINDA SORTA GET AN INTRO TO DIFFERENT CONCEPTS WITHOUT ENOUGH PRACTICE. THEN WHEN THEY GIVE THE TEST IT CONSISTS OF WORD PROBLEMS WHICH THEY DIDNT GET THE CONCEPT TO BEGIN WITH AND DIDNT PRACTICE THE CONCEPT AND DIDNT PRACTICE EXTRAPULATING THE CONCEPT THROUGH A WORD PROBLEM BUT NOW ARE EXPECTED TO PASS!! IT'S HORRIBLE.

Not achieving AYP is now because of special interest groups that have corrupted the education process. Yes we know, just look at the price tag on the high school. Look at who designed and built all 4 schools. Look at who bought the old schools for $425,000 a piece. Let's not forget who signed off on ALL of these deals. Yes we see the corruption and special interest at work.

Everyone needs to quit blaming the school board. Most of you are missing the big picture, which is that if the state takes over the high school, our property values will plummet. Yes, it is absolutely clear that the ultimate goal of No Child Left Behind is to take over the public schools to line corporate wallets. New schools will raise our property values. NCLB guidelines are impossible to meet...what happens when the requirement is 100%? NCLB's only possible goal is failure of public schools because NO ONE with any common sense could ever expect that all children could meet these unrealistic goals. Everyone is different, with different abilities and capabilities, some children are disabled and some children just don't care....and no matter how hard you try these things cannot be changed. The focus should be on contacting state officials to apply for a waiver like the majority of states in this country have done...that is the only thing that will help your children, this district, and maintain your property values. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool. I will be making no further comments...fire away if you are one of the aforementioned.

Charter Schools DO NOT LOWER your property value. They INCREASE IT by utilizing the vacant building in your neighborhood. The vacant building is detrimental to your property value. Charter Schools also INCREASE TAX REVENUES for the community. Please get the facts before posting falsehoods. Sounds just like a SB member. NCLB has been in place for 10 years, now you want to complain to the State that the schools didn't pass?

Most positively affliated with the SB...

Once again mis-information is put out to the public. Chartering is only 1 option that is available under corrective active. Why do you think the SB has been getting rid of buildings. They knew failure of AYP was going to happen with WT. This is the actual guidline that they were supposed to follow the 1ST year.
Every state education agency is required to determine which schools do not meet AYP every year. However, a specific designation by the U.S. Department of Education called "Federal school improvement status" applies only to schools that receive Title I funds. State education agencies are required to determine what larger goals are required of every school as they fail to perform annually.[14]

If Title I schools do not meet AYP for two consecutive years, they are placed in "Choice" School Improvement Status, which means they must develop an improvement plan, provide students the option to transfer to a different school and provide them transportation to get there, and they must use part of their Title I funds for professional development for their teachers and staff. If a school does not make AYP for three consecutive years, they will be in "Supplemental Services" School Improvement Status, which means that in addition to all the "Choice" requirements above, they must also use some of their Title I funds to support students by providing tutoring or after-school programs from a state-approvded provider.

If a school fails AYP for four years in a row they enter "Corrective Action" Improvement Status, where they must provide both "Choice" and "Supplemental Services" as well as choose one of the following: Replace responsible staff, Implement a new curriculum, Decrease a school’s management authority;
Appoint an external expert to advise school, or restructure the internal organization of the school. [15] Lastly, if a school fails AYP for 5 years or more, they must plan to and implement one of the following:
Chartering: Closing and reopening as a public charter school.
Reconstitution: Replacing school staff, including the principal, relevant to the failure in the school.
Contracting: contracting with an outside entity to operate the school.
State takeovers: turning the school operations over to the state education agency.
Any Other major governance restructuring: engaging in another form of major restructuring that makes fundamental reforms.

I wasn't going to post again, but Pamela is apparently missing the entire point and I don't want the rest of you sucked into her mid-directed rhetoric. She seems to have a vendetta against the school board--caring nothing about potential repercussions to this district as a whole. I haven't been happy with the school board, but that is a mere ant hill compared to the freight train bearing down on us. The fact is, if the state decides to take over Tennent, there is something called "negative publicity". Familiar with it, Pamela? How many potential home buyers would be willing to buy a home in a district forced to restructure its high school...or forced into charter school status? Don't kid yourself. What do you think that would do to your property value? (And don't say you're not planning on selling...because you never know....) If you think that you're accomplishing something by targeting the school board instead of contacting your state representatives....well, pursuant to my earlier comment....if the shoe fits.... Now I can only hope that common sense prevails with the rest of us.

Funny how the nation can support referees of NFL football when they strike, but not teachers. Seems like our priorities are sort of out of wack, huh? And also: Centennial's not striking and I'm pretty sure the union would support any sort of input regarding alternatives to NCLB, 'cause teachers hate it - so what's the point of even mentioning that?
Suggestion: go check out PDE. search for PSSA scores, and take a look at how Centennial measures up. You all have full access to demographics, scores, percentages, etc. Maybe do that before you start casting blame in any direction. This is a failing on multiple levels: an assessment tool that is being used in a way it was never intended, restructuring that doesn't take into consideration the disruption to the learning environment, lack of parental understanding, interest, and/or support of student achievement, trying to prepare students for a test in March or April that assesses a year's worth of schooling, poor test construction in the first place - placing blame, though, doesn't do anything but maybe make you feel better. It solves nothing. Ask your children's teachers what your child can do at home to continue their PSSA preparation; ask their teachers what they do in the classroom to support that as well. Be an active participant in your child's education, not a passive complainer on a message board.

