"How Does a City Effectively Serve All its Youth?"
Philadelphia, PA

An American Youth Policy Forum Field Trip — May 10-11, 2001

This field trip was organized to provide answers to the question: "How does a city effectively serve all its youth?" The trip highlighted insights into a range of approaches, including:

• Education reform—through site visits to reforming high schools and discussions about Philadelphia’s Children Achieving reforms, standards, graduation and promotion requirements.

• Extended learning opportunities for students—through service, youth development and partnerships with universities and community-based organizations;

• Alternative education—through visits to a Twilight School and other community alternatives; and

• Youth employment training, including implementation of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the work of the Philadelphia Youth Council.

Philadelphia typifies many urban areas. It is challenged by:

• a need for resources to support a large number of students with special needs,
• a high school dropout rate and high unemployment among its young people
• teacher shortages and salary levels that are not competitive with those of surrounding school districts,
• new accountability measures dictated from the state,
• a limited infrastructure of jobs, housing and recreational and social resources within its neediest communities.

The School District of Philadelphia has approximately 208,000 students--65.1 percent are African American, 17.3 percent are white, 12.6 percent are Latino, and 4.8 percent are Asian. A large number are from low-income families--80 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals. It has 264 schools, including those defined as elementary, middle, neighborhood and magnet high schools, vocational-technical and special. The annual operating budget is $1.6 billion.

The city suffers from high dropout rates and high unemployment among its most at-risk young people. Only 51 percent of 9th graders complete high school four years later, and only 60 percent by the fifth year. The unemployment rate is at 4 percent and the job growth rate is .02 percent. In the past year the city gained only about 300 new jobs.

The Board of Education has no direct taxing authority. Instead, the School District must compete with other city agencies for its budget requests from the City Council.

Superintendent David Hornbeck, long at odds with the Governor and state lawmakers over funding levels, and with the teachers’ union over many of his reform strategies, stepped down in August 2000, after six years. Hornbeck has indicated that a lack of money imperiled his education agenda—a combination of aggressive testing and accountability and costly classroom supports to raise student achievement. The District’s long-running feud with the state over levels of support came to a head with the city’s 1998 federal lawsuit against the state alleging that the school-funding system discriminates racially. A $216 million deficit has been forecast for the 2001-02 school year.

Teacher salary levels are not competitive with those of surrounding school districts and there are hundreds of teacher vacancies. Funding problems represent barriers to the implementation of some education reforms, such as strategies to implement a performance-pay pilot program designed to raise teacher accountability, lure teachers to jobs in its neediest schools and add class time to the school day. Financial considerations have also been cited as the basis for dismantling the decentralization strategy of 22 clusters (an organizational structure of high schools and their feeder elementary and middle schools designed to provide academic support to schools and nurture relationships with the business and community organizations) put in place by Hornbeck and replacing it with eight larger clusters.

Like many other urban districts, Philadelphia has additional challenges of meeting new accountability measures dictated by the state. The Education Empowerment Act enacted last year, aims to assist districts whose students perform poorly on state tests known as the PSSA—the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment. Philadelphia is working on proficiency examinations (currently for 10th graders) and will ultimately have a high school exit exam in place.

The city has a wealth of cultural institutions, including many renowned institutions of higher education and has a vibrant tourist sector. Attention is being paid to urban development within the neediest parts of the city, but there remain large tracks of land and many communities in need of economic renewal.

Though not always in agreement, city leaders appear to be aggressive in attempting to address many of these challenges.

Education Reform

Although the school district is undergoing reorganization under an interim chief executive officer and a chief academic officer, the School Board and Mayor have indicated that the reform agenda begun under former Superintendent David Hornbeck will not be discarded. (See AYPF brief of dinner discussion with David Hornbeck, 11/14/00.)

The district continues a commitment to connect education to workforce and community development and is using school-to-work strategies, such as service- and work-based-learning, as a framework for connecting learning across the curriculum and as an interface between school and community resources. A non-profit intermediary organization, The Philadelphia Youth Network, Inc., has been established to sustain the work and partnerships created under the School-to-Career initiative. The Network has been formed to align and sustain the citywide work and resources of partners around youth workforce development. The Philadelphia Youth Network staffs the Youth Council, the sub-group of the Workforce Investment Board established under the Federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to provide oversight of WIA youth formula funds, and to set citywide policy and standards for youth workforce development.

