September Newsflash
Declaration rally highlights unity, reveals challenges
The School District’s new set of school performance goals, called the “Declaration of Education,” is the focal point of the District back-to-school push this year, which included an August 30 “March for Excellence” and a $607,000 advertising campaign.
The District’s School Reform Commission (SRC) created the Declaration of Education, an ambitious statement of 18 goals it wants to achieve by 2008 in the areas of academic achievement, early childhood education, school safety, community participation, equity, and school support operations.
“The academic achievement of all students in the School District of Philadelphia must improve,” the Declaration states. “The School Reform Commission (SRC) believes that all children can reach their learning potential and that the achievement gap can be eliminated.”
Several of the boldest targets for 2008 are in the area of academic achievement. The Declaration states that:
- Eighty percent of students in grades 3-11 will score at proficient or above on standardized tests in reading, math, and science. This year, student proficiency rates on the PSSA, the state’s standardized test, averaged about 30 percent – ranging from a low of 23 percent in 11th grade math to a high of 41 percent on eighth grade reading.
- The high school graduation rate will be 85 percent. In 2003, only 52 percent of high school students graduated.
- Average SAT and ACT scores will meet or exceed the national average by 2008. District students had an average combined score of 840 points on the SAT in 2002. The national average is 1,000 points out of a possible 1,600.
The August 30 rally on the Parkway, billed as a display of unity in support of the Declaration, also revealed some of the divisions and challenges the District currently faces.
While parents representing the citywide Home and School Council and students joined School District personnel and local officials in speaking publicly in support of the Declaration at the rally, teachers were conspicuously absent.
Members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) union have expressed outrage in response to the School Reform Commission’s proposed changes to their contract, which both PFT and District leaders are hoping to finalize in early September. PFT spokeswoman Barbara Goodman said union leaders were unable to attend because of preparations for the PFT’s August 31 membership meeting, but said individual teachers did attend the Declaration event.
Kensington High School junior Michael Mangual, a member of the organizing group Youth United for Change (YUC), said he came to the rally to support the Declaration’s ideals, but said the document is too “generalized” and not specific enough to create real change.
YUC members handed out copies of their platform on how to improve Philadelphia high schools at the rally. The platform calls for a variety of improvements including allowing students to take textbooks home in all subjects and making school counselors more available to students.
Carol Hemingway, president of Pennsylvania ACORN, a community organizing group, said the District needs to expand its parent outreach beyond simply recruiting parents to Home and School organizations. The Declaration states that every school will have an active Home and School Association by 2008.
“The rally is a beginning,” said Hemingway, who represented ACORN at the event. “What’s going to make [the Declaration] happen is commitment” from the District and the community, she added.