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/news_and_media/7234/p/1237291

Excellent ideas. What should those of us do, who have children that excelled in their scoring? Do we hope that the High School gets it together by next year? When do we start to demand accountability from those people who are in charge of our childrens' education? I don't care about "negative publicity", we have that already with the outrageous decisions that this district has made todate. I don't care about my property value. I care about the quality of my child's education, which apparently is not available at the high school. What options do we have for a better education for them? Private or Parochial? I rely on the public school and I believe it is my right to demand full accountability from the School Board and Administration especially with regards to a curriculum that is not working.

I think everyone should take a minute and appreciate Chels, one of the responders up there, alum 2010. It was a well written and thought out response. I am not from Centennial, but was reading this out of curiosity. PSSAs cannot measure that well written response. Maybe looking at college success is a better indicator.

"There is no fifth year of 'Corrective Action 2'," said School Board Director Mark Miller at Monday evening's school board meeting.

"There are predators out there, including our own secretary of education, who would love to take control of our brand, spanking new high school if we don't escape this corrective action," he said

I HAVE HEARD IT ALL....,
Hey Mark Miller bricks and mortar, you and the teachers ( and supporters ) lets stop blaming NCLB, PARENTS, STUDENTS, AND SO CALLED "PREDITORS" who want buldings. Lets bounce a few under performing teachers and put the rest on notice. Lets have a consumer (student) driven system and stop protecting teachers who pompously get offended, like their own students who are evaluated AKA report cards, and have a measure of accountability for teachers. Buildings, teacher/student ratio, money, will not save a failing system, we need a state wide voucher program. BTW LETS DISOLVE THE FEDERAL EDUCATION DEPT WHILE WE ARE AT IT ( a Jimmy Carter error).

Naive district policies and lousy state standards are more responsible for our problems than the teachers.

It would be very hard to overstate the importance of high caliber academic materials to maximize the development of a child's potential. Youngsters need regular mental as well as physical exercise and challenges to promote full growth. Unfortunately, PA does not require that elementary school teachers have a solid foundation in arithmetic and PA's Math standards were developed without consulting any math experts.

Programs like Everyday Math, EM, were designed by and for adults with very little judgment regarding the level of mathematical sophistication required to pursue highly skilled college and career opportunities in an increasingly global economy. It is fundamentally unsuited to prepare youngsters to compete academically, in analytically-based fields such as math, science, engineering and medicine. In far too many urban neighborhood schools, including Phila. and NY, it is virtually impossible for kids to break into such areas after years of reliance on cripplingly shallow programs such as EM that undermine their development.

Math is "relentlessly cumulative". If you screw-up the foundation, snowballs have a better chance you-know-where than such mathematically under-prepared children. The majority of American girls are also marginalized with respect to highly skilled career paths; very few are taking courses such as AP Calculus BC and AP Physics since their math is so weak compared to better prepared students. All students deserve strong math programs like Singapore provide.

What the United States Can Learn From Singapore's World-Class Mathematics System: An Exploratory Study - By: American Institutes for Research 1/28/05 -
unequivocally warns that mile-wide, inch deep PreK-8 math curriculum must be dramatically streamlined. It critiques 2 of the most popular but shockingly shallow American text series:
Scott-Foresman - a traditional program and EM - a reform/constructivist one.

Follow the money! The heavily marketed math books that most of America's public school students have been using for years are atrocious. Our high school math performance is rotten because our elementary schools have been increasingly buying into warm and fuzzy, shallow, spiral pedagogy for many years.

My daughter is in the gifted program. She has been calculating double and triple digits since 2nd grade. Math homework for 4th grade on Tuesday night: The number 4 button on your calculator is broken. Write 6 different ways to equal 40. ie 2x2x10, 1(2x2x10), 2x10+20,.....ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! Nice Math building blocks for a gifted child in 4th grade! This is why I personally think this district is run by INCOMPETENT IDIOTS and why we should have the option of a Charter School!

Pamela,
You have my deepest sympathy - very few people are professionally qualified to make sound public school academic decisions, particularly regarding mathematical issues. I knew of only one educator that I would care to trust; for a short while she was our acting superintendent and I had high hopes for our district and looked forward to helping our youngsters expand their opportunities; she has since successfully sued our district.

I am actively involved with national experts who told me about the exquisitely fine Singapore-based math textbooks.
First, I urge you to get and start using quality materials ASAP.
Second, I recommend you register your daughter for math competitions:
-- Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools: http://www.moems.org/program.htm
I ran the program for my son's school, while he was in 2nd grade.
-- 24 Game - http://www.24game.com/ - also used in ES + MS competition
FYI - valuable report:
A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America’s Brightest Students
http://www.accelerationinstitute.org/Nation_Deceived/ND_v1.pdf

PS Wallingford Swarthmore SD is not successful because of EM, but in spite of it.
The data for Central Bucks is also disappointing given their demographics.
I urge parents to be pro-active regarding educational issues.
A laissez-faire approach is too dicey to risk on something potentially so pivotal.
Our public schools are not taking the need for focused rigorous academics seriously.

Thank you so much for the info. I have begun to check out these things myself, since this district is not concerned about the education of its students. I guess billboards and posters are more important. Another fine example of quality leadership.