Within the school system, the Office of Education for Employment (EfE) has been given an extensive portfolio of responsibilities spanning the K-16 School-to-Career "system"—a strategy that helps to bring coherence to the comprehensive education reform agenda and helps prepare all students for college, careers and active citizenship.

The field trip began with a visit to the EfE where participants learned about the office’s specific responsibilities for development and on-going management of:

• partnerships with hundreds of employers, colleges, government agencies, community organizations and unions;
• work-based learning and service-learning opportunities for students;
• training and technical assistance for staff of Small Learning Communities (SLCs), schools, clusters and community partner organizations;
• vocational education programs tied to labor market needs and industry standards;

EfE also:

• supports high school restructuring and reform;
• develops an alternative education opportunity system for non-traditional students including out-of-school youth, pregnant and parenting teens, and those returning to school from incarceration or due to welfare reform legislation;
• oversees the District's GEAR-UP and 21st Century Community Learning Center grants;
• manages adult education programs; and
• provides employment certification ("working papers") for all eligible youth. 

Small Learning Communities and Comprehensive School Reform Models

Critical to Philadelphia’s education reform strategy is its commitment to SLCs. Philadelphia was the home to the first high school career or partnership academies, the original model for SLCs. Since the early 1990s, the school system has implemented the concept throughout the K-12 system.

Local and national research show that the results of organizing schools in this manner include: increased student achievement, better attendance rates, fewer disciplinary actions, increased student satisfaction with school, as well as improved self-esteem. SLCs also enable teaching teams to integrate disciplines and organize instructional time around real-world experiences, including service-learning and work-based learning opportunities.

The identification of career themes by the majority of Philadelphia’s high school SLC’s has been aligned with the growth industry clusters identified through the economic and workforce development research of such groups as Greater Philadelphia First (GPF), a partnership dedicated to economic growth comprised of 34 CEO’s of the region’s largest employers. The hospitality industry cluster was one of the six growth areas identified by GPF several years ago and has become one of the main themes around which high school SLC’s are organized.

Edison High School

Edison High School is a neighborhood (non-magnet) school in a predominantly Latino community with a new (10 year old) state-of-the-art building. Its student population of 2,570 reflects the community’s ethnic composition. Over three-fourths (77 percent) of students are Latino, 19 percent are African American and the remainder, are white and Asian. The field trip group visited Edison and met with principal Jose Lebron and Bill Morrison, coordinator of the Talent Development Comprehensive School Change model developed by Johns Hopkins and Howard Universities.

The Talent Development model is based on the concept of SLCs—houses of small groups of students with dedicated teachers—with a curriculum and structure designed to specifically address the transitional needs of incoming students and position them to successfully access the content of the high school curriculum. Talent Development currently operates in seven middle schools and is at different stages of planning and implementation at six neighborhood high schools. The middle school model emphasizes a rigorous curriculum within a supportive environment for students, where they stay with the same teachers and peers over time.

The high school model physically redesigns large high schools to establish a separate Ninth Grade Success Academy. In the Academy, students take a double dose (two periods) of reading (including a Strategic Reading course) and math, learn important study skills and are exposed to future career pathways through a Freshman Seminar, and remain with a small team of teachers and peers. In the upper grades, students enter Career Academies designed as a way to focus their academic studies. All teachers in Talent Development schools receive in-depth professional development support through summer institutes and year-round classroom coaches and are provided with supplementary curricular materials.

Talent Development is designed to address many of the failings of large, inner-city high schools, which often jeopardize the success of the most at-risk youth. According to Morrison, "Traditionally, high schools have used a caste system that places the least experienced and worst teachers and the largest classes at the 9th grade level. Within the context of new high standards for urban middle and high schools, the focus on student success in the 9th grade is critical to lay the foundation of academic and social skills necessary for high school success. Also, data show that success in 9th grade is a critical indicator for high school graduation."

Prior to implementing the model at Edison High School, 55 percent of 9th graders failed courses, a 45 percent promotion rate out of 9th grade, and half of those who failed did not continue to graduation. Also, the average reading score was 5.3 (equivalent to a 5th grade, 3rd month reading level). Last year, after implementation of the new more rigorous curriculum, Edison experienced a 70 percent promotion rate. Currently the average reading score of Edison graduates in 7.1 (7th grade, 1 month).2 Similar improvements were also documented at other Talent Development schools (at Strawberry Mansion High School, 9th grade promotion went to 65 percent, from 34 percent the previous year).

