News in brief
First 14 academies open, 35 more in the works
Juveniles regain right to school hearing
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News in Brief
First 14 academies open, 35 more in the works
The School District has opened 14 of its planned 55 “High Achievement Academy” elementary and middle years programs, promising to bring rigorous academic programs into neighborhood schools throughout the District, and has begun implementation at another 35 schools.
The Academies are schoolwide initiatives and are based on six different models.
Emerging Scholars schools are the only ones launched in September. The District describes the approach as a “lab/professional development school” centered around the District’s core curriculum, but free to tailor approaches to individual student strengths. The program opened in Bache-Martin, Kearny, AMY James Martin, Conwell, Ziegler, Greenberg, AMY NW, Fitler, Houston, Greenfield, Meredith, Hamilton, MYA, and Powel.
The remaining Academies are working to find program-certified teachers and meet specific program criteria. The models include:
SpringBoard, designed around the College Board Standards for College Success. It stresses math, reading, and writing standards to prepare students for Advanced Placement programs and college. Schools are Bregy, Pollock, Sheridan West, Henry, Olney Elementary, and Turner.
Montessori, for ages 3 to 12, following the philosophy that “the child learns everything without knowing he/she is learning it,” according to District materials. Children learn from the environment and each other. The program is slated for Ludlow, Arthur, Longstreth, Overbrook Elementary, John Marshall, Sharswood, and Day.
International Baccalaureate Primary Years. For students age 3 to 12, the model follows an international focus that “centers on the student’s relationship to his/her national iden tity and the cultural traditions of others,” according to the District. Students begin studying a foreign language by age seven. Schools are Moffet, Barton, E.M. Stanton, M.H. Stanton, Harrington, Comly and F.S. Edmonds.
International Baccalaureate Middle Years, which “draws connections between content areas and the real world.” Students study a foreign language, humanities, sciences, math, arts, technology, and physical education. The program is at Baldi, McCall, Welsh, Harding, Central East, Grover Washington, Wilson Middle, Overbrook Education Center, Mifflin, Southwark, Adaire, Hill-Freedman, and Lingelbach.
University Lab Schools. The sponsoring partner universities institute schoolwide programs associated with their own academic offerings. Unlike the District’s university-managed schools, the District says, these programs offer curriculum beyond the core subject matter. The schools are Lea, partnered with the University of Pennsylvania; and Gompers, partnered with St. Joseph’s University.
Three proposed University Lab Schools are to be announced.
The District plans three new High Achievement Centers next fall. These will be special-admissions magnet elementary schools.
The District stressed that its programs are in all geographic regions, but numbers range from two in the Central region to as many as eight in Center City and Northwest.
The Academies serve neighborhood students but accept students as transfers, space permitting.
Juveniles regain right to school hearing
Juvenile offenders returning to the Philadelphia school system from treatment or placement have been restored the right to a hearing where they can request a return to their home schools, according to a 3-2 ruling delivered by the state’s Commonwealth Court in July. The decision overturned a provision in the three-year-old state statute known as Act 88, which had required all students coming out of juvenile placements to be assessed by a 10-day District-run transitional program, with certain groups of adjudicated delinquents automatically assigned to alternative, disciplinary schools after the transition program. The law applied only to Philadelphia School District students.
The Juvenile Law Center (JLC) and Education Law Center (ELC) filed the suit on behalf of three Philadelphia students who had been assigned to alternative schools without the opportunity for a hearing. Attorneys argued the students’ right to due process had been violated.
The court agreed, concluding the statute “establishes an absolute bar to consideration of a student’s fitness to return to a regular classroom.”
JLC Legal Director Marsha Levick called the decision “a win for all Philadelphia kids.”
She noted that while the court affirmed students’ right to a hearing, “The School District retains complete authority to assign any of these adjudicated students to alternative schools if their behavior warrants it.” The affected students will continue to be required to go through the transitional program.
Len Rieser, co-director of the Education Law Center, commented, “Philadelphia kids have a right to a fair hearing when they are accused of having done something wrong.”
Philadelphia Schools CEO Paul Vallas told reporters the District would not appeal the decision, and that he did not expect it to interfere with the District’s efforts to place disruptive students in alternative schools. He pointed to a report showing that youth who had completed the transitional program dropped out less frequently and had better attendance and less disruptive behavior than juveniles who returned to their regular classes.