If at first you don’t succeed, try again.

That’s the motto of lawmakers leading a push to alter the way teachers across the state are evaluated, with reports that the seven-year-old system is penalizing teachers in schools that are lower performing or in high poverty areas.

Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski (D-Luzerne) plans to introduce soon a bill that would help Pennsylvanians attend community colleges and graduate on time, while also filling job spots across the state in key industries and trades.
 
Pashinski introduced a co-sponsorship memo in April for his plan as an attempt to lessen student debt. Currently Pennsylvania ranks second in the nation, with the average citizen owing over $37,000 for student loans.

Experts and advocates joined legislators in Philadelphia last Thursday to discuss reforming Pennsylvania’s inconsistent standards on sexual education in compulsory schools.  

The House Democratic Policy Committee hearing took place at Thomas Jefferson University’s Center City campus. Rep. Brian Sims (D-Philadelphia) hosted in support of his House Bill 1586, which calls for “medically accurate and evidence-based” sex ed, creating guidelines for statewide instruction. Currently such curriculum varies district to district.

Legislators, officials, and citizens gathered at a hearing of the House Democratic Policy Committee at Cabrini University Wednesday to discuss the growing problem of student debt in Pennsylvania, along with some ways the General Assembly can ease the burden.
 
Currently 1.7 million Pennsylvanians owe over $67 billion in student debt, according to the Student Borrower Protection Center. Of those amounts, $7.2 billion held by over 230,000 borrowers is delinquent. 

It’s been over three weeks since The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story showing students at Thomas Edison High School in North Philadelphia were going to school but not attending classes. So far, there have been calls for more data and better supervision, yet no tangible solutions offered by state-level officials. 
 
Students at Edison and other middle and high schools in Philadelphia mark themselves present at school by swiping identification at the front gate upon entering the building. However, there is no effective way to induce class attendance, nor a better way to monitor it besides the presiding teacher calling roll.