Morrison stressed that successful implementation requires a new way of teaching, including dedicating specific staff who are focused on the needs of 9th graders, strong leadership, and the opportunity for staff to plan and buy-in to the model. Because of the whole school impact, the majority of teachers had to indicate acceptance of the model in order to implement it.

The first time a vote was taken at Edison, the model was not accepted. A year later, with much support and encouragement from the principal, the vote was carried. Next, a full year was devoted to planning. This included four months of awareness building with district-level leadership, principals (without whose support the model would not even be considered for implementation in the school), assistant principals (who in the TD model function more as principals required to implement the model--not tasked for specific duties such as discipline as in the standard high school model), counselors, and teachers; and trips to other TD schools.

The 9th grade Academy has its own assistant principal, team leaders and dedicated teachers. The group met with Ken Lerner, the 9th grade academy principal, who explained the structure used. The Academy has three teams each comprised of six homerooms. There is a maximum of 33 students in each homeroom. The schedule is structured such that all teachers teach three of four class periods. The off period is common planning time for teams of English, science, math and social studies teachers. He stressed that teaming is the basis of reform and that common planning periods and professional development are used to help make teams effective. Each team is given ownership and accountability for the outcomes of their students. The TD model provides a team of four teachers working full time at two schools to support professional development. This is an important component of the model since classes are now in 90-minute blocks and teachers must focus on new instructional strategies.

The curriculum provides a transitional math course in the first semester and in the second semester, students take regular algebra. Because math is a double period, students are able to master these courses in a single school year.

Students must pass algebra, English and science for promotion to 10th grade. Opportunities exist to repeat 9th grade courses in the summer in order to move on to the 10th grade or to take further courses in a Twilight School. The primarily disciplinary strategy for students who are unwilling to succeed in the Academy environment is to send them to Twilight School. (Note: This is an alternative after-hours school for students who have serious attendance or discipline problems or who are coming to the school from incarceration. It should not be confused with the School District of Philadelphia’s Twilight School described later in this report.)

According to academy staff, the goal is to have a suspensionless school where students "are nurtured and nagged." Mentoring and mental health workers are provided to ensure that students have ample support. Also student leaders within each team are organized and trained to communicate with their peers and the teachers. Additionally, teachers touch base with parents constantly and encourage parents to become involved in the program in a number of ways.

After one year of implementation, teachers already see a difference at the 10th grade level where students evidence more structure and discipline in their actions, and as one teacher noted, "are actually carrying books to class." Also, as students become more successful at the 9th grade level, curriculum changes are required in the upper grades. A new one-year course, Transition to Geometry, has been developed. It is evident that more academic teachers will be required. Morrison indicated that one Talent Development school initially had 17 physical education teachers and re-staffing has become an issue at participating schools.

Research is being undertaken on the participating schools in Philadelphia, including a control (comparison) cohort study of schools that are not implementing the model. At Patterson High School in Baltimore, MD, where the model has had a longer period of implementation, the impact is reflected in the size of the upper class student body. Traditionally Patterson has had approximately 300 students in grades 10th through 12th. Currently, the upper class enrollment is closer to 800 students. According to Morrison, "Bigger classes, more teachers, a more expanded curriculum, higher achievement—these are problems of success."

Implementation costs are both "direct" and "indirect." The "direct" costs for implementing the model over a three-year period are about $400,000 per school for which the District uses federal funds from the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration program, the Perkins Act, and Title I, compensatory funds. Indirect costs born by the school system are associated with creating a context in the school for the model to exist and continue. For example, longer classes (the impact of block scheduling) require more teachers, greater successful retention of students means more students enrolled, more students and challenging classes mean more books are required and these books are often more expensive (e.g., physics, chemistry, calculus, etc.) than those used in less challenging classes.

Currently, the school offers no Advance Placement (AP) courses, but model implementers see these courses on the screen three or four years down the road. Morrison added that Patterson is the only non-zoned school in Baltimore that has AP courses and a declining dropout rate.

Morrison indicated that Talent Development is being implemented in 12 middle schools, but these schools are not in the current TD high school cluster. He expressed an unwillingness to go beyond the current six schools with which he is working, because it is important to "deepen, not widen" the impact in the schools.

