"Children Achieving": Philadelphia's Education Reform. Co
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
DOCUMENT RESUME ED 404 417 UD 031 534 TITLE A First-Year Evaluation Report of "Children Achieving": Philadelphia's Education Reform. INSTITUTION Consortium for Policy Research in Education, Philadelphia, PA. SPONS AGENCY Children Achieving Challenge, Philadelphia, PA. PUB DATE 96 NOTE 126p.; A separately published 20-page "executive summary" has been appended to the full report. PUB TYPE Reports Evaluative/Feasibility (142) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Academic Achievement; *Accountability; Cooperation; *Educational Change; Educational Finance; Elementary Secondary Education; Incentives; Inservice Teacher Education; *Organizational Development; Program Evaluation; *Standards; *Urban Education; Urban Schools IDENTIFIERS *Philadelphia School District PA ABSTRACT This report examines the process of school reform in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) during the last half of the 1995-96 school year. It focuses on the progress of the Children Achieving initiative in the first 6 of the projected 22 clusters and considers 11 schools in these 6 clusters in detail. The focus of work in this first year of operation was to develop standards, put the infrastructure in place that would support reform, establish the relationships needed to make the infrastructure work, begin preparing teachers to use the new standards, and design and win support for an accountability system and incentives. The standards and incentives embedded into this accountability system will come into play in the future as "drivers" of the next stages of reform. Observation, review of documents, and interviews provided data that show that Children Achieving was on schedule and gaining momentum in spite of fiscal and political challenges. The vision supporting the reform was less well understood at the school level than at the central and cluster offices. Key organizational components of the reform were gaining acceptance, although understanding and support varied across the schools. The schools that made the most progress shared the characteristics of a collective vision, formal structures to support the program, collaborative decision making, and an atmosphere of trust and interdependence. (Contains four tables and one figure.) (SLD) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** - . IIIIIIIII e ' I U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Of of Educational Research and Improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL X Thisdocument has been reproduced as HAS BEEN GRANTED BY received from the person or organization 1 originating it cl(iPhillips 9 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality C. A G 1. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES 0 official OERI position or policy INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 3 J ) , BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 employers, providing leadership on issues important to the economic development and quality of life of the community. Children Achieving Challenge 1818 Market Street, Suite 3510 Philadelphia, PA 19103-3681 (215) 575-2200 Fax (215) 575-2222 About the Children Achieving Challenge The Children Achieving Challenge, estab- lished in 1995, provides technical assistance and resource support to the School District of Philadelphia and its partners. Created through a grant from the AnnenbergFoundation and matching support from other public and pri- About the Consortium for Policy vate fundcrs, the Challenge will invest more Research in Education than $150 million over a five-year period in a The Consortium for Policy Research in wide range of comprehensive school reforms. Education (CPRE) unites five of the nation's The Challenge's role is to assist the District leading research institutions in an exciting and its partners to move from multiple, venture to improve student learning through diverse efforts to a collective focus and a new research on education policy, governance and itself way of working together that can sustain finance. Members of CPRE are the Univer- long after the Challenge is gone. sity of Pennsylvania; Harvard University; In its first year, the largest share of fund- Stanford University; the University of ing has gone to support the development of Michigan; and the University of Wisconsin- new, tougher standards for academic subjects Madison. and student skills, and extensive professional CPRE conducts research on issues development to strengthen leadership and such as: improve classroom practice. In addition, the program has helped make possible a transi- , Education Reform Student and Teacher Standards tion to smaller, safer, more accessible school State and Local Poli4making structures and groupings, increased parental and community involvement, better coordi- Education Governance nation of health and social services and a School Finance broader model of career training and prepara- Teacher Compensation Student Incentives tion. Seven comprehensive workplans have been developed that serve as road maps for Consortium for Policy Research the School District and community partners as in Education they work to implement a common agenda. Graduate School of Education Greater Philadelphia First houses the University of Pennsylvania Challenge and provides oversight to it through 3440 Market Street, Suite 560 the GPF Partnership for Reform. GPF is a Philadelphia, PA 19104-3325 not-for-profit association of the region's largest (215) 573-0700, ext. 0 Table of Contents I. Introduction 1 II. Activities of the Evaluation Team 8 III. Children Achieving: The Theory of Action 19 IV. The Context of Children Achieving 29 V. The Progress of Reform 40 VI. Building Capacity for Instructional Reform 56 VII. The Family Resource Network 68 VIII. Benefits of Children Achieving and Factors Affecting the Pace of Reform 77 IX. Summary of Findings and Questions for Future Research 92 Appendices are included in a separate volume. 4 Children Achieving Evaluation Team Members Consortium for Policy Research in Education Tom Corcoran, Principal Investigator Theresa Luhm Sandra Ham Ellen Foley Research for Action Jolley Christman Elaine Simon Eva Gold Pat McPherson Patti Buck Rhonda Phillips Organizational Management Group, Inc., Center for Collaborative Learning Bernard McMullan Joel Fontane LIA I. Introduction The Children Achieving Challenge The Children Achieving Challenge, established in 1995, provides technical assistance and resource support to the School District of Philadelphia and its partners. Created through a grant from the Annenberg Foundation and matching support from other public and private funders, the Challenge will invest more than $150 million over a five-year period in a wide range of comprehensive school reforms in Philadelphia. The Challenge takes its name from Philadelphia's Children Achieving education reform plan and the Annenberg Challenge Grant received by Philadelphia in February 1995. No American city as large and diverse as Philadelphia has succeeded in having the majority of its young people achieve at high levels. Philadelphia set out to be the first major city in the nation to meet this challenge. In 1994, David W. Hornbeck was recruited as Philadelphia's Superintendent of Schools to help lead the effort. Upon his arrival, task forces of educators, community leaders and parents were formed and mapped out a broad plan. They called it Children Achieving. The final plan was adopted by the Philadelphia Board of Education in February, 1995. It set forth ten broad goals: 1.Set high expectations for everyone by adopting new standards of performance. 2.Design accurate performance indicators to hold everyone accountable for results. 3.Shrink the centralized bureaucracy and let schools make more decisions. 4.Provide intensive, sustained professional development for all staff. 5.Make sure all students are healthy and ready for school. 6.Create access to the community services and supports students need to succeed in school. 7.Provide up-to-date technology and instructional materials. 8.Engage the public in shaping, understanding, supporting and participating in school reform. 9.Insure adequate resources and use them effectively. 10. Address all these priorities together and for the long term, starting now. At the same time as the action plan for Children Achieving was nearing completion, the Annenberg Foundation offered a handful of America's trouble cities the opportunity to vie for significant resources to restructure their public school systems. Philadelphia submitted its plan. As a result, the Annenberg Foundation designated Philadelphia as one of a small number of American cities to receive a five-year, $50 million Annenberg Challenge grant to improve public education and support implementation of Children Achieving. Among the conditions for receiving the grant was a requirement to produce two matching dollars for each one received from Annenberg, and to create a management structure other than the School District to provide program, fiscal and evaluation oversight of the grant. To meet these conditions, the District turned to the business community. Greater Philadelphia First (GPF) houses the Challenge and provides oversight to it through the GPF Partnership for Reform. GPF is a not-for-profit association of the region's largest employers, providing leadership on issues important to the economic development