Learning from Philadelphia's School Reform

Publication

Philadelphia Story: Building Civic Capacity for School Reform in a Privatizing System – Executive Summary

Eva Gold, Elaine Simon, Maia Cucchiara, Cecily A. Mitchell

Following the 2001 state takeover of the School District of Philadelphia, a new governance structure was established and an ambitious set of reforms went into effect, generating renewed public confidence in the district. Despite this,…

Publication

Philadelphia’s Teacher Hiring and School Assignment Practices: Comparisons with Other Districts – Executive Summary

Elizabeth Useem, Elizabeth Farley

The executive summary to the report compares the way the School District of Philadelphia goes about hiring and placing teachers in schools with the practices of other districts.

Publication

The Quest for Quality: Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in Philadelphia – Executive Summary

Ruth Curran Neild, Elizabeth Useem, Elizabeth Farley

Publication

Preliminary Results: Philadelphia New Teacher Survey

Ruth Curran Neild, Kurt Spiridakis

The authors designed and administered a survey to new teachers entering the Philadelphia school system in 2002 in order to gather information about the teachers’ experiences with hiring, school placement, class and grade assignment, school…

Publication

Emerging Themes from the Perspective of Principals

Suzanne Blanc

This is an analytic paper based on interviews with a sample of 20 principals from Philadelphia’s 85 lowest performing schools and interviews with private managers and representatives from the School District of Philadelphia. Emerging themes…

Publication

Once & For All: Placing a Highly Qualified Teacher in Every Philadelphia Classroom

Ruth Curran Neild, Elizabeth Useem, Eva Travers, Joy Lesnick

This report examines the current status of teacher quality in the city and what the School District of Philadelphia is now doing to ensure that all classrooms have highly trained, motivated, and knowledgeable teachers ready…

Publication

Principals and Teachers in a Reform Environment

Andrew Sparks

The author discusses how changes in governance, policy, and institutional behavior at higher levels – such as the state, the office of the CEO, or intermediate offices within the district – impact those working at…

Publication

Teachers in the School District of Philadelphia: Tables on Teacher Retention and the Distribution of Teachers’ Certification Levels and Experience in the District by School Type, Poverty Level, and School Racial Composition

Ruth Curran Neild, Kurt Spiridakis

This report summarizes findings from an analysis carried out by the authors on a data set representing all teachers employed in the School District of Philadelphia over the three-year period 1999-2000 to 2001-2002. In addition,…

Publication

The State Takeover in Philadelphia: Where We Are and How We Got Here

Eva Travers

A fact sheet describing the roots of the state takeover of Philadelphia’s public schools, recent developments of the takeover, and results from the first year of the takeover.

Publication

Understanding Philadelphia’s Tests

Eva Travers, Andrew Sparks

As part of the public awareness initiative of the project Learning from Philadelphia’s School Reform, the authors prepared this center spread article (also included in Spanish translation), which compares the two standardized tests currently in…

Publication

Adequate Yearly Progress: Where District Schools Stand

Research for Action

These tables present the AYP status of schools in the School District of Philadelphia.

Publication

Civic Engagement under Philadelphia’s Current Educational Regime

Elaine Simon, Eva Gold, Leah M. Mundell, Morgan Riffer, Maia Cucchiara

Publication

Making AYP: The Game (Pennsylvania Edition)

Benjamin B. Herold, Bryan Lathrop

A graphic representation of the AYP process.

Publication

Philadelphia’s First Year Middle Grades Teachers: Perspectives on Supports and Experiences, 2003-2004

Eva Travers, Sarah Costelloe

The School District of Philadelphia implemented several ambitious new initiatives in 2003-04 aimed at inducting and retaining new teachers. These efforts supplemented the existing in-school mentoring program and included the assignment of a New Teacher…

Publication

Philadelphia’s New Teacher Coaches: Reflections on Their First Year

Elizabeth Useem, Sarah Costelloe

The New Teacher Coaches were a part of a group of initiatives launched by the School District of Philadelphia for the 2003-04 school year designed to retain teachers who were new to the system. This…

Publication

Philadelphia’s Teacher Hiring and School Assignment Practices: Comparisons with Other Districts

Elizabeth Useem, Elizabeth Farley

This report compares the way the School District of Philadelphia goes about hiring and placing teachers in schools with the practices of other districts. We did this to inform the current debate over these processes.…

Publication

Private Sector Involvement in Urban School Reform: Emerging Themes

Research for Action

Increasingly, the private sector (both for-profit and non-profit) is providing resources and alternative delivery models for urban public schools. Nowhere is the engagement of private sector alternatives more extensive than in Philadelphia, which, in the…

Publication

Que Conocemos Sobre ‘Calidad de Maestros’ en Filadelfia? Que Podemos Hacer?

