Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Project U-Turn Campaign) Action Plan to Help More of its Young People Graduate High School, Ready for College, Work & Life

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1 ACTION PLANNING WORKSHEET Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Project U-Turn Campaign) Action Plan to Help More of its Young People Graduate High School, Ready for College, Work & Life Name of Summit State or Community: Project U-Turn Promising Practices Symposium Date and Location of Summit: April 3, 2009, The HUB Cira Centre Geographical Area Covered by Action Plan: Philadelphia, PA Date Submitted: July 6, 2009 Main Point of Contact: Folasshade Laud-Hammond Philadelphia Youth Network 714 Market Street, Suite 304 Philadelphia, PA What is your state s or community s current graduation rate? (please cite the source and methodology) The most recent local calculation for Philadelphia s graduation rate is 59.7 percent (six-year cohort graduation rate) for the graduating class of A six-year cohort graduation rate calculates the percentage of students who receive a high school diploma within six years of entering 9 th grade for the first time. The data source is the School District of Philadelphia s Office of Accountability. 2. What does both national and local data indicate about your state s or community s graduation and college-going rates over the last few years (e.g. over the last 2, 5 and 10 years)? Have the schools rates been improving or getting worse? How do your local statistics compare with your state and the nation as a whole? Philadelphia has been calculating four-year and six-year graduation rates using the cohort methodology since The City s graduation rates have increased steadily over the past three years. The chart below shows Philadelphia s progress: Annual Benchmark Baseline Data Most Recent Data Four-year cohort graduation rate 48.9% Class of % Class of % Class of 2008 Six-year cohort graduation rate 59.7% Class of 2006 Class of 2007 TBD in September2009 Final 1

2 2. Please describe what efforts have or will be taken to better understand the issues from key perspectives, such as parents and young people themselves. Explain what data analysis, surveys, interviews or other efforts have or will be implemented to build your knowledge base of who drops out, from which schools, when, and why. What is known, and what do you still seek to learn? Project U-Turn is a citywide campaign to focus public attention on Philadelphia s dropout crisis and to design strategies and leverage investments to resolve it. The Project U-Turn campaign was launched in 2006 and is led by a citywide collaborative whose members include representatives the major youth serving systems, youth advocates, literacy specialists, organizing groups, and community-based organizations.. Over the past five years the collaborative has initiated multiple efforts and convened various stakeholders to better understand the myriad of issues related to student achievement or lack or persistence in school and, to solicit their input and participation in helping to resolve the issue and catapult youth success. An overview of the most significant efforts is listed below: Unfufilled Promise, 2006 In 2006, the Project U-Turn Collaborative released Unfulfilled Promise which details the characteristics and dimensions of the dropout crisis in Philadelphia. Researchers from John Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania merged individual student data on young people from the School District of Philadelphia and the city s social service agencies, including the Department of Public Health, the Department of Human Services, and the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services. The report allows the Project U-Turn collaborative and public to follow cohorts of students over multiple years and examine their education outcomes as well as predictors of graduation and dropout. CARTA Evaluation, In October 2006, the Philadelphia Youth Network and School District of Philadelphia, under the auspices of the Project U-Turn Collaborative, commissioned an evaluative study of City s Accelerated High School models. CARTA, the Center for Applied Research and Technical Assistance was engaged to conduct this evaluation. The primary objectives of this project were to assess the quality and effectiveness of the accelerated high school models, identify implementation experiences among providers, and analyze various needs that would to inform subsequent efforts aimed at improving, sustaining, and expanding the Accelerated High School strategy. Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project (EPOP), 2006 EPOP conducted a survey and focus groups with 100 OSY to better understand youth perspective around reenrolling in educational programs. Project U-Turn Turning-it-Around Summits, 2008 (partially funded by America s Promise) The Project U-Turn Collaborative hosted four summits with the support of lead community based agencies in North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, Southwest Philadelphia, and Eastern North Philadelphia to inform stakeholders about the dropout crisis and to gather input around needed action and stakeholder participation. Youth and community stakeholders were the majority of attendees. PYN Youth Ambassador Student Satisfaction Survey of Accelerated Programs, 2009 PYN s Youth Ambassadors conducted focus groups with students at Gateway to College; Southwest Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, and Hunting Park Accelerated Learning Academies; and Fairhill & North Philadelphia Community high schools to learn about factors that influence student persistence and success within alternative education programs. Public School Notebook, Ongoing The Notebook has published articles that highlight various youth experiences. Topics include: 1) students in traditional, magnet, and alternative high schools; 2) effective practices that enable youth to persist in schools; and 3) youth thinking about school experiences and how the dropout crisis impacts Philadelphia neighborhoods. Truancy Forum, 2008 In early June 2008, the Mayor s Office of Education and the School District convened a planning group to discuss how to collect recommendations from frontline workers and providers about how we could better address truancy reduction in Philadelphia. As a result, the City, School District and Court co-hosted a full-day Final 2