Frankford High School

Frankford High School is in an old, traditionally constructed building in excellent condition located in a solidly working class Philadelphia community bordering the suburban area of greater Northeast Philadelphia. The school population, approximately 2,250 students, is very diverse, comprised of 40 percent white, 38 percent African American, 20 percent Latino and 2 percent Asian and "other." The principal indicated that he did not know the reading scores of incoming and graduating students. The school offers numerous AP courses. In addition to discussing their academy experiences, students described their academic and athletic honors and college expectations.

The visit to Frankford High School allowed a closer inspection of career-themed SLCs. Frankford is 90 years old. Ten years ago, it initiated a reform initiative resulting in the current configuration of seven SLCs, each with about 300 students and each assigned a specific area of the school. The SLCs include: Arts, Music & Performance; Business Academy; Health Academy; Law & Government Academy; Industrial Technology; Science, Engineering and Computers; and Travel & Tourism. Each SLC program requires 23 credits which ensures a college preparation for all students. In addition, Frankford is the site of a school-district sponsored Twilight School (described below).

Field trip participants were treated to presentations by students from each SLC and opportunities to visit their respective classrooms. Following is a brief overview of several SLCs.

• Among the School District’s 13 hospitality-themed high school SLC’s currently operating, ten have been developed and supported through a partnership established in 1997 among Communities in Schools of Philadelphia (CIS), the National Academies Foundation, Inc.(NAF), and the School District. These "Academies of Travel and Tourism" (AOTT) benefit from the partnership established at the national level between Communities in Schools and NAF with corporate sponsorship from American Express, American Airlines, Aramark, British Air, Continental, etc. The Academies of Travel and Tourism have four essential elements: curriculum, paid internships, industry-specific staff development and an advisory board.

• Many of the AOTT SLC’s also participate in the Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) which, in partnership with Communities in Schools, provides its own professional development and curricular support, work-based learning opportunities, including local contacts with famous area chefs, as well as scholarships and other resources to students. Frankford’s C-CAP students prepared a lavish lunch for field trip participants to impress upon us the professional level of their culinary and service skills.

• The Industrial Technology’s Building Engineer Program is helping to train future employees of the school district. Instructors stressed that this is "not the industrial arts of the 50s." In addition to the core academic program, students take courses in carpentry, CAD (Computer Assisted Design), graphic arts and building management and cost. Students have opportunities to gain experience in a number of trades, manage people, problem solve, apply mathematics and computer skills, and learn OSHA requirements. They are able to apply their lessons in service-learning and work-based placements in the school building, other schools and in the community. Before being eligible to participate in the work-based program, students must make passing grades in their other courses. They also must make up any missed work while on their one-day per week work-based assignment.

• The Law and Government SLC is designed to expose students to a variety of careers in the fields of law and government. In the 9th and 10th grades, students spend one day in the community volunteering in "real work" situations. This service-learning experience gives students an opportunity to work in a specified area of interest as well as earn extra credit towards graduation. In the 11th and 12th grades, students are given the opportunity to work in law enforcement agencies, law firms, local and state government agencies, and schools. These paid positions are available to students who maintain a C average or better, and display good attendance and behavior.

• Field trip participants witnessed a teen court, an in-school program in which students determine punishment for other students found to have violated the Code of Conduct of the School District. The teen court is held in a realistically designed and decorated mock court built with funds supplied by Communities in Schools. Here SLC students prepare written briefs, oversee cases, make judgments, render sentences and conform to the rubrics of actual cases. Their grade is based on their preparation and presentation of the case.

• In the Business Academy, students study advanced computer applications. They allowed trip participants to examine their completed projects, which included management/business plans and products presented in a variety of formats, such as power point and video.

• The Health Academy offers a rigorous college preparatory program of four years of math, science, languages (including medical Spanish) and social studies designed to prepare students for career paths in medicine or health care. Partnerships with health care institutions allow for 9th graders to shadow a mentor at a health care facility, volunteer at various health care facilities after school hours, and take a course in health related technology which explores careers in the health field. In 10th grade, students spend two Monday afternoons a month in service-learning and participate in CPR and Heimlich Maneuver training. Upper classmen participate in Health Tech 2000, a work-based learning program that includes project-based learning, advanced placement classes and places students at different health care facilities on Fridays.

