Citizens Agenda on Education

In Philadelphia, not enough childhoods grow into productive adulthoods.

The public schools are supposed to bridge the chasm that separates the child of poverty and chaos from the child of plenty and familial care. But this bridge carries too few across. Too many are lost to abuse, ignorance, bloody disorder.

One in three city public-school students arrive in kindergarten behind in reading readiness. Some never catch up; the city dropout rate remains hideous. Four out of 10 who enter ninth grade don’t graduate in four years. The bridge needs to be wider, steadier, better tended. But know this: Real progress has been made in improving the schools that serve 201,000 Philadelphia children since a new state-city partnership was declared in 2001. It’s not enough progress to declare victory, but it’s far more impressive than many in the city suspect. Too few citizens of this city know how much good has happened as a result of this partnership.

After the partnership was established and Paul Vallas brought in as schools CEO, smart curricular reforms took root. Experiments in management of individual schools multiplied - and some succeeded. Charters and magnet schools proliferated. Test scores rose impressively—as much as in any big-city district in America. Huge, unruly high schools were broken up into more manageable units.

Here’s a key point for anyone who believes that the schools need adequate resources to succeed: Because the city-state dialogue about public education in Philadelphia moved from finger-pointing to partnership, the state has proved far more willing to increase its support of city schools. Annual state aid to the Philadelphia schools has increased by $460 million since the takeover (more than 7 percent a year). Gov. Rendell has proposed another large boost in his latest state budget, in response to a recent state school funding study that shows that Philadelphia schools, along with many other urban and rural school systems, still don’t have enough resources to do their job properly.

Since the partnership began, the city has also significantly increased its contribution to the schools. Thanks to this increased city and state support, the once-disgraceful per-pupil spending figure in the city has now risen to the state median. As that recent state study demonstrates, that level of funding is still not enough, given the deficits and problems so many of city students bring to school.

But real progress has been made on resources. Citizens’ comments about the schools often seem to be based not on these facts but on outdated folklore from the district’s darkest days. Few people seem to recognize the progress on academics and funding. This is partly because the district has done a poor job of telling its own story and of reaching out to citizens. In the last years of service for lightning-rod CEO Paul Vallas and School Reform Chairman James Nevels, the din of budget and personality squabbles drowned out the message of hope.

So at citizen forums last year, the majority view was that the time had come for the city to take back its schools. This step, however, would jeopardize the gains in state funding and might put at risk the explosion of school choices that has made staying in the city more attractive to middle-class families.

Mayor Nutter wisely has cooled talk of ending the partnership; instead, he has zeroed in on the proper goals of reducing dropouts and increasing the abysmal percentage of Philly school kids who head to college. He also talks of using the bully pulpit of the mayor’s office to get parents to take their duties more seriously, to get employers to give parents the flex time they need to be more involved in school. He is emphatic on one point: For his city to revive and thrive, its public schools must do much better at preparing children for college, work and citizenship.

Here are a few ideas:

The No. 1 Priority

To preserve the major progress in funding and academics, maintain the city-state partnership.

Why it matters: The takeover made Harrisburg lawmakers far more likely to support increased aid to Philadelphia — and gave the governor from Philadelphia, Ed Rendell, wiggle room to increase state education funding generally, without that being denounced as backdoor favoritism to Philly. The takeover law also gives the school system needed tools to improve teacher recruitment, training and placement. The partnership also produced a productive spirit of experiment and reform, with many new schools and new programs within existing schools blossoming. Now the experiments need to be leavened with clearer accountability for results.

What to do: Gov. Rendell has responded to the long-awaited school costs study by proposing a major boost to education funding. Mayor Nutter needs to rally education’s allies in the city to support this plan. The two men need to revive the spirit of cooperation and reform energy that marked the early days of the School Reform Commission. The new SRC needs to exercise more fiscal care than the previous regime, but it should build on, not roll back, the useful reforms and innovations Vallas instituted. Don’t let the schools be used as a political football.

Near-term actions

A new leader: Hire a steady manager who can consolidate and build on progress, not a new messiah with a new plan. Vallas’ high-energy style was just right for the takeover’s early days. Now, what’s needed is a new CEO who’s a steady manager, who will clean up some broken crockery but will not throw out the good with the trash.

New math: Get the district’s $2.18 billion annual operating budget back on solid financial footing. The district clearly needs tighter fiscal controls.
Leaders and mentors: Good schools need good leaders, and students need role models to lead them. The community needs to support the school system in recruiting the best principals it can (which costs money) and in recruiting as many strong male, minority teachers as it can (to serve as mentors to its many minority boys who struggle in school).

Let choices bloom: While Philadelphia’s explosion of charter schools was not handled in the optimal way in terms of oversight and funding, the charters are a positive for the city and for families with children. It’s important for the public, City Hall and district leadership to remember that charters are still public schools, just in an alternative form. Charters that do a poor job need not be indulged, but charters whose approaches succeed should be supported, praised and emulated. Similarly, experiments in having outside providers manage city schools should continue, with clear-eyed evaluation, so that winning formulas can be spread and failed efforts ended.