3 forum on truancy reduction on Monday, September 29, Much of the conversation during the Forum itself centered on the fact that truancy is often a symptom of a wide array of issues and therefore requires a complex, multifaceted and cross-system response. I. Rallying Your State or Community: Getting Buy-In to Address the Crisis 1. What key data and message points have you developed around the issue to secure commitment from your community s and state s leaders and to mobilize the general public? What s the impact of the dropout challenge on your economy, state or city budget, social services, employers, post-secondary institutions, etc? If you don t yet have these data and message points, what are your plans to obtain them? In 2006, the Project U-Turn Collaborative released Unfulfilled Promise which details the characteristics and dimensions of the dropout crisis in Philadelphia. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and University of Pennsylvania, merged data from the School District of Philadelphia, the Department of Human Services and Vital Statistics in an effort to fully examine the educational outcomes for Philadelphia s youth, and identify predictors of dropping out. A companion report, Turning-it-Around was released simultaneously. This second report outlined the Collaborative s call to action for reducing the dropout rate in Philadelphia. The reports can be viewed at 2. Who is serving or can serve as your state s or community s champion and chief spokesperson around the high school dropout issue? If multiple spokespeople are needed, which leaders elected officials, business leaders, other local influentials will be recruited? Philadelphia has cultivated multiple stakeholders who represent diverse sectors of the community working in concert to resolve the dropout crisis and increase graduation rates in the City. The major stakeholders committed to employing solutions are Mayor Michael Nutter and Dr. Arlene Ackerman, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia. The Project U-Turn steering committee consists of leaders from the organizations listed below: Center for Literacy Center for Social Organization of Schools at The Johns Hopkins University City of Philadelphia: Education Office, Department of Human Services, and Department of Recreation Congreso de Latinos Unidos Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project Family Court John Hopkins University Nu Sigma Youth Services / Philadelphia Anti-Drug/Anti-Violence Network Philadelphia Education Fund Philadelphia Reintegration Initiative Philadelphia Youth Network (managing partner) Public Citizens for Children and Youth School District of Philadelphia United Way of Southeastern PA William Penn Foundation Youth Empowerment Services 3. What is your state s or community s vision statement for your young people, related to their successful completion of high school and preparation for college and/or work? What is your quantifiable long-term goal (e.g. 10-year) for your dropout and college-readiness challenges? (Example from Detroit: Vision- All children and youth in southeastern Michigan graduate from high school prepared for life, work and postsecondary education. Goal- The 30 high schools in the region with dropout rates of 40% or higher will be transformed into small schools or learning Final 3

4 communities graduating 80% of youth with an average ACT score of 18 within four years after entering 9th grade. ) Philadelphia s vision is that all youth are prepared for educational and economic success. The overarching goal is to increase the high school graduation rate to 80% percent by 2014 and, to see an overall increase in baccalaureate degrees and industry certifications by II. Identifying Solutions: Considering and Prioritizing Potential Solutions to Comprehensively Address Your Local Dropout Challenge The Alliance advocates four focus areas that we believe to be key in addressing the dropout issue at the state and local levels: transforming schools including through increasing curricular rigor and relevance, supporting young people holistically with wraparound services, developing effective policies, and employing data systems as a dropout prevention tool. Philadelphia s Project U-Turn Campaign has been active for nearly 5 years. Initially funded through the Youth Transitions Funders Collaborative, Project U-Turn has an established work plan with 4 focus areas: Research and Data Analysis; Policy, Advocacy and Resource Development; Quality and Quantity of Educational Options; and Stakeholder Involvement. Below we have tried to answer the questions with a specific focus on efforts that resulted from the summit held in April 2009 although it is difficult to separate out that one effort from the rest of the Project U-Turn Campaign. 1. Please identify your highest-priority strategies and/or reforms consistent with Grad Nation that your state or community will pursue in order to transform the schools that the majority of your local dropouts attend. For each priority, what would you need to do in the next 6-12 months to advance it? Is anything already underway locally to support it? What support or information would help you make better progress? The effort described below began prior to this year s summit. However, it is our hope and intention that these efforts will be enhanced due to the professional development provided at the summit. In June 2008, Philadelphia s Bartram, Fitzsimons, Germantown, Lincoln, Overbrook, University City, and West Philadelphia high schools won Department of Labor grants focused on whole school reform efforts by funding initiatives in for mentoring, education, and employment strategies. These grants provide the schools with a total of $42 million in funding over 38 months. The first 14 months were devoted to planning and the following 24 months will be used to implement programmatic initiatives will also have a positive impact on school culture, climate, and safety. The programs include several models: peer and adult mentoring, a variety of researchbased strategies to improve academic achievement, experiential workplace opportunities for students, and the implementation of Single School Culture, Student Success Centers (focusing on employment and postsecondary connections), and dropout prevention services. 2. Please identify your highest-priority strategies, programs, policies, and/or reforms consistent with Grad Nation that your state or community will pursue in order to support young people. How will more young people, particularly those most in need, receive wraparound supports in and out of school, such as tutoring, afterschool programs, mentors, social services, health care and others? For each priority, what would you need to do in the next 6-12 months to advance it? Is anything already underway locally to support it? What support or information would help you make better progress? The Project U-Turn Campaign is a policy initiative that strives to ensure that the major systems in Philadelphia, work together to meet the needs of out-of-school youth and struggling students. The campaign is managed by the Project U-Turn subcommittee of Philadelphia s Youth Council (The Philadelphia Council for College and Career Success). The Council seeks to advocate for and align resources to better meet the educational and workforce development needs of Philadelphia s youth and the Project U-Turn subcommittee focuses on ensuring the needs of out-of-school and disconnected youth are considered in the overall strategy (including in Final 4

