Good afternoon, Education Chair Isaiah Thomas and members of the Education Committee. My name is Robin Reilly and I am a proud mother of four children and a resident of the 2nd Councilmanic District. Thank you for convening this important hearing on PreK Pushout Education. Chair Thomas, you may not remember this, but you knew my son when he was in the 3rd Grade, Sankofa Freedom Academy. I want to begin by thanking you for the encouragement and the support you showed us during this time. It meant more to our family than you probably realized. I am here today because I want to share my son's story. I hope it illustrates why we need stronger connections between public health, early intervention and early childhood education so that children receive the timely, high-quality supports they need before they are pushed out of the learning environments. When my son was 3 years old, he was diagnosed with lead poisoning. He was already receiving early intervention services at that time, and I believed he was getting the help needed. What I didn't know and what no one explained to me was how lead poisoning can affect the child's developing brain. I wasn't told that lead exposure can impact the child's ability to regulate emotions, control impulses, pay attention or manage behavior. I also wasn't connected to specialized services that could address those developmental and behavioral impacts. Instead, the services we receive focus primarily on academic and cognitive milestones. My son could recite the ABCs, identify numbers and learn quickly. His challenge was never his ability to learn. His challenge was that lead exposure affected his behavior. He was impulsive, energetic, and had difficulty staying seated. And sometimes he struggled to regulate his emotions. Looking back, I now understand the many behaviors adults viewed as challenging were likely connected to the neurological effects of lead poisoning. When he entered PreK, instead of asking what supports does this child need to succeed, the response was that he was too difficult to manage. It became clear that my son wasn't being supported. He was being pushed out. That moment changed the trajectory of both of our lives. When my son lost access to PreK, he lost the consistency to learning environments and supports that he needed during one of the most important periods of his development. I lost the stability that allowed me to work and continue my education. I eventually lost my job, fell behind on rent, moved into my sister's and had to put my classes at Community College of Philadelphia on hold. But the hardest part was watching the pattern repeat itself. My son was pushed out again in 3rd grade, 4th grade and 6th grade before eventually being placed in a disciplinarian school. Today my son is years old. He 17 works with Philadelphia Parks and 18 Recreation. He is still the 19 bright, hard-working young man I 20 always knew he could be and I 21 couldn't be prouder of him. But I often wonder how different his educational journey could have been if our family had the understanding, if our family had understood the developmental impacts of lead poisoning earlier. If we had been connected to specialized supports and if his teachers had been equipped with the resources to support him instead of excluding him. I respectfully urge City Council to strengthen coordination between lead poisoning and response, early intervention, and the early childhood education by investing in timely, high- quality early intervention services that address children's development and behavioral needs, provide education, but provide educators with the training, coaching and behavioral health supports they need to support all children and expand family navigation services so parents don't have to navigate these systems alone. My son's story taught me that PreK pushout is rarely a single event.
It is often the beginning of a pattern, a pattern of exclusion that follows children throughout their educational journey. Every child deserves to be understood before they are excluded, supported before they are disciplined and given every opportunity to thrive. Thank you for listening to my story and for your commitment to the Philadelphia children and families. Thank you.
You had him for 1st, 2nd, 3rd at the Boys and Girls Club for basketball.
Yep. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you for sharing your story. Please state your name for the record and if you can hold on before you go. Madam Clerk, can you call the next three people so they can prepare. And then after the Clerk calls the next three people so they know they're next, you can state your name for the record and begin with your testimony, and you can go immediately after.
