With numerous changes to the school district on the horizon, Abraham Lincoln High School celebrated a huge jump in graduation rates, while city rates ticked upward for the third consecutive year.
Big things are happening in the School District of Philadelphia.
Last week, Mayor Jim Kenney and other officials went to Abraham Lincoln High School to announce that the district’s overall graduation rate has improved for the third consecutive year, bringing the total rate to 67 percent.
The good news comes in the midst of other initiatives that could result in fairly large changes to the district. A progress report for the district’s first year of community schools was released, with plans to implement more community schools in the near future.
Plus, a meeting Nov. 16 could dissolve the state-run School Reform Commission and open the path to the district becoming independently controlled by the city.
Kenney visited Lincoln Nov. 9 along with Superintendent Dr. William Hite and Councilman Bobby Henon.
More than three-quarters of district students who entered ninth grade in the 2013–14 school year graduated within four years, notching in at 78 percent. This is an overall increase of 4 percent from the previous year.
Lincoln has seen one of the largest leaps in graduation rates in the city, improving 12 percent from the previous year.
In an interview with the Northeast Times, Kenney said schools such as Lincoln find success when they are provided resources.
“If you cut all the resources out of the school and expect them to be successful, you’re crazy. You see when you invest in our kids, they succeed,” Kenney said.
District graduation rates have improved three years consecutively. Including alternative schools, the rate sits at 67 percent.
Kenney said the accomplishment is particularly impressive while facing budget cuts, citing hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts in the last few years.
“We’re responsible for our schools and responsible for our kids, and if you want people who are going to come out of high school and college and grad school that can compete in the world’s economy, you’re going to have to invest in them,” Kenney said.
The school held a pep rally to celebrate, featuring cheerleaders and a drum line from the marching band. Principal Jack Nelson commended his students for their efforts, saying students “are not only college and career ready, but life ready as well.”
This was a sentiment echoed by Kenney at George Washington High School’s community school fair last weekend, where he said all students would receive a post-secondary plan to prepare them for life after high school.
At Lincoln, Kenney said the managing director’s office of the Philadelphia Commerce Department has offered to work with the district.
“We want to provide every graduating student with quality work experience, including a summer job, mentoring or shadowing an employer,” he said.
Meanwhile, Research For Action released a progress report for the district’s first cohort of community schools, showing the first year of implementation met the majority of goals set.
George Washington was not one of nine community schools evaluated for their first year performance, as it just became a community school at the beginning of the school year.
The report shows that nine of the 15 goals were unanimously matched by each of the nine evaluated schools. It shows that all nine have put together committees representative of the surrounding neighborhood and collected information from surrounding neighbors.
The report shows that schools still need to work on making sure meetings are transparent and ongoing, and that they are measuring outcomes. However, the latter may be difficult to manage in its first year.
Community schools aim to provide neighborhoods surrounding the schools with resources they may lack, in addition to educating. Community Schools Director Susan Gorbeski said community schools will expand in the district, saying the current 12 will “expand over time to 25” schools.
In a meeting happening this week, the state-run SRC, which Northeast native Christopher McGinley sits on, will vote on whether to dissolve itself. Doing so would help Philadelphia regain control of its school system and take away state control. The five-person SRC would be replaced by a nine-member school board appointed by the mayor.
Kenney spoke as if its conclusion was a done deal in the days leading up to the vote.
“I know that as we return to local control of our school district under a mayoral-appointed board, we will have the opportunity to create many more connections, because city government and the school district will be working under one common vision,” Kenney said at Washington.
Other changes in the district include an update in the district’s grading policy, which lowers the failure threshold from a grade of 65 to 59.
Raising grad rates has been a goal of Hite’s for years. He credited educators and leaders for the district’s success.
“We want to see more children who feel comfortable and safe and supported in their schools, regardless of where they go,” Hite told the Times. “The work doesn’t change, the outcome does, and we want the outcome to continue to move positively.” ••
