COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - - - Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 10:50 a.m. - - - BILL 080158 - Amending Section 19-1801 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Authorization of Tax," to further authorize the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia to impose a tax on real estate within the City of Philadelphia. BILL 080159 - Amending Chapter 19-1800 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "School Tax Authorization," by amending Section 19-1806, entitled "Authorization of Realty Use and Occupancy Tax," to further authorize the Board of Education of the School District of Philadelphia to impose a tax on the use of occupancy of real estate within the School District of Philadelphia. Committee Members Present: Anna C. Verna, Chair Jannie L. Blackwell Darrell L. Clarke Bill Green William K. Greenlee Curtis Jones, Jr. James F. Kenney Maria D. Quinones-Sanchez Marian B. Tasco - - - V A R A L L O Incorporated Litigation Support Specialists 1835 Market Street, Suite 600 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 215.561.2220 215.567.2670 2 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 I N D E X WITNESS School District Thomas M. Brady, Interim CEO,,,,,,,..... C. Jones, Interim Chief Academic Officer 4 Wayne Harris, Budget Director........... 31 Melanie Harris, Chief Info. Officer..... 97 *Jerry Jordan, PFT President............ 116 S. Simmons, Education Director, PCCY.... 152 Parents United for Public Education Rev. Paul Weeks, Shalom Baptist Church 148 Gerald Wright........................... 171 Rev. Leroy Simmons, Germantown Clergy 177 Helen Gym............................... 184 Mimi Shapiro, Retired District Teacher 206 Kay O-Q, CMAC........................... 231 Cecilia Thompson........................ 234 Philadelphia Right to Education Vernard Johnson......................... 250 Wm. Mackey, Citywide Youth Leadership 265 PDR Swimming Team, Marcus Foster Mike Major, President................... 288 Tracy Freeland, Assistant Coach......... 296 Sharon Luzier........................... 297 Carly Bolger, School District........... 307 Howard, PDR Swimmer..................... 312 Chelsea, PDR Swimmer.................... 314 Sandra Allen, Zion Summer Day Camp...... 316 Emerson Willis, Parent of PDR Swimmers 317 F. Gallard, School Dist. Media Relations 329 G. Jordan-Detamore, Masterman Student 331 Jan Sklaroff, Retired District Teacher 340 (*Live testimony abbreviated; full written testimony is attached hereto.) 3 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Good morning. This is a continued public hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill No.'s 080158 and 080159. (Witnesses come forward.)
At this time, the Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
I'd like to take you back to the alternative school situation, and I want to have some clarity on the process. I understand that the contracts are about to expire. 4 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Good morning. Cassandra Jones, Interim Chief Academic Officer. The alternative ed providers contracts, we actually issued through our legal counsel a letter terminating their contracts effective June 19th or 20th of this month. And what we are doing is negotiating a one-year contract, not a contract extension, but we are actually looking at the indicators, we're looking at some cost efficiencies, and looking at having no 19 break in services for our students, and then having a new contract for one year, from June of 2008 until June of 2009. In May, an RFP, a request for proposal, is going to go out that's going to totally restructure 5 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 alternative education for our students. It's not only the disciplinary schools, but it's also for the students who are over-aged and under-credentialed and who need a different kind of educational experience. And that request for proposal will go out nationally. We're looking at lots of models for best practice in terms of around the country and how we have structured the RFP as well as looking at the needs -- the lessons learned over the last eight years of doing alternative education. Over the summer, we will have a -- or in the early spring, rather, we will have a bidders conference, and then we will, over the summer, have those proposals come in, which will be reviewed by the committee that's made up of members of our task force now, both members internal to the District as well as external to the District, 6 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 with the recommendation going to Dr. Ackerman and the SRC in fall of 2008, looking at January of 2009 for some preliminary projects to come up with full implementation of a totally restructured alternative ed program July 1, 2009.
Well, in light of the information that you supplied Council on the demographics, I'm looking at performance measures for African-American males, Latino males in particular jumps out at me. Is there going -- and is there a correlation between those poor reading and mathematic levels among that demographic and some of the disciplinary problems that we see? And if so, is that going to be considered in the RFP that you put out?