Jessica Evans, Kelly Brown. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
My name is Ebony Baggett. Good afternoon, Council President and members of the Philadelphia City Council. My name is Ebony Baggett. I am the owner and CEO of Bright Minds Bright Beginnings Early Learning Center, as a PreK provider serving children and families in the Huntington Park community. I am also a doctoral candidate at Gwynedd Mercy University, where my research focuses on improving outcomes for young children and families. Today I want to speak not only as an educator, but as someone who has witnessed firsthand what happens when we choose support over exclusion. At Bright Minds Bright Beginnings, we serve children with a wide range of social and emotional behavior needs. Like many early childhood programs, we operate with limited funding. Yet we made the decision to invest in our children instead of pushing them out, we saved ourselves. We hired a behavioral health specialist and therapeutic support staff to support directly alongside our educators, helping them to manage challenging behaviors, strengthening classroom practices and ensuring children receive the support they need to remain successful and be included in the classrooms. Those investments have made a tremendous difference. Our educators feel more confident and supported. Our families know they have partners who will not give up on their children. Most importantly, our children are learning, growing, thriving because they are receiving the interventions they need rather than being excluded from early learning opportunities. PreK has been a gamechanger to our program. Their investment has allowed us to strengthen our workforce, implement meaningful supports, create a culture where every child belongs. Because of this partnership, we have been able to reduce barriers, strengthen family engagement and respond to children's needs with compassion instead of punishment. Preschool pushout is not simply a discipline issue. It is an equality issue. Every child deserves an opportunity to learn in an environment where they are understood, supported and given every chance to succeed. I encourage the City Council to continue investing in the resources that help programs like mine and many others and support children in classrooms, empower educators and support families. Thank you for your continued commitment on Philadelphia's youngest learners and for allowing me to share my story.
Just for clarity, you said you have an onsite behavior support team?
Yes, we have one behavior -- we have one onstaff behavior health specialist on staff every day. And we have therapeutic support staff in the classroom. So in addition to our lead teacher, assistant teachers, there's a TSS in the classroom.
Wow, that's amazing. I thought that's what I heard. Great job. That's essential.
Great. Thank you. Madam Clerk -- I mean, I'm sorry. Next.
Thank you. Good afternoon, members of City Council. My name is Zena Cahill and I am the Early Childhood Education Policy Director at Children First. I'm a resident of Philadelphia's Council District 1, a former child care teacher, administrator and coach. And I'm the parent of a 4-year-old child. I want to thank Councilman Thomas for convening a hearing on preschool pushout to explore solutions to mitigate this practice in Philadelphia. We know that access to quality early childhood education or ECE ensures that kids have a strong foundation for K-12 and beyond. Kids who have access to this service are more likely to graduate high school, attain well-paying jobs and to pass these benefits onto their own children. But we also know that access to ECE is limited for some children and their families through practices that promote pushout, suspension and expulsion and informal methods of exclusion of our city's youngest leaders even if the explicit data documenting these occurrences is not available. At the same time, we know that the ECE sector is experiencing dire challenges, limiting providers' ability to support all young learners to thrive. This includes limited financial resources and increasingly high costs in an already fragile sector, thereby inhibiting staff wages and the ability to recruit and retain qualified educators, the inability to consistently and equitably access professional development resources aimed at ongoing support of children's developmental and mental health needs, and a lack of cross-systems coordination and supports to ensure that children are referred, evaluated and when qualified, able to receive the developmental and mental health services and supports necessary within appropriate timelines. These barriers undermine the effective inclusion of all children in ECE spaces. Exclusionary practices disrupt learning during children's most critical years of development. Preschool-age children spend about 40% of the most significant time of brain development ages 0 to 5 in ECE programming. As such, Philadelphia must explore strategies to support a move away from these practices and promote reforms that support the ECE workforce and families alike. This past fall Children First released Supporting All Young Learners to Thrive, a report on three years of research with parents and providers on suspension and expulsion in early childhood education. It included recommendations like creating reporting and technical assistance protocols to document exclusionary disciplinary decisions and to support providers in family- inclusive planning that promotes effective re-entry to ECE programming for our youngest learners. It also included a recommendation for funding allocated to child care providers to specifically offset the additional costs of effectively serving young children with disabilities and mental health needs, akin to the add-on payments that children with IEPs receive in the K-12 sector. It included a recommendation on coordinated cross-systems communication to more efficiently and effectively support families and providers with swift and timely access to both early intervention and mental health services. This would include an increase in funding for early childhood mental health consultants and family navigators across Philadelphia's sector regardless of funding stream. And finally, access to incentivized, ongoing research-based professional development and --
-- coaching for all child care providers across the city, regardless of funding stream. Again, I applaud the Council for prioritizing this issue for children, families and providers across Philadelphia, and I look forward to moving adequate supports forward to mitigate this practice in our city. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your testimony. All three of you provided some very informative information. Thank you. Clerk, can you please call the next individuals for public comment.
