Education
The Equity Conundrum
The District’s new magnet schools policy is putting the progressive push for equity under an uncomfortable lens. Does it even solve the problem we need to be solving? | From: The Citizen (Read more.)
Education
Education
Landmark Pennsylvania fair school funding case set for trial
After seven years, Pennsylvania’s landmark school funding case is set to go to trial on Friday, giving educators and parents in low-wealth districts the opportunity to tell the court how students are harmed by a system that has resulted in some of the widest spending gaps among better-off and poor districts in the country. | From: Chalkbeat Philadelphia (Read more.)
Community and Family
How a shuttered Philly diner continues to support public school kids
After a brief hiatus for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trolley Car Teachers’ Fund came back in 2021 to award almost 40 public school educators from several sections of the city, including Chestnut Hill, East Falls, Germantown, and Mt. Airy, upwards of $15,000. | From: Metro Philly (Read more.)
Community and Family
Philadelphia schools honored for work in preserving green space
The green area outside the school, in the heart of crowded South Philadelphia at Ninth and Mifflin streets, is meant to reduce stormwater runoff and reduce pollution in the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is part of a 25-year city and Philadelphia Water Department initiative called Green City, Clean Waters to expand green spaces in non-residential spaces around the city. | From: Chalkbeat Philadelphia (Read more.)
Education
‘I wish I could promise all my students safe travels, but I can’t’: Philly leaders address gun violence, student safety
Just a few months into the school year, there have already been at least four shootings near Philadelphia school buildings, as the city grapples with historically high rates of gun violence. | From: WHYY (Read more.)
Education
Philly overhauls selective admissions policy in bid to be antiracist
All students who qualify, based on criteria including their grades and attendance, will now be selected from a lottery, rather than giving principals the final say from among a larger pool of eligible students. For five of the city’s most selective schools, preference will be given to students from zip codes that historically have sent few students to them. | From: Chalkbeat Philadelphia (Read more.)
Education
Philly parents start petition asking for delay in new special admissions process
Earlier this month, on the day that the selection process opened for students seeking admission in fall 2022, district officials announced that they were revising the process to make sought-after magnet schools, such as Central and Masterman, more accessible to those who have been traditionally underrepresented, especially low-income Black and Latino students. | From: Chalkbeat Philadelphia (Read more.)
Education
A possible transit strike could force Philadelphia schools to go remote
A strike “would have a devastating impact” on the district and imperil its ability to keep all schools open for in-person learning “five days a week for all students — something we all worked extremely hard to make happen for all students this school year,” he wrote. | From: Chalkbeat Philadelphia (Read more.)
Education
Philly needs more Black teachers. A new report shares insights on how to retain them.
While Superintendent William Hite has said he wants to have 1,000 Black male teachers in the district by 2025, a new national report says schools and districts need to make significant changes to recruit and retain teachers of color. | From: Chalkbeat Philadelphia (Read more.)
Education
Some kids ‘don’t come back’: One Philly school grapples with gun violence
Philadelphia is experiencing historic levels of gun violence. The city hit a grim record of 499 homicides in 2020, and 2021 could prove deadlier — there were 420 homicides as of Tuesday, an 18% increase over the same period the year before. | From: Chalkbeat Philadelphia (Read more.)