When you look -- all of those factors were parts of some of the things we looked at in the RFP. 7 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 I think one of the things that we're looking at specifically is the behavior of the students, not just the academic, which is certainly -- the reading levels, our math performers are certainly drivers, but we're looking at some of the life circumstances also and how early are we intervening with these students. So that some of the -- one of the things that we're looking at is if we had intervened earlier with more sustained effort and reaching out beyond the District looking at some of our social and City agencies to partner with us, we can get ahead of that, so you will see those kinds of elements in the RFP. And part of the other thing that, when we come into service is, it will not be a program or an initiative that is going to be such a -- centered in just the District. The RFP is written in such a way that, yes, we 8 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 are looking at that performance in academics, but also what are the City services, what are the community organizations that we have proven over the years have addressed these behaviors so that we can change the structure. So it is looking at lessons learned. And we actually have quite a bit of the data. Dr. Sheffield from out -- the Accountability Office actually runs the data that we provided for you, and if you would like, we can go through that for you.
I appreciate that and look forward to that. One other question. We had recent hearings in reference to some problems we've had with youth on SEPTA that has caused some violent occurrences on -- along the Broad Street line. My colleague Councilman Greenlee is co-chair of that committee. 9 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 And one of the things that we were trying to get our arms around is, is there a coordinated effort between the School Board, SEPTA, the police to address some of the issues surrounding it? And one of the alternative schools, which I won't mention in stereotype, is involved in that, or at least some of the students were mentioned to have been involved in that. And how are we addressing that issue of juvenile violence? Some of them happen to be members of public schools. How are we working to coordinate the relief, that effort?
Good morning. My name is Fred Farlino. I'm the Interim Chief Operating Officer. Councilman, we recently participated in the hearings; I guess they were last week --
-- where we had 10 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 both our education component as well as school police testify regarding the very question you asked. And we reported at that time that the School District of Philadelphia's police, internal police, as well as the Philadelphia police and the SEPTA police have an excellent working relationship. And we primarily -- and, obviously, this is seasonal; there are hot spots along the SEPTA system and. We do the best we can to coordinate our efforts and --
Well, I hear what you are saying, and I take that as true, except for the fact that when we ask people what was the frequency of meetings and how did they coordinate, that was a little murky for me. And then I also wanted to know specifically, are we dealing with let-out times? are we calculating that based on bus schedules? are we 11 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 comparing that to other schools? and are we finding that these problems occur at a particular time of day? and how are we specifically addressing that?
Locally, we have the ability, through our principal principals, to stagger dismissal schedules in a particular part of the City, but even though we're doing that, ultimately, within a half an hour to 45 minutes, even though there are staggered times, you still have the vast majority of students who are using the SEPTA lines to travel to and from school. But we intentionally stagger our admission and dismissal times for the reason that you are mentioning.
I just wanted to get some specifics on frequency of meetings and -- because problems tend to adjust and shift. They're creative. And to make sure 12 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 that we are regularly monitoring acts of violence and adapting, just like some of the young people that are actually committing some of these crimes and are meeting regularly as a task force. So I wanted to know about the frequency of --
If we could, we could get back to you and provide you with the information that you're asking for.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilman Green.
Thank you, Madam Chair. You mentioned the costing-out study in your testimony and that Philadelphia-- according to it, 13 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Philadelphia needs a billion dollars more a year than we currently get from the State or from some source, from some revenue sources. We're getting 86 million more, I think, under this year's budget. And the total amount that -- the whole costing-out study, I think, called for 4.3 to 4.5 billion for the State schools, 1 billion of that to Philadelphia. And 2.6 billion has been put in the budget as long as -- it's not a definite increase; it's only an increase if the State budget is balanced and they're not having trouble elsewhere.
My question is: How much is Philadelphia going to get over the next six years?
The Governor's 14 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 proposed budget -- and, Councilmember, thanks for the question. Actually, the costing-out study says 2.3 billion, and so that -- of which Philadelphia is one billion short. So the Governor, in his six-year budget, proposes to address that --
The costing-out studies -- I didn't understand what you just said. For the whole --
The total is 2.3 billion; I don't know where you got the 4 billion figure.
From the costing-out study, but that doesn't matter. A billion to Philadelphia, that's what is important.