Inella Ray, Jessica Evans, Kelly Brown. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
May I yield to the impacted parents to speak before me? They're right here.
Oh, yes. Oh, I'm so sorry. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Can you please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.
Sure. My name is Jess Evans. Good afternoon, Education Chair Isaiah Thomas, Vice-Chair Anthony Phillips and members of the Education Committee. Thank you for convening this important hearing on PreK pushout. I was born and raised in Port Richmond, am a proud resident of the 1st Councilmanic District and am now raising my 5-year-old son here in Philadelphia. I'm here today because my family's experience shows why Philadelphia must strengthen access to timely, high-quality preschool early intervention services, better support early childhood educators, and ensure families have trusted navigation and advocacy supports. When these systems don't work together, children are too often excluded before they even have a chance to succeed. My son is bright, joyful and full of curiosity. At months old, he began receiving early intervention services through Philadelphia's birth to 3 system, and those services made an incredible difference in his development. But when he transitioned into preschool early intervention, everything changed. We experienced delays, waitlists, inconsistent providers and challenges accessing the services he was entitled to receive. Instead of focusing on helping my son grow during one of the most important stages of his development, I found myself fighting to navigate a system that just wasn't working for families. Then as we searched for a PreK program, I was told before my son had even stepped into a classroom that the program could not support his needs. As a parent, I had done everything I was supposed to do. I sought evaluations early, secured services, attended every meeting and advocated for my son. Yet instead of finding a system ready to support him, we actually encountered barriers that limited his opportunity to learn alongside his peers. Our story isn't unique. It reveals a structural problem when children can't access timely, high-quality preschool. Early intervention services and early learning programs don't have the supports they need to include all children. Exclusion becomes predictable and that exclusion doesn't end in PreK. It follows children into kindergarten and beyond. I urge City Council to invest in timely, high-quality preschool early intervention services, strengthen professional development coaching and technical assistance for early childhood educators and expand family navigation supports so parents don't have to navigate these systems alone. Every child deserves to be welcomed, supported and given the opportunity to thrive. Thank you for listening to my family's story and for your commitment to Philadelphia's children and families.
Thank you so much for your testimony. I applaud the work that you did as a parent. Thank you. Please state your name for the record and proceed.
Proceed with your testimony please. Okay. Thank you.
Hello, everyone. My name is Kelly Brown. First, I want to give honor to God who is first and foremost in my life. I want to say thank you to my colleagues at Children First for the invitation here today. And I also want to say thank you to the members of this Council for your attention to this matter. My name is Kelly Brown. I am the Executive Director of Brilliant Philadelphia, which is a new nonprofit that exists within your Council District, Councilmember Phillips. Thank you for the warm welcome. I'm also here with my colleague Jeff Jones, who is our inaugural community engagement manager. I have a Master's degree in clinical and counseling psychology from Chestnut Hill College. I have a Bachelor's in early childhood education from Howard University in Washington, D.C. In my career since 2000, I've had the opportunity to serve Philadelphia's youngest children through my work as a preschool teacher, a Head Start administrator, a clinical therapist and a grant maker. Today I am here to represent a young man by the name of David Lyons. Y'all get to see him too. I just want you to take about five seconds to look at that picture of David. And please, in your mind or on your notepad, jot down the first word that comes to mind. This is a tale of two districts at the age of 3 to 5. David lived in a two-parent household with a loving family. In PreK, he exhibited behaviors and high-quality preschool settings that included eloping from the building. His parent would get a phone call that he was in the parking lot. He would hit his peers, his teachers and tantrum. Despite his parents' efforts to provide direct support to seek additional support for David, he was suspended and expelled repeatedly. David moved into kindergarten at Dobson Elementary School where he was suspended typically on a Monday, returned on a Wednesday and suspended again on a Thursday. Thanks to Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth at the time, now Children First, the Child Watch Hotline gave David's parents the opportunity to have guidance to access to services. The parents needed access to Medicaid for behavioral health services to exist within his home setting and school setting. They were denied as middle-income families. David received a dedicated therapeutic support staff, behavioral support and mobile therapists. His family even received an attorney pro bono, more than likely from the Education Law Center that helped him to receive an IEP. David was suspended nearly ten times with a goal of not returning to the academic setting and being excused to a room or a program where he would be considered learning disabled.
