Education

By Tom Quinn

We Must Teach Our Kids, Not Just Test Them

Education is my profession + I've taught at every level from elementary school to graduate school. I can bring a "real world" perspective to education policy. In Harrisburg I will-

Work to expand access to full-day kindergarten to all students in Delaware County and and throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The most effective educational reform is early childhood education. Push to increase the state share of education funding. Currently the Marple-Newton School District receives only 8% of its funding from the state. This share needs to be increased to lessen the burden on local property owners and to equalize the quality of our schools. The quality of a child's education should not be dependent on the affluence of the local tax payers.

Walk away from one-size-fits-all solutions like raw test scores, and towards programs like the "growth model:" rewarding schools not just for the score a student receives on a given test, but also for the progress each individual student makes in a given school year. Further explore alternative high schools. Our schools need to change and adapt with the times to meet the needs of students who live in a different world. The most damaging decision a student can make is to leave school: it is imperative that we do a better job of keeping students in school.

Create a new mentoring system for new teachers. Most teachers leave the profession within 5 years. We need to attract, train and keep quality teachers for our kids. New teachers need support and training to keep them on the job and ensure that they have the skills they need to teach our kids.