Research for Action

Spanish version of a fact sheet adapted from the 2003 report, Once and For All: Placing a Highly Qualified Teacher in Every Philadelphia Classroom.

Publication

Reading a No Child Left Behind ‘School Report Card’

Benjamin B. Herold, Paul Socolar

A guide for reading a No Child Left Behind ‘school report card.’

Publication

Achieving ‘Proficiency’: The Devil Is in the Details of State Plans

Eva Travers

This article discusses the No Child Left Behind legislation and inconsistencies resulting from each state being resposible for finding ways to measure and meet meet achievement requirements. It considers variations in state tests, subjective performance…

Publication

Adequate Yearly Progress: Where Philadelphia Public Schools Stand 2004

Research for Action

This report provides a brief discussion of ‘No Child Left Behind’ and AYP in Pennsylvania. It describes measuring AYP and testing requirements. It then presents tables showing the AYP status of schools in the School…

Publication

Learning from Philadelphia’s School Reform: What Do the Research Findings Show So Far?

Elizabeth Useem

For researchers seeking to examine the effects of the school and district interventions spelled out in the 2002 federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, there is no better place to look than Philadelphia’s public…

Publication

Making AYP: The Game (New! 2005 Pennsylvania Edition)

Benjamin B. Herold, Bryan Lathrop

Schools and school districts across the country are under pressure to show that student performance on standardized tests is improving. Much of this pressure is based on the idea that clear expectations, combined with sanctions…

Publication

The ‘Original 86:’ Tracking Changes to ”Original 86′ Philadelphia Public Schools Initially Targeted for Intervention Following the 2001 State Takeover

Benjamin B. Herold, Morgan Riffer

This document outlines some of the numerous changes that have occurred in these ‘Original 86’ schools, including changes in their providers, their grade configurations, leadership turnover, and the amount of additional per-pupil funding directed to…

Publication

The Quest for Quality: Recruiting and Retaining Teachers in Philadelphia

Ruth Curran Neild, Elizabeth Useem, Elizabeth Farley

In this second report on teacher quality in Philadelphia, the authors revisit the issues of declining rates of teacher certification, high rates of teacher turnover, elevated attrition rates in high-povery, low-performing schools, and highly centralized…

Publication

Time to Engage? Civic Participation in Philadelphia’s School Reform

Eva Gold, Maia Cucchiara, Elaine Simon, Morgan Riffer

Philadelphia is at the forefront of a national trend towards privatization in education, making school reform in Philadelphia a topic of national and local consequence. The Philadelphia school district has created a new governance model,…

Publication

Adequate Yearly Progress: Where Philadelphia Public Schools Stand 2005

Research for Action

Schools and school districts across the country are under pressure to show that student performance on standardized tests is improving. Much of this pressure is based on the idea that clear expectations, combined with sanctions…

Publication

Privatization ‘Philly Style’: What Can Be Learned from Philadelphia’s Diverse Provider Model of School Management (Updated edition with important new information and findings)

Jolley Bruce Christman, Eva Gold, Benjamin B. Herold

This edition of Privatization ‘Philly Style’ updates the 2005 publication of the same name, providing important new information and findings. Philadelphia’s diverse provider model is an intervention aimed at persistently low-performing schools. It is the…

Publication

The Role of District Leadership in Radical Reform: Philadelphia’s Experience under the State Takeover, 2001-2006

Elizabeth Useem, Jolley Bruce Christman, William L. Boyd

Clearly, leadership is key in the success of any reform, especially one as ambitious and complex as that in Philadelphia. ‘The case of Philadelphia is noteworthy as an examplar of the implementation of paradigm-breaking new…

Publication

Blurring the Boundaries: A Case Study of Private Sector Involvement in Philadelphia Public Schools

Eva Gold, Jolley Bruce Christman, Benjamin B. Herold

This article describes the private sector involvement in Philadelphia public schools under the state takeover. This is a case study that focuses on the political and institutional context in which Philadelphia’s Diverse Provider Model has…

Publication

Bringing the Private into the Public: Changing the Rules of the Game and New Regime Politics in Philadelphia Public Education

Katrina E. Bulkley

Using the lens of urban regime analysis, this article examines the Philadelphia education regime and the policies it has promoted resulting from the state takeover of the district in 2001. The author determines that although…