Yeah. It's projected out in the next six years if the Governor's budget is approved each year for an incremental increase to make up for the $1 billion gap. 15 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Well, it's for the Commonwealth, so as you look at it, we're at 84 million more this year and it's for the next -- I'm --
I don't believe that's correct. I don't believe we get a billion.
My question really is: How much of the billion are we going to get?
Okay. 16 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 That's fine. If you had a billion dollars coming in next year, what would you do with it?
Look at the key drivers for academic success. You'd look at lower class size; you'd hire the teachers to lower class size; you'd look at intervention specifically for the achievement gap; look at a substantial investment in safety, facility security, to improve the learning environment. And it sounds like almost a Christmas wish list for a billion dollars, so it would be targeted interventions for proven academic reform. And it would address many of the things you brought up yesterday about what does a district look for in transforming a city and helping to transform a city and bringing the quality of elementary in Center City, 17 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 lowering class size, et cetera, et cetera. So it would put us on a whole new level if we had that billion dollars.
If you had a billion dollars and -- do you think more parents would choose the Philadelphia public school system? In other words, will there be enough schools in the school system that we won't lose our middle class with young kids to the suburbs?
Again, theoretically, if we had a billion dollars a year, that would address both the adequacy and the equity of distribution within Philadelphia. Our school still system would be transformed; it would be in the process of being transformed, having the resources to do it. And over time, it would address the issue that you talked about, which would be the 18 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 quality of every school reaching where it should be. It's not going to happen overnight. And if those who said, Well, you -- it would be over a period of time. I think many people would say, "Show me," and it would be results of achievement tests, et cetera. So, yeah, it would be a steady -- in my opinion, it would be a steady improvement and a very rapid improvement if given the resources, yes.
Do you have sort of a business plan, a strategic plan for how you're going to spend the additional dollars that are coming in, 86 million this year --
Well, we have a 19 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 five-year plan that --
It projects the -- we have a five-year plan which addresses the known revenue and projected revenue, and we err on the Governor's budget being accepted. So yes.
So let's just call that 600 million of the billion that you would get over the next six years. If you had 600 million today, would you also say that the School District could -- would be in the midst of a transformational training?
It would allow the SRC and the CEO to do certain -- to accelerate the proven reforms that we have in process now, yes.
So in six years, we should be looking at the beginning of the transformational 20 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 changes of the Philadelphia School District with that additional $600 million in State funding?
I think words are important. I think transformation of the school system --
Sorry. That was your word. I just -- (Timer bell rings.)
Began about -- okay. I think within a period of six years, there would be a significant improvement -- a continued improvement in the School District of Philadelphia if given those resources, yes.
Mr. Brady, can you tell us how many attorneys the School District employs?
Yes, ma'am, I can. We employ, I believe... 21 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 We're budgeted for 33 employees in the District Council -- and I will check to make sure that they're practicing attorneys. (Mr. Brady confers with colleagues.)
You know, we're going through the budget book, and in calculating, it would appear that there are more than 33.
All right. What is the average pay that an attorney receives? 22 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
And they are full-time employees? What do they do full-time?
There is a -- as in any large enterprise, we have a number of claims, we have a number of -- contract review, we have -- perhaps the general counsel is here to join us? Labor relations. But we can get a detailed list to you.
I wish you would, because I think that if they're making $110,000, the question is: Are they full-time? because I think we had testimony from the District attorney and also the Public Defenders Office indicating that their pay range is far less than $110,000. They have preparation of cases, they go into court every day. So I would like to know what the attorneys do, please. 23 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Greenlee.
I just have a -- I guess it's a general question, and I know it probably could be a long answer, so I guess I'm just looking for a highlight. First of all, thank you for all of the information you gave on demographics. It looks like you broke it down every which way here, and we appreciate that and doing it so quickly. But I know generally, just looking through it quickly, it looks like -- and I guess this is not, unfortunately, surprising that even 24 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 though the gap has shortened between Latino and black students as compared to Asian and white, there's still a significant gap. And I know you touched on this both yesterday in one of your answers to Councilman Jones, but can you just kind of highlight first what you think that's been done already to shorten that gap and what can be continually do you see to be done to keep shrinking it? And I know that could be a long answer, but I guess, you know, I'm just --
Cassandra Jones, Chief Academic Officer, and I'll try to just put in it lay terms.
