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A new year: initiatives focus on the classroom
As new curriculum debuts, District targets improved teaching
by Beandrea Davis
For the first time since Connie Clayton's superintendency over a decade ago, the School District of Philadelphia is providing teachers with a districtwide standardized curriculum in literacy and math this fall.
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The new $18.7 million curriculum includes thousands of new textbooks for grades K-9 at all Philadelphia schools and is just one of a series of reforms focused on improving curriculum and instruction in the classroom to be put in place by the District this year.
"We have multiple initiatives on the academic side that we believe, collectively, are going to significantly improve student achievement," District CEO Paul Vallas said during an interview before school opened.
Concerned about high student mobility rates-Vallas estimated that a third of all students change schools at least once during the school year- proponents of the new curriculum say its consistency will better prepare all students to meet state standards regardless of what school they attend.
The standardized curriculum requires teachers to cover a set sequence of topics, with students taking benchmark tests every six weeks aimed at helping teachers track their academic progress.
The implementation of a standardized curriculum marks the end of an era in which there was both widespread experimentation by teachers with different classroom approaches and widespread concern about the lack of consistency in how subjects were being taught, sometimes even within the same building.
Asked about the curriculum's rigorous schedule, CEO Vallas said that structure is precisely what makes the curriculum work.
"There's certainly going to be a pacing [schedule]," Vallas said. "The curriculum is not going to be effective if [there] isn't."
The District's Office of Curriculum and Instruction will monitor how the new curriculum materials are implemented, including the quality of teacher instruction. Thirty regionally appointed curriculum experts will provide additional support to schools.
Emphasis on teacher retention
The District's Campaign for Human Capital, a concerted effort to develop more effective teacher recruitment and retention strategies, helped train and place new teachers in over 700 classrooms this year.
New teachers will receive support from teacher mentors and teacher coaches in their schools, in addition to the newly instituted regular professional development for all teachers every other Friday afternoon, when all schools will dismiss students two hours early, starting September 19.
Teacher vacancies-especially in bilingual education, special education, math, Spanish, and science-have been a chronic problem for the District. In mid-September, the District had about 70 vacancies, down from 138 at the same time last year.
Of all newly hired teachers this year, 30 percent are emergency-certified, an improvement from 48 percent last year. The 110 teachers hired through the District's partnership with Teach for America, a national teacher corps of recent graduates from top colleges, accounted for much of the reduction in emergency certifications.
Other initiatives
District officials say 2,000 primary classrooms will see smaller class sizes. Most will have no more than 22 students, while primary classrooms with both a teacher and a literacy intern will have no more than 30 students.
Students in elementary, middle, and comprehensive high schools will be required to spend more time on the core curriculum - 120 minutes for literacy and 90 minutes for math.
In addition, high school students will have more opportunities to take advanced classes: all high schools now offer at least one advanced placement course.
The District is in the process of revamping the school report card for grades K-8, 0nd the new version will be in use during the first marking period in early December.
With CEO Vallas and the School Reform Commission starting their second full year, there are heightened expectations of improved student and school performance. Vallas had hopes the District would get a big funding boost from Governor Ed Rendell's planned $600 million education initiative, but the legislature has so far blocked Rendell's ambitious proposal.
"I think the District has the vision, but the challenge is going to be for us to finance our vision and to operationalize our vision," Vallas commented.