At the beginning of every school year at Park Forest Elementary School (PFE), it is customary for teachers to invite their students to participate in establishing guidelines for behavior and citizenship in their respective classrooms. Teacher Lorraine McGarry and principal Donnan Stoicovy began the 2012-13 school year, however, by taking this…

This hearing serves as a first in a set of hearings focusing on early learning. In his opening statement, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, strongly encouraged members of this committee on both sides of the aisle to hold roundtables and have discussions on early learning in their local…

Lynette Brown-Snow, vice president of marketing and government relations for the Community College of Philadelphia, is one of several community college leaders across the country who have taken up one of the challenges proffered by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in its 2012 report, "Reclaiming the American Dream:…

This article explores the integration of a multiweek legislative simulation with the Blackboard (9.1) Platform in an effort to understand how technology may increase student engagement, collaborative learning, and assessment. We consider the ways in which classroom technologies--blogs and online peer and self assessment tools, in particular--can…

Today's school librarians are taking the lead with legislative advocacy for education and their efforts are beginning to have an impact on legislation. Advocates for school library programs in the state of Washington made historic legislative in-roads in 2009 with the passage of Substitute House Bill 2261. Arguably, the most important factor in…

During this hearing, the Committee heard testimony on the issue of juvenile violence. Juvenile violence is a problem nationally of epidemic proportion, a very, very serious problem in the city of Philadelphia and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In the first five months of this year there has been an enormous increase in juvenile violence with…

A Quaker who set aside his strong pacifist beliefs, Thomas Mifflin helped to organize Pennsylvania's military forces at the outset of the Revolutionary War and rose to the rank of major general in the Continental Army. This booklet on Mifflin is one in a series on Revolutionary War soldiers who also signed the U.S. Constitution, and it covers his…

Like many immigrants to the American colonies, Thomas Fitzsimons demonstrated his devotion to his adopted land by helping to defend it during the Revolutionary War. This booklet on Fitzsimons is one in a series on Revolutionary War soldiers who signed the U.S. Constitution, and it covers his political involvement in Philadelphia's (Pennsylvania)…

Survey and observational research on educational lobbying organizations in the Pennsylvania state legislature yielded both data on influence processes and a set of seven guidelines for educational lobbyists. A survey of Pennsylvania legislators at the 1973-74 session examined their attitudes about education bills, educational lobbies and their…

Authorities in America have traditionally left governance of pubic universities to faculty and administrators, under a presumption of academic freedom and an apparent trust that all was well. This hands-off policy persisted as radicals virtually extinguished intellectual pluralism. Throughout the process, the NAS has seen successes in a campaign…

Pennsylvania's mathematical modeling technique to evaluate tax reform proposals requires the following data: personal income at the local level and measures of the breakdown of property tax payment by land use classification. The simulation technique could be readily adapted in reorganizing educational finance systems. (MLF)

Individual members of state legislatures wield the greatest influence in state level policy formation. This was one of the findings of a study that identified the power and influence context of state-level policymaking. Data were gathered from six states (Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Illinois) using an instrument…

This monograph and its companion, "Legislative Education Leadership in the States," portray the contemporary role of state legislators and map the structure of education leadership in terms of both the characteristics of influential legislators and staff and the nature of influence structures in state legislatures. This volume reports…

The opinions of Pennsylvania educational and legislative leaders on four issues of critical importance to higher education in the state were evaluated. For the two issue areas of enrollment and resources, respondents were asked through interviews and a questionnaire to make projections for the 1980s, to identify the group or agency that should be…