When we brought in 25 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 the core curriculum, one of the issues was, because we wanted to make sure that every child was going to be able to have the same standard of what they needed to learn, how they got there could look a lot of different ways. Then we looked at the learning styles of different children. Some people do hands-on; some, you know, small group, manipulative; some can respond to stand and deliver. Different learning styles that our children need. Then we looked at the professional development and just kind of a cultural awareness that there are differences in the way that children come and learn and the experiences that they're coming to the classroom. So in the short answer, we looked at those kinds of major things, looking at the children who are coming from English as a second language, looking at our students with special 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 education students. So you have different categories of students and the way that they -- what they need to learn. And what we made a very conscious decision is that the bar could not change. It's the accommodations, it's the other resources that you would need based on the needs of the student, changing the way that we do professional development that is more targeted, as well as the professional development for our leaders. And so those are the kinds of things that we've done to close the gap. Then it's the monitoring, because you can do all of that and it's what we're saying, but if we're not seeing if it's really happening and then addressing it where we don't see it happening, that's what we've done. 27 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 So through our school stat, which is every six and ten weeks monitoring of exactly what's being taught in the classroom and what we need to do to change it, looking at that, and then looking at that data by group. So after we look at it by the whole district and then by grade, we're saying this population in this school -- African-American males, the females, Latinos, the white students -- you know, where are we finding the gaps, and then going through that and saying, what is it about this particular age group, what is it about this particular subgroup that we need to address, and then really taking it apart, going back to the curriculum and saying you got to reteach this, you got to reassess it another way, and going back. So those are the things we're doing. It's showing improvement, but 28 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 we still need to figure out, as we are working very hard, to accelerate that learning, because it's not about remediation; it's how do we accelerate it.
Mm-hmm, okay. I appreciate that. And just -- you brought up English-as-a-second-language students. Have those number of students increased over time, or are they -- what kind of things are you doing particularly with students that are English-as -- ESL, I think, is the term, right?
I know something about it 'cause my wife teaches it, so I know a little bit about that.
We understand the question. Again, that is another one of our subgroups. We have a task force 29 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 that really helps to give us some feedback. Margaret Chin from my office actually gives us a lot of guidance. We've had some studies that really start to speak to some of the specific things, so very concretely, a welcome center. That doesn't sound like a lot until you find out that that's something that was really missing in terms of just how you get our students into the system. Looking at how we provide the services for our ELL students in terms of -- an experience that I actually had that really brought it front and center to me was being in a meeting and having a translator translate for me at a meeting, and I can remember leaving that meeting and said, Tell me this is not how our children are learning calculus. And so it helped us to change how we're providing the professional development and the 30 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 resources. It is smaller classes, it is looking at a continuum of services so that students are going to exit out of our ELL services but has provided them with the intensive services that they need at the beginning so that they can exit out. Lots more to do, but I will say thanks to the group of -- the work of the task force that's led by Margaret Chin in that office. They have really started to come into -- they are now part of the curriculum. Before, it was a side. When you look into our core curriculum now, it's what is there for every students; it's no longer just a side.
You're welcome. The Chair recognizes 31 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Councilman Jones.
Thank you again. Quickly, Title I programs are determined by income levels, and is that determined by census on the federal level?
It's determined by a free and reduced lunch requirement, and it's --
Okay. And how often do we evaluate that eligibility? (Witness comes forward.)
Councilman, my name's Wayne Harris. I'm the School District's budget director. The School District actually has a school-wide feeding program at a 32 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 very large number of schools. As a result of having a school-wide feeding program, we do not have the information that many districts have about our parents' income because parents don't like to fill out those forms in any case, and if their children are going to get free or reduced-price lunch anyway, we therefore do not have the information. So what we do instead is a study done by a professor named Yancy, who is at one of the Philadelphia universities, that extrapolates publicly-available information on -- starting with poverty information and estimates the poverty rate at each and every school, and that is actually the number that we use to distribute the Title I funds.
And what other programs are Title I-eligible students eligible to receive other than a free lunch? 33 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Oh, oh. Actually, there's no connection between the free-lunch program and Title I except that we happen to use the same estimate of poverty for both programs. Otherwise --
-- 'cause there's no such thing as a free lunch. What programs do Title I students get?
