1 1 COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 2 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES EDUCATION COMMITTEE 3 IRVIS OFFICE BUILDING 4 ROOM G-50 HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 5 HOUSE BILL 168 6 HOUSE BILL 177 PUBLIC HEARING 7 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2015 8 9:05 A.M. 9 BEFORE: 10 HONORABLE STANLEY E. SAYLOR, MAJ. CHAIRMAN 11 HONORABLE HAL ENGLISH HONORABLE MARK M. GILLEN 12 HONORABLE SETH M. GROVE HONORABLE KRISTIN LEE PHILLIPS-HILL 13 HONORABLE KATHY L. RAPP HONORABLE CRAIG STAATS 14 HONORABLE MIKE TOBASH HONORABLE DAN TRUITT 15 HONORABLE MIKE CARROLL HONORABLE SCOTT CONKLIN 16 HONORABLE PATRICK HARKINS HONORABLE PATTY KIM 17 HONORABLE MARK LONGIETTI HONORABLE GERALD MULLERY 18 19 20 21 BRENDA J. PARDUN, RPR 22 P. O. BOX 278 MAYTOWN, PA 17550 23 717-426-1596 PHONE/FAX 24 25 2 1 ALSO PRESENT: 2 NICHOLE DUFFY, SENIOR EDUCATION ADVISOR (R) KAREN SEIVARD, SENIOR LEGAL COUNSEL (R) 3 JONATHAN BERGER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (R) ELIZABETH MURPHY, RESEARCH ANALYST (R) 4 MICHAEL BIACCHI, RESEARCH ANALYST (R) JESSICA HENNINGER, LEGISLATIVE ADMINISTRATIVE 5 ASSISTANT (R) 6 CHRIS WAKELEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (D) WENDY HAIGOOD, LEGISLATIVE ASSISTANT (D) 7 8 9 BRENDA J. PARDUN, RPR REPORTER - NOTARY PUBLIC 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 INDEX 2 NAME PAGE 3 LARRY WITTIG 10 CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD 4 STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 5 RICHARD MARASCHIELLO 15 CONTRACTOR 6 RITA PEREZ 22 7 DIRECTOR BUREAU OF CURRICULUM, ASSESSMENT AND 8 INSTRUCTION 9 KAREN MOLCHANOW 39 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 10 STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION 11 W. GERARD OLEKSIAK 54 VICE PRESIDENT 12 PENNSYLVANIA STATE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 13 JAKE MILLER 62 SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER 14 GOOD HOPE MIDDLE SCHOOL CUMBERLAND VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT 15 RYAN BANNISTER 97 16 REGIONAL COORDINATOR LEGISLATIVE LIAISON PENNSYLVANIANS RESTORING EDUCATION 17 CHERYL BOISE 100 18 COORDINATOR AND RESEARCH CONSULTANT PENNSYLVANIANS RESTORING EDUCATION 19 ANITA HOGE 119 20 CHAIR, POLICY AND RESEARCH PENNSYLVANIANS RESTORING EDUCATION 21 DR. ERIC ESHBACH 137 22 SUPERINTENDENT NORTHERN YORK COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT 23 DR. MICHAEL SNELL 139 24 SUPERINTENDENT CENTRAL YORK SCHOOL DISTRICT 25 4 1 INDEX (cont’d) 2 NAME PAGE 3 LEE ANN WENTZEL 143 SUPERINTENDENT 4 RIDLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT 5 DR. SCOTT DEISLEY 146 SUPERINTENDENT 6 RED LION AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 7 WILLIAM LACOFF 160 PRESIDENT 8 PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION 9 JOHN CALLAHAN 174 SENIOR DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS 10 PENNSYLVANIA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION 11 DAVE PATTI 178 PRESIDENT AND CEO 12 PENNSYLVANIA BUSINESS COUNCIL 13 14 SUBMITTED WRITTEN TESTIMONY 15 TIFFANY REEDY 16 PRINCIPAL POTTSVILLE AREA HIGH SCHOOL 17 MICHELLE S. GUERS, ED.D. 18 ALI RHOADES HOBBS 19 DISTRICT POLICY DIRECTOR FOR REPRESENTATIVE TOBASH 20 21 (See submitted written testimony 22 and handouts online.) 23 24 25 5 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SAYLOR: Good 3 morning, everybody. I’d like to call the 4 hearing to order, and I wanted to go through a 5 couple things here this morning. 6 First, I wanted to thank parents 7 and teachers and students and concerned 8 citizens of the commonwealth who have 9 contacted my office and that of Chairman 10 Roebuck’s as to the Keystone Exams and, of 11 course, Pennsylvania academic standards. 12 The education of our children is 13 an essential duty of our state government and 14 must always be a top priority of the general 15 assembly. 16 It is important to note and 17 recognize that this hearing is not the first 18 time that this committee and this general 19 assembly has had and debated and discussed our 20 state testing and our state academic 21 standards. This was achieved over the last 22 several sessions on hearings and briefings 23 that this committee has had and the general 24 assembly itself. 25 Additionally, in June of 2013, the 6 1 House unanimously adopted House Resolution 2 338, sponsored by our committee member, 3 Representative English, who called upon the 4 secretary of Education and state Board of 5 Education to review their policies relating to 6 academic standards and testing of K-through-12 7 education. It also called for specific 8 limitations on family and student data 9 collection requirements. 10 It's also important to note that 11 our intent is not to put local school 12 districts through the rigors and costs of 13 constantly changing our academic standards. 14 Pennsylvania remains committed to local 15 control and decisions regarding curriculum and 16 reading lists, which will continue to be made 17 by the local school districts. 