5 high school reform conversations). This fall, the Council will release an RFP for year-round programs targeted to the needs of out-of-school youth to be funded out of ARRA (stimulus) funds. The RFP will request proposals in one of 4 key areas: - Job development and placement - Youth corps / sheltered job experience - Occupational Skills Credentialing programs - GED-to-College program model As contracts are let in response to this RFP, the Council will discuss opportunities to wrap additional services around these programs and align existing efforts to support the educational and workforce success of the participants. Additionally, Philadelphia has recently expanded the number of slots available to former dropouts and otherwise disconnected youth. The new alternative high schools target over-age, under-credentialed students (e.g. a 19 year old freshman). A current priority of the Project U-Turn Collaborative (this is the same as the subcommittee) is working to align the services offered through the Department of Human Services, the Department of Behavioral Health, and the system of out-of-school time programs to these new alternative schools in order to ensure that these students have access to the supports necessary to complete high school. Please identify your highest-priority policies or reforms consistent with Grad Nation that your state or community will pursue in order to develop effective policies at the local or state level that encourage high school completion and college readiness. For each, what would you need to do in the next 6-12 months to advance this priority? Is anything already underway locally to support it? What support or information would help you make better progress? The Project U-Turn Collaborative has achieved success in expanding the number of appropriate educational options available to returning dropouts and struggling students. The current priority is to ensure that the academic components of these programs are as rigorous as possible while simultaneously increasing the capacity of the staff to deliver high quality services to the hardest to serve youth. Ultimately, it is the Collaborative s intention to increase the number of students who are able to complete high school and complete a post-secondary experience. The Promising Practices Symposium held in April 2008, provided the Project U- Turn Collaborative with an opportunity to share useful techniques with practitioners and partners to advance this work. Over the next 6 months the Project U-Turn steering committee will employ strategies to provide professional development and technical assistance to providers and Project U-Turn partners. This will include the implementation of an instruction coaching model focused on professional learning communities and college preparedness. 3. Please identify your highest-priority strategies, programs, policies, and/or reforms consistent with Grad Nation that your state or community will pursue in order to employ data systems that identify those young people most at-risk for dropping out and drive appropriate supports and services. For each, what would you need to do in the next 6-12 months to advance this priority? Is anything already underway locally to support it? What support or information would help you make better progress? The research completed for Unfulfilled Promise unearthed an issue in Philadelphia with the current system of codes used to identify students who withdraw or dropout from school. The list of possible codes is lengthy and ambiguous with multiple codes that seem to relate to similar reasons and no clear definitions for each of the codes. Additionally, the fidelity with which the codes are used is questionable since there is no standard training on the use of these codes. A current priority of the Project U-Turn Collaborative is to work with the School District to streamline the withdrawal code system and set up a training and professional development for frontline staff responsible for assigning these codes. The goal of this effort is to increase the accuracy of the data and the ease with which the District can analyze student withdrawals. Additionally, the Collaborative has prioritized the need to increase the amount and type of data shared from the School District to the Project U-Turn partners on a regular basis. With this in mind, the Collaborative funded a new staff position to sit in the District s Office of Accountability to increase that office s capacity to respond to Final 5

