High aims for high schools

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More than half the freshman high-school students in the School District of Philadelphia failed ninth grade last year.

Each year, roughly 20,000 students enter high school, but less than half of them will graduate.

Of the 61,000 high-school students in the city, only 1,011 took advanced-placement exams last year.

These are some of the disturbing yet familiar statistics that have earned Philadelphia’s high schools a bad reputation. School District of Philadelphia CEO Paul Vallas acknowledged these problems a week ago when he unveiled the district’s comprehensive reforms affecting all 45 city high schools.

"Our high schools have to change. We owe it to our young people," he said. "Our high schools have to be high schools that are going to offer the opportunities that our young people so richly deserve."

The district is calling the plan the "Secondary Education Movement." It was devised during the last seven months by an 80-person task force consisting of administrators, students, principals, local universities and representatives from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

"This is not just another school reform," Vallas said. "This is a high-school movement."

The plan promises greater school choice for students, smaller classes and schools, increased support for struggling students, and a wider selection of course offerings at the neighborhood high schools.

Of course, there is a cost.

The district expects to spend $150 million — $30 million each year for the next five years. That money will be spent almost exclusively on personnel, Vallas said. Expenses like building new high schools and renovating others already have been budgeted for in the district’s five-year, $1.5-billion capital- improvement plan unveiled in December.

Half of the yearly sum — $15 million — for secondary-school reforms will come from reallocating existing money.

"There is tremendous waste in our high schools," Vallas said.

Another $10 million will be squeezed from the contracts the district has with the private companies hired to manage some of the city’s schools. Vallas said he would detail which contracts would be renegotiated when the district makes its budget presentation in March.

The remaining $5 million, he said, will come from federal sources, corporate contributions, and foundations and other agencies.

With that money, the school district will provide all high-school administrators, teachers and staff with year-round professional development. It also plans to double the number of guidance counselors within a year — there are currently 114 spread among the city’s high schools.

Many of next year’s ninth-graders will notice changes by this summer. The district wants to end "social promotion," meaning eighth-graders performing below required levels in math and reading will be assigned to summer school to catch up before September, Vallas said.

Incoming freshmen also will take part in mandatory high-school orientations and enroll in double periods of math and English.

All high-school students will benefit from smaller class sizes and reduced school populations. This year, 20 schools had enrollments of 1,000 to 2,000 students. Four schools have populations of 2,000 or more. At the end of the five-year plan, Vallas said, each high school will have about 800 students.

By 2007, the district expects to have opened five new high schools and have converted nine middle schools into high schools. These institutions will be open to students citywide, probably with some seats reserved at each for students from the surrounding neighborhood, the CEO noted.

Vallas predicted this would ease the rush of students who apply to enroll in the city’s magnet schools. Additionally, the neighborhood high schools will offer advanced International Baccalaureate Programs open to students citywide.

"It is important for us to expand and improve our high-school options right now," Vallas said. "We don’t want to wait."

Notables joining Vallas behind the podium in support of his plan were School Reform Commission Chairman James Nevels, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Ted Kirsch and the city’s Secretary of Education, Debra Kahn.

These reforms should raise the quality of education at all high schools, particularly those that are now lagging, Nevels predicted.

"The high-school plan that the administration is presenting today is all about equity," he said. "That means good things for all of the high schools in Philadelphia and all 60,000 students."

Kirsch said he has been excited about the reforms since the first time he met with Vallas and the two spent two hours discussing ways to improve the high schools.

"Being a partner of such a wonderful plan has brought to so many of us a new optimism and a new enthusiasm," Kirsch said. "[We] look forward to giving each and every student what they so richly deserve."