18 Again, I want to thank the local 19 testifiers this morning. 20 And as a new chairman of the House 21 Education Committee, one of the things that I 22 have insisted upon is respect among all 23 members and those who testify before this 24 committee. And I will hold everybody to that 25 same standard today, is that we respect each 7 1 other. We have difference of opinions. But the 2 chairman will end your testimony if there is any 3 disrespect to the members or anybody else present 4 or not present today. 5 So, with that, I will ask 6 Representative Tobash and Representative Grove to 7 make opening comments. 8 REPRESENTATIVE TOBASH: Thank you very 9 much, Mr. Chairman. I really appreciate the 10 committee acting so quickly on this legislation 11 that is important. 12 We had similar legislation, legislation 13 in the same vein, to kind of ratchet back on our 14 standardized testing dynamic that we've got in the 15 commonwealth in the last session. We picked up 16 that effort, and we've tacked on to that some 17 legislation that has been offered before about 18 giving school districts the autonomy to decide 19 whether or not they should be a graduation 20 requirement. 21 I think it’s a very important topic. 22 Certainly we have met with administrators and 23 students and teachers and parents on this issue. 24 And I think it’s time that we really take a look at 25 assessing the assessments before we go further down 8 1 this path, at great taxpayer expense. 2 So, I appreciate all the work that the 3 committee has done in setting up this hearing, and 4 I’m interested in hearing all the testifiers. 5 Thank you very much. 6 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SAYLOR: Thank you, 7 Representative Tobash. 8 Representative Grove. 9 REPRESENTATIVE GROVE: Thank you, 10 Mr. Chairman. 11 House Bill 177 will simply establish a 12 commission to review our academic standards and 13 make a report within eighteen months of 14 establishing the commission. The commission will 15 consist of teachers, administrators, business 16 managers, higher ed employers, community leaders or 17 business leaders, all of which are key in 18 delivering education, managing education, and 19 ensuring financial responsibility in education. 20 Since Pennsylvania moved its academic 21 standards away from the Common Core last session, 22 there’s still questions from residents about it, 23 highlighted mostly by concerns raised in other 24 states from other states’ adoption of academic 25 standards. This public ire, compounded by the 9 1 federal government’s use of grants to dictate 2 education policy, has led to increased focus on 3 standards. 4 On top of this, there is much 5 misinformation, whether deliberate or 6 unintentional, about this commonwealth’s new 7 academic standards. 8 I do applaud those schools who have 9 aggressively moved forward in educating their 10 parents and community of the new standards. I hope 11 we can also create more collaboration among our 12 five hundred school districts, the department, and 13 the state board to mitigate some of the 14 misinformation and ensure our academic standards 15 are utilized in the most effective way to drive 16 improved academic achievement across this 17 commonwealth. 18 I look forward to the discussion today 19 with my colleagues and stakeholders on both these 20 important topics of academic standards and 21 federally mandated testing. 22 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 23 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN SAYLOR: Thank you, 24 Representative Grove. 25 At this point, the first panel from the 10 1 Department of Education and state board, welcome to 2 testify is Rita Perez, who's the director of Bureau 3 of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction; John 4 Weiss, who's the assistant director of Bureau of 5 Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction; Larry 6 Wittig, who is chairman of the board of State Board 7 0 f Education; and Karen Molchanow, who is the 8 executi ve di re cto r o f the State Board of Education; 9 and Richard Maraschiello, who is a contractor. And 10 1 apologize if I mispronounced any names. 11 You may begin at any point. 12 MR. WITTIG: Thank you. 13 Good morning Chairman Saylor, Chairman 14 Roebuck and distinguished members of the House 15 Education Committee. My name is Larry Wittig, and 16 I serve as the chairman of the State Board of 17 Education. 18 You’ve already heard the introductions. 19 I’ll be redundant. With me today is Karen 20 Molchanow, executive director of the State Board, 21 and also three representatives of the Department of 22 Ed: John Weiss, Assistant Director of the Bureau 23 of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction; along 24 with Rita Perez, in the same bureau; and Richard 25 Maraschiello, contractor for PDE. 11 1 Thank you for the opportunity to speak 2 today on the state board's long history with 3 standards and assessment, as well as review how the 4 state's current high school graduation policy 5 developed.