I understand your concern, however there are several assumptions that I think you have that may not be accurate.  First, with every student that leaves public education to go to private, the public school still receives both local and federal dollars. 

 

Also, you assume that everyone will leave the public schools in mass.  That will not be true.  All of the estimates show numbers more likely close to 4-5%.  Even at a higher level, we are not talking about draining the public system.  In addition, the level of accountability that is involved in school choice, does have the benefit of making schools work harder to preform better.  That is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parochial School Accountability – Just the Facts

 

·         Parents are the ultimate accountability standardand currently parents of hundreds of thousands of students are making the choice to provide their children with an education at a Parochial school in Pennsylvania.

 

·         Accountability to parents is a primary concern of every Parochial school. Each year, parents will decide whether or not to pay tuition to enroll their child in one of these schools.  If parents are not satisfied that their child’s school is doing a good job, they will remove their child.

 

·         In large part, the tuition parents choose to pay is on top of property taxes they are already paying to help fund their local public school.

 

·         The overwhelming majority of Parochial schools are accredited with the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.  This longstanding organization is committed to excellence in all levels across the continuum of education, whose purposes are to encourage, advance, assist and sustain the quality and integrity of education.

 

·         Most Parochial schools also administer standardized tests such as Stanford Achievement Tests, ITBS Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Terra Nova Tests of Achievement, PSAT, SAT and ACT.

 

·         In addition, Parochial schools comply with a long list of state regulations:

o   Compulsory attendance

o   Minimum days and hours of instruction

o   Minimum course requirements

o   Graduation requirements

o   Health and safety regulations such as fire, cleanliness, building construction, playground safety, lighting, heating, food safety, and emergency response, for example.

o   Staff background check requirements

 

·         97.5% of students graduate at Parochial high schools.  Of those graduates, over 90% go on to attend either a two or four-year institute of higher learning.

 

·         The bottom line is, Parochial schools can only stay open if parents choose to send their child to these schools.  Therefore, accountability to our parents and communities is and will continue to be a top priority.

 

What is the REACH Alliance? Founded in 1991 to advance educational options, REACH (Road to Educational Achievement through Choice) is Pennsylvania’s grassroots coalition for school choice, drawing upon a powerful network of statewide members and coalition partners of non-public education, faith, business, parent and labor organizations.

 

REACH efforts in the state Senate in 1991 led to passage of a statewide school choice plan in the state Senate, though the bill was later defeated on a procedural vote in the House. In 1995 and 1999, REACH led lobbying and grass roots efforts to support Gov. Ridge's school choice legislation, and secured an historic victory for parents with the 2001 passage of the Educational improvement Tax Credit.  REACH has also been a consistent advocate for charter schools.

For more information on the REACH Alliance, visit www.paschoolchoice.org.

 

ACSI Statement of Accountability Position

Association of Christian Schools International -Statement to Promote School Accountability & Integrity

The vision of the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) is to be an association that speaks with an authoritative voice in education, which consists of effective Christian schools that contribute to the public good. Throughout the ACSI Northeast Region, there are 508 member schools, representing a total of 81,388 students. Specifically in the state of Pennsylvania, there are respectively, 186 member schools, totaling 32,630 students. Consistent in these numbers is the underlying presupposition that parents are choosing to place their children in the school of their choice.

ACSI is leading schools toward greater effectiveness and program accountability by providing its member schools with the two significant services: formal school improvement programs such as ACSI Accreditation and ACSI STAR (Steps Towards Achieving Recognition) and a formal student assessment program, the Stanford 10 (SAT 10) standardized testing program.

ACSI accreditation is a formal and nationally recognized process whereby schools submit themselves to a process of self examination and review in order to validate and strengthen the organization and its overall quality of instruction on behalf of the student population it serves. Of the 182 member schools in Pennsylvania, there are twenty nine schools that are fully accredited. Additionally, through the ACSI STAR program, there are thirty two schools that have committed themselves to this program of institutional improvement and accountability. The numbers reflected here continue to reflect an upward trend with an increasing number of member schools seeking to validate their programs in order to serve their students and families with institutional integrity.

In another area to promote accountability for student learning in its member schools, ACSI is a distributor and support liaison for the SAT 10 standardized testing program. The SAT 10 test is one measure to validate student academic achievement to school leaders and parents, along with providing the data required to plan and measure progress. Of the 186 PA member schools, there were sixty eight schools that participated directly through ACSI. What is not known and which is to be understood, is that the remaining PA schools outside of this number choose to participate separately in the SAT 10 program, or with another standardized testing vendor.

In the Qualities of Effective Teachers, James H. Strong comments that effective student learning requires authentic assessment as a means for continuing instruction and growth.  With an ongoing commitment to serve schools with services that assist their accountability efforts to assess student academic performance, ACSI is committed to the concept of authentic student assessment measures and institutional accountability; with the end goal to develop effective schools that contribute to the public good and that operate with integrity, on behalf of the students served.