6 data requests. We believe this will increase the Collaborative s ability to continue to use data to inform conversations and decisions. III. Organizing for Long-Term Success: Getting the Right People on Board, Committing to Action, Ensuring Accountability, Securing Resources, and Tracking Progress over Time (See Part 4 of Grad Nation, pp , for help with this area of planning.) 1. What group or committee will coordinate and sustain the work outlined in this action plan? What leaders does it have from various sectors business, education, nonprofit, government, faith, etc.? (Please submit group s roster along with this plan.) Who else is needed? Who convenes the group, how often, and what sub-groups or committees does your effort need? The Project U-Turn Steering Committee will be responsible for coordinating the work. This committee is a subcommittee of the Council for College and Career Success Philadelphia s Youth Council. The Committee members are listed in the response to the second question two in the Rally the State and Community section of this post-action plan. They include: representatives from the School District of Philadelphia, Mayor s Office of Education, Community Based Agencies, City Agencies and Parents. The Philadelphia Youth Network convenes the Project U-Turn Steering and Collaborative. 2. What financial, human, and other resources are needed in order to begin acting on this plan? What resources are currently available, what will potentially need to be blended, and what new resources will need to be sought to do this work? Who might help secure additional resources to fill the gaps, and/or what funders (or others) may be approached? Will your state or community set a resource goal along with the outcome goal? Help. The Project U-Turn work plan has a $40 million dollar budget of which approximately $30 million is funded. The Collaborative continues to raise and leverage resources from private foundations and the federal government to support elements of the work plan. 3. How will your community or state evaluate its dropout prevention efforts to ensure it is making a difference? What is the plan to monitor and track the progress being made on its developed goals? How will you maintain visibility around the local dropout prevention issue by reporting to the public on the progress being made? The Project U-Turn Collaborative hosts an annual event to report progress on Campaign goals and to continue to build momentum with partners and elected officials. A data dashboard was established to monitor and share current graduation rates and to track progress on the multitude of education options available to all youth. The dashboard will track cohort graduation rates, the % of ninth graders who complete the year on track for graduation, the number of youth on waiting lists for alternative education slots, and the number of alternative education slots available in the school system. Information included in the data dashboard can be found in the most recent Project U-Turn progress report at on page 2. IV. Staying Connected to the America s Promise Alliance: Identifying Long-term Interests, Priorities, and Points of Alignment 1. As part of our Alliance s goal to reach 15 million young people with more supports (i.e the Five Promises) by 2012, America s Promise has committed to resourcing and advocating for certain strategic priorities. Together, we are always looking for states and communities that share similar interests and that may provide effective models for policy and practice, investment opportunities and other points of alignment, including possible technical assistance from our Alliance partners. Please describe if your action plan has strategies specific to: Final 6

7 a. Focusing on the middle school years, especially providing service-learning and career exploration opportunities in and out of school. b. Improving young people s access to quality health care, including promotion of SCHIP and Medicaid public health insurance programs. c. Creating community hubs (e.g. schools, afterschool programs, community centers) where coordinated wraparound supports are available to young people and their families. d. Engaging parents and caregivers to increase graduation and college readiness rates. Supporting young people in foster care so they graduate from high school prepared for college, work and life. The Department of Human Services in Philadelphia is planning to open an Education and Advocacy Office. The Office will provide training to frontline workers who will support their clients with educational transitions back into high school or, into an appropriate education program. In Philadelphia, Arise Charter School-- the nation s first charter school for foster-care teens is scheduled to open in September The school is designed to provide a stable education environment for foster-care teens. Arise will allow foster-care youth to remain in the school if they are placed in another home minimizing unnecessary disruptions in their academic development as well as relationships they established with peers and staff. Arise will also connect students to additional social supports to maximize student achievement and success. 200 youth will benefit from this opportunity in the school year. e.. Developing young people s financial literacy If your plan does not include any of the above but your state or community has strong interest in developing one or more of these strategies, please note accordingly. How can the America s Promise Alliance best support your state or community with the implementation of this dropout prevention plan? The Alliance is interested in hearing how we can best assist you in your dropout prevention efforts, including resources we can provide, relationships we can facilitate, and any other needs your community may have. Please be as expansive and forthright as you can. We will use your feedback to ensure that the most useful resources are provided to our Dropout Summit states and communities through our website, training and technical assistance, and other means. The Project U-Turn work plan is attached for your review. The Collaborative continues to fund raise for any of the currently unfunded elements in the plan. Any support in connecting to possible funding streams would always be appreciated. Final 7