Publication

Closing the Teacher Quality Gap in Philadelphia: New Hope and Old Hurdles

Elizabeth Useem, Robert Offenberg, Elizabeth Farley

This study of teacher staffing issues in the School District of Philadelphia, the third in a series, outlines the degree to which the district has succeeded in upgrading teachers’ professional credentials, recruiting and retaining them,…

Publication

Learning from Philadelphia’s School Reform: The Impact of NCLB and State Related Legislation

Elizabeth Useem

Many of the most radical interventions spelled out as possible improvement strategies for low performing schools and districts in the federal No Child Left Behind legislation have been tried in the School District of Philadelphia…

Publication

Philadelphia Story: Building Civic Capacity for School Reform in a Privatizing System

Eva Gold, Elaine Simon, Maia Cucchiara, Cecily A. Mitchell, Morgan Riffer

Following the 2001 state takeover of the School District of Philadelphia, a new governance structure was established and an ambitious set of reforms went into effect, generating renewed public confidence in the district. Despite this,…

Publication

State Takeover, School Restructuring, Private Management, and Student Achievement in Philadelphia

Brian P. Gill, Ron Zimmer, Jolley Bruce Christman, Suzanne Blanc

Following a state takeover of the Philadelphia public schools in 2002, 45 schools were turned over to private managers, making Philadelphia the site of the nation’s largest experiment in the private management of public schools.…

Publication

Student Achievement in Privately Managed and District-Managed Schools in Philadelphia Since the State Takeover

Brian P. Gill, Ron Zimmer, Jolley Bruce Christman, Suzanne Blanc

Following a state takeover of the Philadelphia public schools in 2002, 45 schools were turned over to private managers, making Philadelphia the site of the nation’s largest experiment in the private management of public schools.…

Publication

Radical Privatization: The Role of School District Leaders as Policy Entrepreneurs

William L. Boyd, Jolley Bruce Christman

This book chapter focuses on the role of political leadership and entrepreneurship in establishing early legitimacy for and confidence in a reform agenda in Philadelphia’s public school system between 2001 and 2007. The reforms, led…

Publication

The Ascent of Privatization Policy in Public Education: The Case of Philadelphia

Elaine Simon, Eva Gold, Jolley Bruce Christman, Research for Action

Publication

Making the Most of Interim Assessment Data: Lessons from Philadelphia

Jolley Bruce Christman, Ruth Curran Neild, Katrina E. Bulkley, Suzanne Blanc, Roseann Liu, Cecily A. Mitchell, Eva Travers

Under No Child Left Behind, urban school districts have increasingly turned to interim assessments, administered at regular intervals, to help gauge student progress in advance of annual state exams. These assessments have spawned growing debate…

Publication

Philadelphia’s Teacher Appraisal System: Needs Improvement

Camika Royal, Matthew Tossman

Philadelphia’s Teacher Appraisal System lays out a number of features of the current appraisal system used by the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) that keep it from effectively supporting high-quality teaching. District schools rate teacher…

Publication

Challenges to Freshman Year Interventions in Philadelphia

Holly Plastaras Maluk, Eva Gold, Shani Aida Evans, Clarisse Haxton, Cecily A. Mitchell, Elaine Simon, Deborah Good

Philadelphia made early investments in reforms designed to address the challenges of large neighborhood high schools, including supports for the critical ninth grade transition year. Well over a decade later, our research shows that freshman…

Publication

Context, Conditions, and Consequences: Freshman Year Transition in Philadelphia

Eva Gold, Shani Aida Evans, Deborah Good

This policy brief focuses on the School District of Philadelphia’s high school selection process and the ways in which it reinforces and compounds inequities that already exist among the District’s tiered system of selective, non-selective,…

Publication

Bridging the Gap: How Students from Immigrant Families Navigate Philadelphia’s High School Application Process

Clarisse Haxton

School choice research tends to focus on parent management of decisions, but this brief recognizes the critical role of students in managing the high school application process, particularly for adolescents from immigrant families whose parents…

Publication

Counselors are Critical: How Middle School Counselors Can Support Students in Philadelphia’s High School Application Process

Clarisse Haxton

This brief draws on the data from interviews with counselors, 8th grade students, and parents, as well as observations of parent meetings, counselor meetings, assembly presentations and a day at the SDP High School Expo,…

Publication

A Tall Order for Philadelphia’s New Approach to School Governance: Heal the Political Rifts, Close the Budget Gap, AND Improve the Schools

William L. Boyd, Jolley Bruce Christman

Related Publications

Related News