School District Begins Specific Efforts to Accelerate Improvement at Four Schools

PHILADELPHIA – As part of its System of Great Schools (SGS) strategy, the School District of Philadelphia has identified four elementary schools that will be prioritized for investment and academic improvement in the upcoming school year. The schools include the following:

Add B. Anderson School (K-8), 1034 S. 60th St.
James J. Sullivan School (K-5), 5300 Ditman St.
Philip H. Sheridan School (K-4), 800 E. Ontario St
Lewis Elkin School (K-4), 3199 D St.

The annual SGS process is in support of the District’s vision of a great school close to where every student lives. Each year, the District reviews the performance of all schools to determine which are most in need of additional funding and resources in order to improve outcomes for students. The four schools will remain open and will not become Renaissance Charter schools.

Anderson, Sullivan, Sheridan and Elkin met two criteria. First, the school had a three-year School Progress Report (SPR) average score equal to or less than 20 out of 100. Second, the school was not currently part of any major intervention program (Closing/Merging, Acceleration Network, School Redesign Initiative).

“To achieve our vision of a great school close to where every student lives, we know some schools need more support so that children can have the learning opportunities they deserve,” Dr. William R. Hite, superintendent. “Each year, through the System of Great Schools process, we are able to bring those additional supports to schools.”

Anderson, Sullivan, and Sheridan can receive additional funding and resources in one of two ways. The schools can enter the District’s Acceleration Network or implement a school-designed plan to improve student progress. Elkin, which has improved its overall SPR score by 20 percent over the last three years, will develop a school-designed plan for implementation next school year, in 2020-2021.

The Acceleration Network uses a research-based improvement model and has more than doubled its overall network score over the last three years. School-designed improvement plans provide an important opportunity for principals, teachers, and families to customize their approach and build on school strengths to accelerate student achievement.

“We’re seeing academic improvement in the schools that we have prioritized and invested in,” said Dr. Hite. “When we work with school leaders, teachers, families and stakeholders to identify school strengths and challenges, we can more effectively target resources and accelerate improvement.”

Beginning September 24, stakeholder engagement and collaborative listening forums will be held among school staff, students, families and school communities about school strengths, challenges and opportunities for improvement. To better understand the schools’ needs, the District is seeking the active engagement and participation of families, teachers, principals and community members through school quality reviews, focus groups, interviews and surveys.

Each school community will have a community kick-off meeting, multiple parent and family focus groups, an on-site school quality review, and a final meeting to review the results of the engagement and school review process. For the second year, the school quality review will be led by the District’s central office staff with a team that includes an Assistant Superintendent, network support team members and other designated central office staff. The school quality review will include the following:

• Meetings with teachers and principals to identify the school’s strengths which can be built upon;
• Focus groups with students and staff; and
• Classroom observations focused on the essential elements of school improvement — including the quality of teaching and learning, leadership, student supports and school climate.

The information gathered will be presented to each individual school community at a public meeting in December. The complete engagement and listening schedule for each school can be found at https://www.philasd.org/greatschools/meetings/.

Last year, as part of the annual System of Great Schools investments and interventions process, several schools took the lead in developing their own improvement plans. Avery D. Harrington, Alain Locke and Robert E. Lamberton each spent the spring of 2019 developing long-term academic improvement plans that are supported with additional funding for the schools to begin implementation this school year.

More information on how schools receive additional funding and support can be found at www.philasd.org/greatschools/investmentsandinterventions.