The Philadelphia School Partnership was founded with a mission “to accelerate” the pace of education reform in Philadelphia and to raise $100 million to wield its agenda. So why has PSP in its short tenure here become such a polarizing institution? Hmm . . could it be the fact that they: Have prominent voucher advocates on … Continue reading
Category Archives: Choice/Charters
Don’t buy the false promises of privatization
Parents United statement in support of Steel Elementary School
Parents United for Public Education fully endorses the concerns of parents and community members of Steel Elementary School who are outraged over what is effectively an 8-day process to determine if Steel remains a neighborhood public school or not. More than 100 parents came out on April 8 to hear the District speak for the first time about … Continue reading
“Dump the losers”: Where do District and City leaders really stand?
How shocked should we be really? On Friday, Philadelphia School Partnership’s Mark Gleason embraced a stunningly blunt description of the District’s “portfolio model” at a session of the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting. Gleason was attempting to explain why the portfolio model depends on school closings in a system where multiple operators run schools. … Continue reading
From the White House to Diane Ravitch: A whirlwind week for Parents United
The past week has been kind of a whirlwind as a host of events converged around our Parents United work seemingly all at once. I thought I’d share a few thoughts about what it’s been like. TEDx Philadelphia By far one of the most intense experiences of my life was going on stage at TEDx … Continue reading
The School District’s big Trust problem
“Who will be the first to step up and earn our students’ trust and prove that our children are the most important? Who will start a new era of trust to create a public education model we all can take pride in?” Trust is an important aspect in all relationships. Lack of trust has the ability … Continue reading
SRC meeting on changing student enrollment and placement
Monday, Jan. 13, 2013 6 p.m. (arrive earlier for seats) 440 N. Broad Street, 2nd flr. auditorium No registration necessary. This Monday, the School Reform Commission meeting will weigh the “pros and cons” of changing the way students enroll and are placed in District schools, as well as potentially charter and Catholic schools. Continue reading
Philadelphia Schools Partnership seeks private management over student placement
(This blog post was first published at the Philadelphia Public School Notebook. Read it here) For months, the Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) has been working to put in place a new citywide process for placing students in schools. Most troubling is that PSP wants this process to be run by an outside, private entity that is created … Continue reading