Service-Learning and University Partnerships

Service-learning is a central piece of the school reform agenda and a way of structuring SLCs. Students are required to complete citizenship projects through service-learning for promotion from grades 4 and 8 and for graduation. According to Kenny Holdsman, the School District Director for Service-Learning, "Service-learning is used as a motivational tool for creating positive relationships between students, teachers and the community." It is used as a constructivist teaching strategy to help students meet high academic standards through hands-on, real-life projects that significantly enhance traditional textbook and classroom learning. Currently 30,000 students are involved in service-learning activities throughout the District and in two years, the number is projected to be 70,000.

The field trip featured visits to Drew, a K-8 school and University City High School. It also provided an opportunity to meet with Danny Gerber, Director, Urban Nutrition Initiative, Cory Bowman of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Community Partnerships, and school personnel.

The Urban Nutrition Initiative is an in-school service-learning program with a WIA-funded after-school component and a higher education connection. Program partners are University City High School, Drew School, the Urban Nutrition Initiative, the Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania, and the West Philadelphia Partnership. This service-learning site actively engages students in a real world project focused on delivery of health and nutrition information to the local University City community of Philadelphia. In this project, students and teachers from the elementary school, high school, university, and community-based organizations have come together to improve the health of their community through service, advocacy, community building and authentic learning. The service-learning experience is used by the respective partners as a vehicle for academic achievement, active citizenship, workforce readiness, and personal development.

At Drew, which experienced the highest rate of improvement in the city on the PSSA, participants met first grade teacher Ms. Finch who explained how the school is divided into SLCs and her involvement in the nutrition-focused "Healthy, Well and Fit" SLC. The theme, which is infused across the curriculum, was in evidence in the student organized and managed fruit and vegetable stand that is open to students and community members. The fruit and vegetable stand helps develop student skills in leadership, organization, marketing and money management, as well as providing healthy snacks to their peers and the broader community.

Field trip participants also visited the school garden and observed students planting and maintaining the garden under the supervision of university student volunteers. A university student helped Drew students design the garden and provides information and ongoing assistance. Additionally, students from University City High School work with the university volunteers to support the garden activity. Gardening is a once a week activity in Ms. Finch’s class (Fridays from 2:19 – 3:04 p.m.). Because of the SLC structure, teachers are able to meet and plan ways to integrate the service-learning theme of nutrition across the curriculum.

University City High School is located next door to Drew and adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University. It is a modern 1970s building. Its student body is almost 100 percent African American, with the majority from low-income families. The group was told that University City had made amazing changes in the last few years from a very troubled school to the clean, well-ordered learning environment being observed.

At University City, the 2,100 students are divided into nine SLCs each organized around a thematic focus and each on its own schedule. There are no bells to indicate the change of classes. According to Principal Florence Johnson, "Everyone knows what to do and they do it." Much of the instruction is organized around service-learning, which has helped to greatly expand and enrich the curriculum by providing opportunities for hands-on, meaningful activities outside the school.

Students are assigned to a SLC based on their interest and service-learning activities are aligned with the focus of the SLC. For example, students in the magnet math and science SLC have service-learning experiences at the science museum and Drexel University. University City is one of 12 schools in a cluster and many service-learning activities of the high school students take place at the cluster feeder schools. In this way, the feeder schools get the additional resources of tutors, classroom assistants, help with co-curricular activities, etc. that the high school volunteers provide. The principal and participating teachers indicated that service-learning has had a big impact on student behavior and self esteem. According to social studies teacher Martin Galvin, "Kids are busy doing things and don’t have time to be idle and unmotivated. Hands-on, outside meaningful activities are motivators and help kids feel valued and productive."

Alternative Education Programs

Students who are overage or for some reason cannot continue in the regular high school program are provided alternative pathways to graduation through Twilight Schools and other community-based programs.

Twilight Schools

Twilight Schools began at two high school sites in 1997 as an alternative educational program designed to meet the needs of students ages 17 through 24 who are not likely to graduate high school through a traditional program or who have already dropped out and want to return to earn a high school diploma. A minimum of approximately 10 credits is required for admittance and 21.5 to 23.5 credit units are required for graduation.

These schools provide alternative and flexible means of earning credits and multiple entry-points throughout the year. All twilight graduates receive a School District of Philadelphia diploma from the school in which they are enrolled. They are permitted to participate in all senior class activities and the graduation ceremony. The success of these alternative programs has created increased demand and warranted a scale-up each year to its current 18 sites. 

