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PHILADELPHIA – The Alliance for Charter School Employees, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, Pennsylvania, testified on Tuesday, Feb. 3, at a meeting of the School Reform Commission Task Force on Charter Schools. The ACSE has reached out to charter school teachers and staff, providing professional support and representing staff members who want to organize. In a statement to the task force, ACSE said:

 “Recognizing the key role that teachers and staff play in students’ academic success, the Alliance of Charter School Employees (ACSE) offers resources designed specifically to support Philadelphia’s charter school teachers and staff.

 “ACSE’s goal is to strengthen the skills and knowledge of charter school teachers and staff, provide high-quality professional development opportunities for charter school employees and foster a dialogue between the dedicated teachers and staff working at public charter schools throughout the city.

 “ACSE, which is affiliated with AFT Pennsylvania, offers high-quality professional development created for charter school teachers and staff and recently launched a Website – http://www.phillyacts.org – to connect charter school employees to colleagues working in similar educational settings.

 “The Website offers charter school news, instructional resources, surveys, discussion forums and professional development workshops. The “ACTS” in phillyacts.org stands for Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, a national American Federation of Teachers network that helps charter school teachers achieve the goals of excellence and innovation in public education.

  “We applaud the SRC for focusing part of today’s discussion on how to share best practices between charter schools and the district,” AFT Pennsylvania president Ted Kirsch said. “Creating opportunities for teachers to share instructional strategies and educational innovations and exchange ideas on what works with students, has been a missing link for too long. We are committed to developing partnerships with teachers, administration and parents to strengthen all public schools so that Philadelphia students achieve academic success.”

 “ACSE will partner with interested charter school administrators to deliver high-quality, research-based instructional strategies, to raise student achievement in their schools, to reduce teacher turnover and to help teachers become highly qualified under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

 “ACSE invites charter school teachers and support staff to a free, Act 48-accredited, professional development program entitled, Addressing Student Behavior and Anger in the Classroom, on Saturday, Feb. 21, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Community College of Philadelphia. For more information or to register, visit www.phillyacts.org or contact ACSE organizer Glenn Scott at 215-587-6731.”

The task force focused on issues of accountability, best practices and technical assistance to the city’s 62 charter schools.