Well, Title I funds the -- the majority of Title I funds are distributed directly to schools. They're distributed based on the number of students in poverty as well as the concentration of poverty in the school. The higher the concentration, the more per student in poverty that the school gets. And at the school level, the principal makes the decision on what 34 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 they spend the money on. The requirement is that the money be spent for instructional programs only. We also use some Title I funds for allowable expenses that -- the Title I funds, in addition, go to the non-public schools, using the same calculations as for our schools. And then at the center, we use it for allowable assessment costs, for a lot of professional-development efforts, for parent involvement efforts.
All right. So how -- again, back to my original question: How often do you evaluate who is eligible for Title I?
Well, in the School District of Philadelphia, every single child at every single school is eligible for Title I.
Every one of our schools is a school-wide program at 35 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 this time.
So you concede that a Rittenhouse Square, whatever their school is, the public school right there, is also eligible for Title I?
Yes, because every one of our schools has an official poverty estimate that exceeds 35 percent.
And only because I only have five minutes, I won't go beyond that, and I'm sure some of my other colleagues will jump on that. The reason I raise this is, isn't a part of the Title I eligibility a tutorial program when kids fall below a certain grade level?
Yes. There's something called "supplemental education support" that is available to children who do not reach advanced or proficient level, and they are eligible to be part of a program where there's a 36 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 set group of providers that are approved, and the children can sign up for those programs, and the cost is paid for by the District's Title I program.
And if the principal opts not to use that, that money then goes to whatever -- or what eligible category of spending?
Well, the principal isn't involved in the decision as to whether or not to do it --
-- it's whether or not the child signs up. If the -- in all of Title I, if something is not spent, it effectively rolls forward into the next year because Title I is a 27-month program and --
Let me get to my point and why I'm raising this 37 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 series of questions. It's my understanding that that program is underutilized, that a lot of parents don't know about it. When they find out about it, it's a 17-day spread that they get that tutorial; is that correct?
Actually, I can speak to what you're talking about, Councilman. In terms of the SES, those dollars are separate. A school can't -- a principal cannot say, "You are not going to do the SES." And what happens is, the providers have to be on an approved list from the State, and then we have several bidder conferences, where people come in, parents come in. We do them at the school, we do them centrally, we do them in the region, and then we send these letters home. We actually call.
All right. 38 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 The point being: Are they underutilized?
Well, I would say that we would like to see more people take advantage of them, yes.
All right. So we have to do a better job of marketing these resources, particularly to the under -- you gave some stats about who's not performing, and we have some funds over here that we aren't using. We ought to get peanut butter to meet jelly and do something with that to provide some assistance to that population.
Excuse me, Councilman. Councilman Green has a point of information. Councilman Green?
Thank you, 39 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Madam President, Madam Chair. Thank you, Councilman Jones. Councilman Jones asked a question, which I think we could get a specific answer to, so I just want to ask you to provide it to the Chair for the record. And so the question was: Is it underutilized? My question is: How many students -- what is the number of students that are not proficient or better? And what is the number of students who have taken advantage of the SES program? And do you know that off --
Actually, in the information we provided for you -- and I will out -- we provided you the number of students who have the -- who took advantage of SES services now. And, Dr. Sheffield, if you will answer his first question, I will do the second. This year in terms of the 40 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 students, the number of students who enrolled in our -- and it's called "Supplemental Education Services," it's 1,127 students who actually took advantage of that this year.
I don't know the numbers; I have the percentages in front of me.
There's a 41 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 significant number.
Well, 59 -- how many students are in the School District?
I'd say about 70,000. If you'd ask me just roughly, around 70,000 kids who are below basic -- basic and below.
Okay. So 2 percent -- less than 2 percent of the people eligible for SES are using it.
If you look at the formula -- and we will actually get the official formula -- the students who are not proficient are eligible for a few things, so SES does not -- just, first of all, the pot of money does not cover every child who's not proficient, and so there are several things the District is required to do. SES has to serve the neediest students, so there is a cutoff point, and I will get you the exact --
Has to serve 42 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 the what, the neediest students?
