Excellent Schools PA Launches to Press for Urgent Action on Public Education
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Determined to ensure that every Pennsylvania student has access to a high-quality school, education advocates today announced the launch of Excellent Schools PA, a statewide education advocacy organization working to improve educational outcomes for PA's students.
Excellent Schools PA was founded on the belief that every student, regardless of address or economic status, has the ability to learn and succeed when they have access to a high-quality education.
The organization was born from the work and leadership of Philadelphia School Advocacy Partners (PSAP), which previously pursued educational improvements for k-12 students in the city by pushing for changes to laws and policies that would provide greater access to high-quality school options.
"The strategic shift to expand statewide came out of the need we saw for a strong voice to represent the interests of Pennsylvania's students," said Stephen DeMaura, the Executive Director of Excellent Schools PA. "When it comes to public education, it seems like every single adult in the Pennsylvania school system is represented in Harrisburg, and these organizations are lobbying for their interests with unrivaled passion.
"But who is stepping up to guarantee the policies and laws moving in Harrisburg are in the best interest of students? That is a role we intend to fill."
As an independent entity, Excellent Schools PA will build upon the knowledge gained and successes achieved in Philadelphia working to improving educational outcomes for some of PA's most underserved students.
"We can no longer pretend that chronically failing public schools are just a 'city' problem," said DeMaura. "It has become a crisis that has spread across Pennsylvania.
"Research shows that the students stranded in low-performing schools are more likely than their well-educated peers to drop out of school, are more likely to experience unemployment, have significantly lower income potential and are more likely to spend time in prison," DeMaura said. "In our Commonwealth today, more than half of all the public schools are failing to provide our students with the high-quality education they deserve."
In the most recent update of the state's School Performance Profile, 51 percent of PA's public schools earned a score below 70, which is the score the PA Department of Education has identified as the benchmark for quality.
Excellent Schools PA is already at work building a grassroots network of supporters across the Commonwealth, to engage elected officials, community and business leaders, education experts and parents, in an effort to:
- Increase access to high-quality educational options;
- Hold schools accountable for the success of their students;
- Provide a pathway to cultivate and reward excellent educators and principals;
- Reduce the unnecessary bureaucratic burdens on schools to allow for a greater focus on improving student outcomes;
- Equip families and the public with a comprehensive rating system for schools as a means of transparency and accountability; and
- Ensure adequate and equitable funding for schools.
"We must make our elected officials feel the pressure to address this issue, even when it means challenging the status quo to fix this clearly broken system," DeMaura said. "It's time to act, so that we can provide all children access to high-quality education."
For more information on Excellent Schools PA visit our website (www.ExcellentSchoolsPA.org), like us on Facebook (facebook.com/ExcellentSchoolsPA) and follow us on Twitter (@ExcelSchoolsPA).
SOURCE Excellent Schools PA
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