Students attend classes from 2:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m., Monday through Thursday, accumulating credits through core academic courses (taught by teams of two teachers); elective independent/cooperative projects (developed by the program coordinators); life experience, including community-volunteer service, work experience, and GED tests passes; and Cooperative Community Partnerships (e.g., advanced credit education at community college, continuing education programs, Job Corps, community agencies, etc.). Instruction is presented in four 9-week cycles. The teaching staff is composed of regular teachers (many from the day program) who can teach their subject area at all levels. This is important because classes averaging 15 students have heterogeneous ability groups. Still, the classes are small enough that teachers can easily identify students’ skill deficits and work one on one with them.

Students are treated as adults and must sign a contract agreeing to follow all the program rules, stipulating that they will be prepared for class with a notebook, paper, pencil/pen and textbook. Identification cards must be available and shown on demand; no children or visitors are allowed to accompany students to class; cursing, verbal abuse or disrespect of school staff or peers is not tolerated. Attendance and punctuality are highly valued—after 3:00 p.m. a student is considered absent, and only three absences are allowed per quarter.

An individualized education plan is developed to meet state-mandated graduation requirements, and students are provided the counseling and guidance supports for social, academic, and postsecondary and financial aid planning. At Frankford, the Twilight School has the unique benefit, according to counselor Alan Zimberg of being run and coordinated by counselors with teaching and administrative certifications. This is useful because counselors understand both the academic and social pressures affecting today’s high school youth. Students with special needs students participate in the program, but the lowest functioning youth are barred from attending because they are required to participate in a day program until the age of 21.

This is the third year of the program at Frankford, which had 60 students in its first year and is now up to more than 100 students. The program has a waiting list and according to Zimberg, the size of the program could easily be doubled if appropriate levels of funds were made available.

Among the reasons students cite for having withdrawn from the regular high school program are:

• child abuse/neglect
• foster care/orphaned, death of parent/sibling/other
• full-employment/financial hardship
• health issues (student or family member), including mental/emotional, obesity, anorexia or bulimia, substance/alcohol abuse
• homelessness
• gang-related issues
• incarceration
• lack of connection with the structure of the educational setting
• lack of self-discipline/self-esteem
• pregnancy and parenting
• school phobia

Among the students field trip participants met were Jeanette and Derek. Jeanette said the program hours allow her to take care of her grandmother and that she likes the way she is treated as a mature person here. Derek works full time at the train station and needed a program he could work around his work schedule. Both were pleased with the opportunities participation in the Twilight School provided, including visiting museums and other experiences they had not had. Jeanette asserted, "If it wasn’t for this school, I’d be a dropout."

Community-based Program Models

Community-based program models focused on education and employment preparation for out-of-school youth, such as YouthBuild (YB), have found new sources of support and sustainability as charter schools. AYPF participants visit the North Philadelphia YouthBuild site; there is also another site in South Philadelphia.

Since its inception in 1992, over 500 young adults have completed the YouthBuild Philadelphia program, and over 90 percent of them earned high school diplomas. Together these students fully rehabilitated over 40 houses. Over 80 percent of YouthBuild Philadelphia’s last three graduating classes have been successfully placed in full-time jobs and continuing education.

Previously YouthBuild Philadelphia had partnered with the Philadelphia Public Schools to provide diplomas in the name of the local zoned high school to YB graduates. The program has now become a charter—The Youth for Change Charter School—based on the YB model of classroom academic experiences (encompassing the Philadelphia Public Schools standards), youth development and leadership skills, and work-based learning of the construction trades by rehabilitating community housing. The community-based program continues its focus of providing education and job training to out-of-school youth and a broad range of supports and opportunities to help them become self-sufficient, responsible and productive citizens in their community. The school has the flexibility to now offer its own work-based, experiential diploma and uses the worksite for application of academic skills. Each of the two school sites has a computer lab, offers a Street Law curriculum as well as instruction in art and music. (Street Law began at the Georgetown Law Center more than 20 years ago as a practical law course for public school students. It draws real-world connections between the lives of young people and the law, human rights, and democratic values. Programs teach practical information, develop critical life skills, and provide opportunities for positive interaction with the community.)

Students in the program spend alternate weeks at construction sites and in classrooms. At the work site they learn important work and trade skills as they rebuild abandoned houses for low-income families, and in the classrooms they are engaged in academic curricula, life skills counseling, and community service. Throughout the program, students are required to take ownership of and responsibility for their education. And, through YouthBuild’s extensive supportive services program they are provided with an effective combination of challenges and supports. The combination of program elements creates a unique learning experience that engages young adults in rebuilding their communities and their lives. According to program coordinator Charlotte Johnson, the charter school is focused on not only on academics, but on helping to build a whole individual instilled with a strong self worth.