The students that are the neediest. So to answer your question, you have -- let's say, just for the sake of an example, if I had a thousand students who were not proficient, and the Title I dollars on a scale would allow us to serve the neediest half of those students, there are other programs that we have to use. So, for instance, the Power Hour, that's another after-school extended service that are used for students who are not proficient. So the Title I SES dollars are not enough to cover every student that's not proficient; it's on a scale, and I will get the exact scale for you.
Okay. But the answer to the question is, it's extraordinarily underutilized, 43 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 Councilman Jones. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Could I enter just one piece of information? This is for both of the Councilmen who are asking these questions. The School District is required to set aside percent of 10 its Title I funds. There's 141, 11 approximately, million in the current 12 year, and 20 percent of that is 13 $28 million. 14 Some of that money does not 15 get spent, which includes the SES 16 money. Some of the money that's 17 actually sent to the schools actually 18 does not get spent. 19 And, as a result, the School 20 District, because this is a well- established program that's been around for a long time, we are very aggressive in the way that we budget this. We budget $160 million on a $40 million grant because we know 44 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 ahead of time that a certain amount of money will not be spent. So while it is perfectly appropriate to discuss whether or not the SES program is being effective and whether or not the SES program is being underutilized, the concept that there is money in Title I that is not being used, that is lying around and being wasted and a resource that's not happening is not correct. Every single dollar of Title I is being used as aggressively as possible for our students.
If the rooster crows and the sun comes up, did the rooster cause the sun to come up? No. That's a riddle. But my point is, the statistics say that I have a group, a population that can't read and do math. We have funds that are available to up that level of proficiency. Whatever the reasons why 45 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 and who shot John, I don't care; what I do care about is that we target those resources towards that population and get it in the hands of people that need it. Why? Because if they know by 4th grade that if a urban kid cannot read, how many jail cells to build by the time they're 18? There is a solution in understanding that particular statistic: Teach 'em how to read, team them how to do math, and we may solve that problem. So my point is, we won't -- too often, we leave resources underutilized, and we have to find creative ways to make sure that parents know about it and that students use it. And that's my point.
And well taken. And we would say that looking at the resources that we're using, we shared the ways we're doing it. It is not 46 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 enough until every child, you know, is going to be proficient, until we've used all of these dollars as efficiently as possible, and it means that we still have to come up with better ways of partnering to get the word out. And then after you get the word out, you know, it's at a point now where I think the District has done a wonderful job in getting the word out, but that's still just a part of the equation. You got to make sure you make the connection and people can for whatever the barriers are.
Just -- 'cause I know Councilman Green took some of my time.
Poor attempt at humor. What I want to say with that is that if Hooked on Phonics can help 47 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 some of these young people, and for days under Title I, we can get that to some parents that don't -- that are frustrated, can't help their kids with their homework but this could actually give them a edge to achieve, we need to use it, and we need to find ways, through the home and school associations, to put it out there. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you, 16 Madam Chair. 17 Can you tell me what percentage of students that are school-aged in Philadelphia attend Philadelphia public schools?
Okay. I will save those questions then. So back to the billion dollars 48 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 and the $600 million. With the resources currently available to the School District, can you fulfill your core mission?
Given the performance in the last five years, we're continuing to improve in that -- core to accomplish that core mission, yes.
-- are you performing your core mission? Are you effective at what you do?
Effectiveness is by many different scales. We have shown performance improvement in the last five years.
Sure. But, I mean, you know, going from 40 to 50 49 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 is still a -- not a passing grade. So my question -- this is an important question. I mean, do you have the resources to fulfill your core mission? I know it's all you have and you can't do anything about it, and you're doing the best you can with what you have. I don't dispute the intent of the people to fulfill the mission with the resources. But this question really is: Do you have the resources to fulfill your mission?
Clearly, even the costing-out study indicates that we don't --
Right. So the answer -- you don't have enough resources to fulfill your mission; you'd agree with that statement?
I'm saying that the 50 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 costing-out study indicates we're a billion dollars short every year.
Okay, thank you. So -- I apologize if this was discussed yesterday when I wasn't here, but are you aware of any research that -- what is the optimal size for class size for students?
We just did a study on this, and Dr. Sheffield will address that, Councilmember.
Actually, the research is all over the place on it, but there is some definitive research that says in K-3, or below. 18
The maximum 20 benefit comes in the early -- in the early years.
Okay. So I asked a question -- well, I'll get to that at the end. Did the study look at what 51 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 factors, other than class size, lead to student success?
