| Date |
Title |
| 07/08/2008 |
APA Recommendations Lead to Historic Increase in Education Funding |
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Pennsylvania has signed into law legislation which, based on APA's recommendations, raises funding for public education by nearly $275 million -- an historic increase for the state. The state also adopted APA's recommendations on how the money can most effectively be distributed to school districts. These recommendations include recognizing higher costs associated with helping children in poverty and English language learners achieve state performance standards. They also include cost adjustments that recognize differences in district size and regional cost of living. Click here for APA's full Pennsylvania costing-out report. Click here for a press release from Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell.
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| 06/10/2008 |
Pennsylvania House Committee Passes Funding Bill |
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Members of Pennsylvania's House Education Committee voted 23-5 to pass legislation creating a new school funding formula. The formula would use APA's costing out study -- completed in late 2007 -- as the basis for calculating the needs of each school district based on aspects such as size and student characteristics. For more information, click here.
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| 05/16/2008 |
APA Conducts Preschool Program Evaluation |
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APA is now working under a contract with the Denver Preschool Program (DPP) to conduct an extensive evaluation designed to help policymakers and DPP leaders understand how the program is functioning. The DPP was created through a voter-funded initiative, and is designed to promote the participation of Denver four-year-olds in high quality preschool experiences. For more information on DPP, visit: http://www.dpp.org/ .
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| 03/18/2008 |
APA Releases County-wide Education Study |
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Creating a new, county-wide cyber charter school and a county-wide research and best practices clearinghouse were just two of the key recommendations that APA identified in a new study of the 16 school districts in York County, Pennsylvania. APA was hired to analyze the districts, interview superintendents, and use research and other data to produce recommendations to help the districts cooperate more effectively. The study, which includes an analysis of York district resource use efficiency, is available by clicking here.
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| 02/26/2008 |
Colorado Ed Commissioner Lauds APA's Closing the Achievement Gap Study |
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Schools that are closing the achievement gap between students from lower and higher socio-economic backgrounds have important common characteristics, according to a joint study conducted by the Donnell-Kay Foundation and Augenblick, Palaich & Associates, Inc. The study examines eight schools in Colorado who have made significant progress in closing the gap, and identifies commonalities across these schools. To view the "Profiles of Success" report, please click here. The report was released in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Education. For a link to the Department's press release, click here.
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| 02/08/2008 |
Pennsylvania Governor Adopts APA Recommendations |
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In his 2008-09 budget address, Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell is calling for the Pennsylvania Legislature to support the findings in APA's December 2007 costing out study. The study outlined the resources needed for all schools in the state to reach student performance goals. According to Rendell, "I am proud to report that this budget incorporates the findings of your Costing-Out Study, and includes a new funding formula that phases-in over six years the funds to help all Pennsylvania school districts reach the funding targets established by this ground-breaking research." For the Governor's full address, please click here.
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| 01/22/2008 |
New Jersey Incorporates APA Work |
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New Jersey enacted a new school finance formula in January 2008 that treats all school districts in the state uniformly, replacing a system under which the state dealt with 31 special needs districts set up under the Abbott v. Burke litigation separately. The formula uses a base amount and a series of cost adjustment factors to consider the varying needs of all 616 school districts. APA worked for several years with New Jersey educators to redesign the state aid system and developed the parameters used to determine each district's funding level.
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| 01/18/2008 |
APA Unveils New Web site |
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Welcome to our new site! In January 2008 APA completely revamped and revised its Web site. The new site is more user friendly and contains a variety of new information on APA's projects, clients, and reports. We invite you to browse the site and to provide feedback on its design and content using the "Contact Us" link.
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| 12/14/2007 |
Pennsylvania State Board Releases APA Costing Out Study |
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The Pennsylvania State Board of Education has approved and released APA's statewide costing out study. The study, which used three state-of-the-art research methods, identifies the resources needed for each district in the state to achieve the performance that is expected of them. For more information from the State Board of Education, please click here. For a direct link to the study, please click here.
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