By David H. Urmann
The School District of Philadelphia is a school district in Pennsylvania established in 1818. It includes primary to secondary schools. It is the eighth largest school district in the United States. It is known for its no-child-is-left-behind policy.
The School District of Philadelphia is dedicated to creating a positive and safe environment to all the students, parents, staff, teachers and community partners. Their core beliefs gave a strong foundation to the continued success of the district.
They prioritize the children first of all, along with parents as their partners. They also believe that the success of a classroom relies on a teacher with strong leadership and accountability.
The No Child Left Behind Program is one of their main thrusts in achieving high levels of improvement and progress in all students. This program honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools that can demonstrate superior academic achievement.
A few educational institutions in Philadelphia already received the 2008 No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools. Among the selected schools are George Washington Carver High School of Engineering, Philadelphia's Russell Conwell Middle School and Science High School. The continuing support of the governing body of Philadelphia's School District gave a new face on good reforms on the overall situation of the schools.
The school board of Philadelphia was created in 1850 to supervise schools in the vicinity. During 1867 the Act of Assembly appointed the judges as controllers of the public schools to eliminate politics from the management. The state took over the district and the governor appointed five members for the new school reform commission. In spite of the funding problems and the threat to shut down the schools, the government of Philadelphia still managed to have a new management structure.
In the end, district–managed schools are given additional resources and restructured interventions to gain larger achievements for the children's future.
The School District of Philadelphia has 8 school types namely; the preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, technical/vocational school, programs, special school and charter school.
The African-American was among the most student-enrolled sector by ethnicity for public and charter schools. Second is the Hispanic, and third are the white Americans. Among the fourth and fifth on standing are Asian and Native American.
There are 291 public schools and 55 charter schools in Philadelphia. Students enrolled as of mid-October 2005 were about 184,560. Now, more students rely upon the good governance and success of its plans for the near future.
The District offers three main options for the improvement of student achievement. First is to implement a system-wide academic initiative within the programs. Second is to select a number of schools for immediate intervention. Third is the implementation of academic initiatives throughout the schools in the district.
The district is governed by the five-member School Reform Commissions. The success and failure of the district governance has not been driven that much by what the last governing body did. The new structure of Philadelphia School Districts refocuses on making policies and monitoring performance, as well as balancing the academic and financial goals. It also listens to the concerns of parents. This situation creates a governing support for improvement.
The School District provides free school bus service and free student tokens to their students to meet eligibility requirements. There are reduced fair tokens to students who do not meet the requirements.
The district serves about 117,000 lunches and 52,000 breakfasts, 4,200 for snacks and 5 to 10 thousand for dinner meals. About 76 percent of the students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. High school students are given job opportunities in the federal government.
The district plans to give every student a kind of world-class education, equitable resource allocation for the students' needs and accountability for all adults in the District base.
The 45-Day action plan is the first initiative in support of empowering different schools. Schools will receive professional development, quarterly assessment in math and reading, assistance to response team and monthly walk-through. Other supports include instructional specialists, full-time and substitute teachers, increased nursing services and social service liaisons.
The success of the new structures and services made a confident move in making the School District of Philadelphia gain awards in their No Child Left Behind Program. Today, more and more nomination to Pennsylvania schools is being submitted for possible recognition of the No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools.
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