There's research that speaks to quality of instruction, rigor in the classroom, quality of the teachers. There's a pretty good body of research that tells us the attributes required for student growth in addition to research that tells us around class size.
And ten being, you know, a class size of twenty or below, rigor and quality of, you know --
-- et cetera, where does the Philadelphia School District -- zero being, you know, the worse possible case, where does the Philadelphia School District fall on that scale?
I can't answer that question. We haven't done research to quantify that, but we have 52 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 done research that suggests to us on a lot of measures that -- we've done four or five best practices that are really making a difference. One is having highly qualified staff; two is implementation of the core curriculum; three is having an assessment system, which is benchmarks that are aligned to the curriculum that allow us to be informed of our students progress; and the fourth one is quality professional development, which directly relates to the quality of the instructor in the classroom.
So we do have a research study that tells us that we have done that, we're moving in the right direction. The issue for us is continuous growth on those measures.
We're showing incremental improvement, and I acknowledge that, and I guess what I'm 53 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 asking, though, is back to sort of the analogy I was making yesterday about the patient and the metrics that I am using to determine whether or not the patient is alive or barely breathing --
-- and that is class size, rigor, quality, the things that you just discussed, engaged principals, et cetera. Where are we towards achieving that? I mean, I'd like you to -- if you can, I'd like you to say how far away we are from the ideal, from ten.
You'd have to say your question in a different way. I'm trying to understand where you're going. There's -- we don't have a measurement. If you're asking me, If there's 10,000 classrooms, are 8,000 of them there? That's too hard to tweak out what you're asking, if I'm hearing you right. 54 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59
Well, you are hearing me right because those maybe are metrics just as important as PSSA. And, as Councilman Jones likes to say, if it isn't measured, it isn't managed. So if we don't know how many of our principals are engaged in a way the research says they need to be and how many of our students are in class size below and how many schools 13 have active parent involvement and how 14 many, et cetera, et cetera, if we 15 don't know those things -- 16
-- we can't 19 move towards those things that we know 20 are successful. Those are the things that we know are successful for kids. Everything else we do is incremental. So we need to be looking at a plan that gets us towards those goals, not the goal of increasing test 55 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 scores, because that will come when we have those things in our schools. That's what I'm talking -- that's where I'm going.
We actually have a score card to answer -- that's a different question you just posed. We do have a score card that can tell you how many parent organizations in growth over the last five years. I can answer all of those questions. The notion for us is continuous improvement and growth in terms of students, and I can provide you our value-added documents, which suggest and tell us that we are moving our students in terms of growing them substantially more than any other district in the state. So we are growing -- the notion is about moving students incrementally up. You don't -- you very rarely, when you look at data 56 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 across the country do you see these huge leaps. The notion is moving to them from below basic to basic, to proficient, to advanced; that we're successful in doing, and I can provide you all of that information. And if we continue on the same track of additional supports, as our CEO indicated, I believe we will be successful, but it's how we move them.
But within test scores is not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is these other metrics -- class size, engaged principals. Do we know the number of engaged principals the way the research says the principal has to be engaged there are out of the 291 that are in the School District? And if we don't know the answer to those questions, my -- I guess what I'm saying is, we're measuring -- it's important to measure student achievement, but we need to 57 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 measure a lot of other factors that make schools successful that we're not currently measuring.
And we do. I want to give a very specific example. Our regional superintendents work directly with our principals and so, in terms of engaged, they have a performance --
How many out of the 291 meet the criteria that would suggest from the research that we have engaged principals? What's the number? Of our 291 principals, how many are engaged the way the research says they need to be?
All of our principals are engaged in the way that the research shows, because part of what the research shows is that where there is any need for assistance, we are to provide it. So this is not a silver bullet. You don't have a principal 58 4/29/08 - WHOLE - BILLS 080158,59 description and say, You're in the school, sink or swim. And so we have a process for any principal who is in front of our students who's running a school, and where there is a need for additional support -- and now I'm not talking even just professional development in terms of engaging them in instruction and operation. But just as we're working with any principal, we find out that there's a need to have a mentor or a coach that that principal gets that. So when you're talking about engaged, you have to define "engaged." I'll give you specifics. You asked yesterday --