A
Philadelphia Story: Building Civic Capacity for School
Reform in a Privatizing System, a
new report released by RFA in December, challenges all
sectors of the city—business
and community leaders, parents and youth, universities
and cultural institutions—to “put aside individual
interests” and work together to mobilize resources
to “pursue the collective good of public school
improvement.” The report identifies four guiding
principles to building stronger civic capacity in Philadelphia:
more transparency in decision making, more collaboration
across constituencies; greater inclusiveness of community
stakeholders, and the mobilization of the mayor, civic
leaders and citizens to put a reform agenda into action
for better schools. Click here to view or download the
full report or
the executive
summary.
Making a Difference: Year Two Report
of the Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative An
RFA research team has recently completed Making a Difference,
the year two evaluation report of the Pennsylvania High
School Coaching Initiative (PAHSCI). This is an ambitious
statewide initiative working in 26 high-need secondary
schools to provide literacy and math coaches to work one-on-one
with teachers as well as job-embedded professional development.
It is distinctive in its direct focus on instruction through
coaching as the pathway to improving secondary education. The
PAHSCI design is comprised of three central components:
1) instructional coaching with leadership and content mentoring;
2) a research-based curriculum framework (Penn Literacy
Network); and 3) professional development and mentoring.
The report describes intermediate outcomes that are leading
to improved student achievement. Click
here to view or download the full report and the
executive summary.
Closing
the Teacher Quality Gap in Philadelphia: New Hope and
Old Hurdles A new report by authors
Elizabeth Useem, Robert Offenberg, and Elizabeth Farley
notes that the School District of Philadelphia has made
significant progress in upgrading the qualifications of
classroom teachers since 2002 and has drastically cut the
number of teachers with emergency certifications, reduced
classroom vacancies, and raised the certification rate,
especially among new teachers. At the same time, however,
the district did not change the pattern of having the least
qualified teachers in schools serving the highest percentages
of poor and minority students. Click
here to view or download the full report and
the executive summary.
Public
Education in Philadelphia: The Crucial Need for Civic Capacity
in a Privatized Environment
This article in the March 2007 Phi Delta
Kappan argues that a broad coalition of educators
and community groups is necessary to achieve
equity and excellence in urban schools. But the Philadelphia
schools’ system of privatization and strict contractual
obligations presents obstacles to those goals.
For more information, click here.
Student
Achievement in Privately Managed and District-Managed
Schools in Philadelphia
Since the State Takeover
Academic improvement
among students attending Philadelphia public schools managed
by private operators kept pace,
but did not exceed, the achievement gains of students
in the rest of the district in the past four years, according
to an analysis by the RAND
Corporation and RFA. Click
here to see the
full report, or
here to read a copy of the
research brief.
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