Pennsylvania PTA this fall will host five regional training sessions to teach parents how to use a Standard & Poor's web site to learn more about their schools. The sessions are the result of a cooperative partnership between Pennsylvania PTA and Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services (SES), which has a contract with the state to assess traditional public and charter schools.

   "Those of us in PTA know that children whose parents are involved in their education do better in school. In fact, the greatest successes are gained when parents are involved in both learning and decision making," said Tomi Waters Boylstein, president of Pennsylvania PTA. "To foster such involvement across the state, we are hosting training workshops to introduce parents and citizens to the most comprehensive set of data ever collected on Pennsylvania schools."

   Secretary of Education Charles B. Zogby also noted the value of the training seminars. "The Schweiker administration believes that information empowers parents to choose the best education for their children - and to hold their schools accountable for results," Zogby said. "The PTA-SES seminars will enable parents to determine how well their schools are using tax dollars to improve learning. And, if schools aren't making the grade, parents have the facts they need to drive change."

   Since SES was launched last year, 744,000 visitors have come to the web site. Of those who have logged in to the Pennsylvania portion, 38 percent are parents. To accommodate the high degree of parental interest in schools, Pennsylvania PTA is hosting free training sessions in West Mifflin (Pittsburgh suburb), Scranton, Erie, Pottstown, and Harrisburg. Parents and community members from surrounding districts are invited to attend. SES representatives will provide the training, designed to teach the public how to use the website to learn more about individual schools, districts and the state as a whole.

   SES provides the education community, public officials, business leaders, parents and taxpayers with objective analyses on schools. The information is available free of charge at www.ses.standardandpoors.com, and is designed to help users make informed decisions that will improve school performance and management.

   "By posting school information online, we enable communities to see how well their students are performing in relation to other districts across town or across the state," said William Cox, managing director of SES. "In addition, parents can use our service to view information on issues ranging from classroom size to the allocation of education dollars. With this information, parents can participate more effectively in local decisions affecting their schools."

The training workshops will be held:

• September 19, 7:00 p.m., West Mifflin Area High School, 91 Commonwealth Avenue, West Mifflin (Pittsburgh suburb), 412-466-7220;
• October 15, 7:00 p.m., French Creek Elementary School,       3590 Coventryville Road, Pottstown, 610-469-5104;
• October 17, 7:00 p.m., Scranton High School, 601 7th Avenue, Scranton, 570-348-3481;
• October 22, 7:00 p.m., Central Dauphin East Junior High School,
  628 Rutherford Road, Harrisburg, 717-545-4703;
• November 4, 6:30 p.m., East High School, 1001 Atkins Street, Erie, 814-874-6400.

   For more information on the workshops, please call the Pennsylvania PTA at 717-564-8985. For information on SES, visit www.ses.standardandpoors.com or call (toll free) 877- 776-6512.