Leaving no child in danger

By Joe Torsella

Eight years ago this week, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act, which set the ambitious goal of educating every public school student to proficiency in reading and math. While we have a distance to go, policy-makers' decision to set high, unambiguous targets has produced real change.

Yesterday, state policy-makers set another goal that is inextricable from academic goals and deserves a serious commitment of public resources: Every classroom and every school in Pennsylvania will be a safe place to learn and teach.

The latest school safety statistics show nearly 70,000 safety violations a year in Pennsylvania's public schools. Across the state, we are seeing a troubling rise in reports of bullying and harassment, while some of the same schools show up year after year on the list of those considered "persistently dangerous."

The need for reform is clear. The comprehensive approach outlined yesterday includes strategies for every classroom as well as targeted interventions for the most troubled schools.

Curbing violence in our schools starts with setting expectations. We set clear statewide goals, for example, for what we expect a fourth grader to be learning in math class, but we don't do that for the behaviors we expect of him in the hallway outside.

To this end, the Department of Education is gathering experts and stakeholders to draft expectations for school climate. The State Board of Education intends to act on them by early next year.

The second component of the plan is ensuring accurate and actionable reporting of school safety data. Currently, school administrators, most of whom have no law enforcement training, are asked to make difficult judgment calls in their safety reports, and they face distorting incentives to underreport. For example, the brave, cautious principal who reports every brawl will appear to have less control over his or her building than the one who neglects to disclose incidents.

Local law enforcement should be required to sign off on school safety reports, and the state Department of Education must be able to verify them. State Senate Bill 56, sponsored by Sen. Jeffrey Piccola (R., Dauphin), advances both measures, and the legislature should pass it soon.

Finally, a small group of schools - all in the School District of Philadelphia - require further resources. In response, state Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak and Philadelphia schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman are making an unprecedented commitment to comprehensive safety reviews in every one of them that will identify steps to foster safer learning climates.

Pennsylvania educators, families, and students will hear more about this school safety agenda as the State Board of Education holds hearings on it across the commonwealth in the coming months. At every opportunity, we'll return to the fact that academic proficiency for every student is a critical public-policy aim - but it's also an abstract notion for a student who is alienated, fearful, or harmed in any way. The first step toward truly leaving no Pennsylvania children behind is an uncompromising commitment to their safety at school.