Safe schools: No more alibis, no more fudging of statistics to minimize the problem. Kids can’t learn if they fear being assaulted or watch their teachers being attacked. Strengthen the process for reporting incidents. Expand alternative schools so there are more spots for chronically disruptive students. Give new teachers the best training possible in classroom management.

A real bargain: Don’t let the 17,000-member Philadelphia Federation of Teachers exploit chaos at the top of the district to roll back the flexibility the district gained in 2004 to assign teachers to the buildings that need them. Keep pushing for a system where good principals can assemble teaching teams that are on the same page.

Clear the air: Be more transparent and do more to welcome public input. Vallas was a whirlwind of useful activity, but community members often couldn’t tell what was going on for all the dust churned up. The old SRC was secretive and led parents to conclude being loud was the only way to get attention. The district needs both a bold marketing campaign touting the real achievements of
school reform and a new effort at civic engagement, to offer parents and taxpayers real and timely input into decision-making.

The 3-6 shift: Figure out which providers offer the best after-school programs, and give them more work. The city and district have ramped up spending on after-school programs, which can help students keep up in school and keep out of trouble. That’s good. But awarding of afterschool program contracts has been politicized, and accountability is weak. That’s bad.

Protect the vulnerable: Children from homes where abuse happens or where family order breaks down will have a hard time learning. Support those children by following through on needed reforms to child protective services at the city Department of Human Services, and by giving the Family Court a much-needed, new, appropriate home.

Long-term efforts

Smaller is better I: Reduce class size, but in careful, research-backed ways that don’t break the bank. Research shows that small classes—meaning 15 or so in a class—foster learning, discipline and social skills. It also shows that the biggest payoff is in grades K-3, and with kids from atrisk backgrounds. Class-size initiatives are incredibly expensive, so target the money on getting classes to the magic number in early grades at schools with many at-risk students. Spending millions to get class sizes to 22 across all grades would be a massive waste.

Smaller is better II: Stay on Vallas’ course of adding small high schools and shrinking existing ones. Research shows that smaller schools produce fewer violent incidents and more graduates who go onto college. Explode old-fashioned ideas of high schools. Scrap eight-bell schedules and hulking high schools in favor of smaller, open settings. Help high schoolers do more internships and co-op job placements, take more college courses, and tackle more collaborative projects. Let more teachers serve as team leaders and mentors, not skill-and-drill task masters.

Drop dropout rates: Do the previous idea right, and it might help address this challenge. Fewer students drop out of interesting schools whose curriculum clearly connects to real-world success. Meanwhile, support programs such as Project U-Turn, a citywide collaborative effort to target resources at the students who show warning signs of dropping out. For example, targeted efforts are needed to help students who are also parents stay the course and get degrees.

Universal preschool: Too many children begin kindergarten so far behind in basic cognitive and social skills that they never catch up. Funding universal preschool opportunity is primarily a federal and state job, but the city schools have to help set up quality preschools and reach out to the parents of eligible children to get them to attend.

Lifetime learning: A city with the high dropout rate and low college degree rate of Philadelphia needs to focus on opportunities for adult education, including literacy training, GED classes, ex-offender training, and support for adults returning to college. The superb Community College of Philadelphia is the district’s key partner here.

Build for learning: Vallas had the right idea in proposing a major school building and renovation program, though execution fell short. Revive the goal, but do a better job of including school communities in the design process. Students need safe surroundings, with as much natural light and clean air as possible, to learn well. Schools need to be wired for technology, and they need to be designed to function as vibrant community centers, not foreboding, prison-like environments that shut the public out.

Tech time: Accelerate the early progress made in bringing state-of-the-art learning technology into district classrooms. Students are sparked by laptops, desktops and SMART Boards that bring the Internet into classroom learning in a big way. These high-tech advancements are not luxuries. Revamping all the district’s aging schools is a huge order, but classroom technology is an area where city students’ resources can be brought up to par with their suburban counterparts.

Ideas from citizen forums

School-to-school exchanges: Have students exchange visits with students from a school in a very different neighborhood. Have each school’s students study the history of their neighborhood, and take their visitors on a guided tour as part of the exchange activities. Citizens thought this would address the parochialism and failure to grasp other groups’ problems that they say afflicts Philadelphia’s spirit.
Edmunds.com for the schools: Create a jazzy, userfriendly, honest Web site where parents can scan thorough data on all district schools, so they can decide which are best for their children.

Potlucks for parents: Schools desperately need more parental involvement, but many parents of current students have bad memories of their school days. So ask active school parents to hold potluck suppers at their homes to spread information about school activities. That way, suspicious parents can have a friendly first contact that doesn’t require them to enter what they see as hostile turf, the school building.

Ms. Manners to the rescue: In some areas, at least, citizens said schools have to step in where parents fail and teach children basic manners, hygiene and life skills.

(Illustration by Tim Ogline)