Field trip participants asked her how the program, now in its fourth year as a charter school, has changed. Johnson indicated that the conversion to charter status has meant a more certain and larger funding stream. It has also impacted their admissions and recruitment strategies. Charters are limited in setting parameters on admission requirements. YouthBuild has traditionally focused on screening participants for motivation, mental toughness and behaviors that support the goals of the program. They have had to soften their screening approach and are focusing more on diversifying participation by targeting recruitment on Hispanic youth in the immediate community. The school must also abide by special education guidelines.

Youth and Workforce Development

Philadelphia’s Workforce Investment Board has received a $5,000,000 Youth Opportunity (YO) grant from the U.S. Department of Labor (through the Workforce Investment Act) and will receive up to $22 million over 5 years. The purpose of the grant is to improve the lives of youth in the neighborhoods of its Empowerment Zones where poverty and dropout rates are the highest. (The poverty rate in the Zones is 51 percent, more than double the citywide average; 86 percent of youth qualify for public assistance; and the dropout rate of the six Zone high schools ranges from 56 to 86 percent.)

Taylor Frome, past executive director of YouthBuild and currently director of Youth Empowerment Services (YES), a subcontractor that runs the three YO Centers, explained that the YO grant strategy is to saturate resources in a community targeting out-of-school and in-school youth over a sustained period of time. This strategy contrasts with the short-term intervention strategy used in the past. Whereas YouthBuild can only serve about 200 youth a year, strategies are needed to scale up efforts to address the real need for services for youth in distressed communities. YO grants represent an opportunity to accomplish this with enough resources for all the youth in a given community.

YO grantees must substantially increase the employment rate of out-of-school youth living in high-poverty neighborhoods and entire communities must focus on helping these young people by building a circle of support to help them address the range of problems that have kept them from succeeding. Nationally, Empowerment Zone communities were selected for the grants based on their plans to focus on the total person and provide a wide variety of support services, build community-wide partnerships with a special emphasis on employer partners, and provide long-term follow-up services. The grant projects emphasize preparing and placing participants in private-sector jobs. They also include efforts to keep young people in school, increase their enrollment in college, and provide work experience in community-service projects.

This will be a tall order for the city to meet. The Empowerment Zone initiative is supposed to be an economic revitalization strategy, but has run into problems due to a lack of infrastructure and an employer base. According to Frome, the Enterprise Zone has lost 17 percent of its population in the last decade and will lose approximately the same number in the next decade. Much of this loss is due to limited employment opportunities and housing availability (there are as many as 10,000 families waiting for low-income housing). The schools, though making progress, are still in need of improvement. There is much more that needs to be done in the areas of education, training and employment opportunities.

Currently three Youth Opportunity Centers are operational. The U.S. Department of Labor requires that YO Centers provide intake and case management services for youth ages 14-24. According to Frome, this is not enough—more activities were required to draw in the young people and to help address their needs. The Centers provide comfortable places for out-of-school youth to get the skills and supports they need to move forward in their lives. Staff help youth think about their next steps and how to plan and move toward jobs, education and training.

The Centers look and function as community centers, providing a range of activities such as:

• classes in dance, computer skills, arts and crafts, video and CD production;
• clubs, such as Author’s Lounge designed to increase members’ comprehension skills and interest in reading, Masters of Destiny-College Bound where members plan and complete paperwork necessary to research and enroll in higher education or training schools;
• workshops such as Community Building designed to bring about cultural and communal awareness, and Employability & Job Readiness, an 8-part series with discussions of why people work, career exploration, preparing a resume, recognizing and developing professional skills, etc.;
• a learning lab where youth can participate in individual tutoring, individual and small group project-based activities, Pre-GED coursework, and a variety of interest driven and functional assignments; and
• recreation and sports.

Each center has been mandated to recruit 1,000 youth within the respective Zones; this is about one-third of the eligible population. Many have come, but many have dropped out. The challenge is to provide programming and opportunities to engage and challenge them, and help alleviate the many barriers they face, such as child care, problems in their lives, having had a bad education experience and fear of taking the next step. Above all, said Frome, "These are kids that the system should have already taken care of. It’s unfair to expect that a new intervention will fix all the things that are wrong right away."

