Helen takes on Philly
Our wonderful PAA co-founder, Helen Gym, has
made it official- she's running for Philadelphia City Council.
According to the
Daily Pennsylvanian,
"Public education and Asian-American activist and 1993 College and 1996 GED graduate Helen Gym will run in the Democratic City Council at-large elections that will take place Nov. 3, according to the Philadelphia City Paper.
"Gym's decision to run comes just five days after Councilman Jim Kenney announced his resignation from city council on Jan. 20 in order to run for mayor. With an empty seat, at least one new at-large Council member will have to be elected this year."
While PAA's non-profit status prevents us from endorsing or supporting individual candidates for public office, we
can say that we are very proud of all of our members who have stepped up to run for public office, and our amazing co-founders who have won - including Seattle school board member Sue Peters and Durham, NC, school board member Natalie Beyer.
We'll keep you posted on Helen's progress.
PAA board of directors member publishes editorial
Pamela Grundy, PAA's board treasurer, just published an excellent editorial, "Moving beyond test and punish," in the Charlotte (NC) News-Observer.
Written with Janna Siegel Robertson, the opinion piece states:
The current spate of over-testing is the direct and inevitable result of testing mandates enacted at both federal and state levels. The situation will improve only when those mandates change.
Federal efforts to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind legislation and the opening of the North Carolina legislative session provide an opportunity for positive action.
The editorial points out five key problems with standardized testing and suggests four priorities for addressing those problems.