The School District has contracted with YES to provide professional development opportunities for Twilight teachers throughout the city. The goal is to facilitate innovative program and curricular strategies to increase the effectiveness of Twilight programs. YES staff sees this as an opportunity to help these teachers "get away from using the same instructional strategies they use in the day program." YouthBuild and Twilight School teachers are have met jointly and are beginning to cross-fertilize their efforts and focus on project-based, learner-centered education.

Conclusions and Summary Observations

Among observations from the field trip,

• Philadelphia has been able to institutionalize its STW efforts so that they continue in the face of new District leadership and standards-based reform, often driven by high stakes tests.

• Professional development and staff buy-in are critical to the implementation of any new school reform effort.

• Philadelphia is rich in cultural and postsecondary institutions. Partnerships with institutions such as local museums and universities help augment the resources available to students. Where partnerships exist that are nurtured and sustained, opportunities are vastly increased for hands-on, reality-based learning in the community and other enrichments.

• Participants were particularly impressed with University City High School and how service-learning has been integrated into the core curriculum. According to one participant, "This system seems to work well in an urban setting, giving students exposure to areas that they might not ever be exposed to." According to another—"Intergenerational, cross-curricular, entrepreneurial service-learning—who knew?"

• Many field trip participants found the Talent Development model to be an impressive approach to high school reform, especially the focus of the 9th Grade Academy on engaging, nurturing and providing academic rigor for students upon entrance to the school. It was clear how changes at the 9th grade level fuel changes in the upper grades. If these changes are in fact real and sustained, urban districts must seriously rethink how they allocate their funds and staff schools for high performance. This model was also perceived as an interesting strategy for dropout prevention.

• The opportunity to observe thematic clusters or SLCs at work within the Frankford High School was a positive learning experience. However, one participant reacted to the reference to community service as a "punishment" melted out in the teen court, noting that community service should have been viewed as an "opportunity."

• The School District’s Twilight School concept was impressive. Participants appreciated the flexibility the school provides students who cannot or do not want to continue to graduation within a more traditional school framework. Likewise, participants recognized the need for a school like Youth for Change, the YouthBuild charter school, and saw it as "a great addition to the offerings Philadelphia provides its youth."

• The infusion of academics and work-based learning and how it is used at the charter school was new to several participants. Most, however, were least familiar with the Youth Opportunity Center concept but found it to be "a great opportunity for young people." Perhaps in response to the newness of the concept, some felt that the goals for the program were "unclear and hard to measure in quantitative terms." Another summed the visit up best as, "Raw and realistic—especially the journey there [through the neighborhood] which underscored just how much work needs to be done. It also showed hope in the proud announcement of the shy student Gillis about his acceptance to community college."

• Although we saw many promising initiatives, the District and the city are far from implementing them at a scale to change the culture of many low-performing schools and the viability of many neighborhoods in the short-term. It will take many years of sustained effort and funding to witness the kind of changes sought.

Contact Information

Mary Jane Clancy
Executive Director
Office of Education for Employment
School District of Philadelphia
734 Schuylkill Ave.
J.F. Kennedy Center, Room 681
Philadelphia, PA 19146

Ken Holdsman
Office of Education for Employment
734 Schuylkill Avenue
J.F. Kennedy Center, Room 681
Philadelphia, PA 19146

Bill Morrison
Philadelphia Coordinator
Talent Development
Philadelphia Education Fund
7 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Suite 700
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Dr. Jose Lebron
Principal
Edison High School
151 W. Luzerne St.
Philadelphia, PA 19140

Mr. Richard Mantell
Principal
Frankford High School
5000 Oxford Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19145

Ms. Florence Johnson
Principal
University City High School
3601 Filbert St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Ms. Maxine Jones
Principal
Drew School
3724 Warren St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Cory Bowman
Center for Community Partnerships
University of Pennsylvania
133 S. 36th St., Suite 519
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3236

Charlotte Johnson
Program Coordinator
Youth for Change Charter School
1653 N. Eighth St.
Philadelphia, PA 19133

Taylor Frome
Youth Empowerment Services
1302 Race Street
3rd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Angie Pabn, General Manager
Philadelphia Youth Network
734 Schuylkill Ave.
J.F. Kennedy Center, Room 681
Philadelphia PA 19146

Laura Shubilla
Senior Vice President
Philadelphia Youth Network
734 Schuylkill Ave.
J.F. Kennedy Center, Room 681
Philadelphia PA 19146

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