What you see before you is David Kelly Lyons, my son, who is now on a full academic scholarship at Penn State's main campus, where he is studying cybersecurity. David couldn't be with us today, so I brought the biggest picture I could. He right now is in Morristown, New Jersey, serving his internship. I can't even believe it. You said it, at Lockheed Martin. This is a picture of my son who a year ago went to an event where he learned about this opportunity to just do an internship if he could. And now he happened to be standing in that picture in front of where he's serving today, where we hope he gets a return offer. Thank you.
Thank you. I know you're a proud mother and thank you for being so resourceful for David during his time growing up. I so appreciate it. He's going to do well. All right. Please state your name for the testimony and proceed.
Inella Ray. So good afternoon, Education Chair Thomas, Vice-Chair Anthony Phillips and also the other members of the Education Committee. My name is Inella Ray and I serve as the Director of Parent Advocacy and Engagement at Children First. I would like to begin by thanking Education Chair Thomas for bringing this important and yet often invisible issue into public view. For far too long, PreK has operated in the shadows. Families often don't realize their child has been suspended or expelled because it rarely comes in the form of a formal disciplinary action. Instead, they hear we can't meet your child's needs or they're having a difficult day so you'll need to pick them up. These experiences often go unrecognized, unreported, making it difficult to activate the policies, supports and intervention designed to prevent exclusion. From 2022 to 2025, I had the privilege of co-leading Supporting All Young Learners to Thrive alongside my colleague Dr. Stephanie Blake. We partnered with parents, caregivers, educators, providers and community leaders to understand why pushout happens and what it would take to build a early learning system where every child has opportunity to thrive. What emerged was a clear consensus PreK pushout is not a result of a single child's behavior or a single educator's decision. It is a predictable outcome of fragmented systems that leave families without support, educators without resources that they deserve and children without timely access to services they need. This means the solution cannot rest on educators alone. It requires system change. The good news? We have solutions. First, we must invest in sustainable family navigation and rapid response support so families have somewhere to turn before challenges become crisis. Both of these programs are currently grant-funded and they need public dollars to be sustained and to be universal. Second, we must invest in early child workforce through coaching, infant, toddler and childhood mental health, behavioral supports and high-quality professional learning. Supporting educators is one of the most effective ways to support children. Finally, Philadelphia has the opportunity to build a truly coordinated system of care for young children and families. Children don't arrive at preschool with separate developmental, health, educational and family needs. They arrive as whole children. Yet too often we ask families to navigate fragmented systems that were never designed to work together. Philadelphia has an opportunity to build something different, a coordinated care infrastructure that connects developmental screening, lead testing, infinite early childhood mental health, early intervention, family navigation, behavioral health, and high-quality early learning before unmet needs becomes barriers to learning, belonging and thriving. Today's hearing gives us an opportunity to move from this invisible to impossible to ignore. The question before us is not whether we know enough to act. We do. The question is whether we are willing to move beyond managing the consequences of pushout and instead building an early childhood system intentionally designed to prevent it, because every child deserves to enter a classroom knowing they belong, every family deserves a system that responds with support instead of exclusion and every educator deserves the resources and partnerships to help every child thrive. I look forward to working on this with you all.
Thank you. I appreciate your comments on what investments need to be made, and thanks a lot for all of your testimony today.
Very, very quick. First of all, thank you to all of you for your amazing stories. Please tell your son we are very excited for him. So you said from the beginning to now there were a lot of impediments, in spite of which he persevered, you persevered. What were those things that worked? What happened exactly? Because if you're going to do a systems change, we need to know stories like this, what exactly worked?
Well, for starters it took a village. I cannot say that there were formal supports that were set up in a way that were easy to navigate. But one thing that definitely did help is that he received a therapeutic support staff person who was skilled. The gentleman came on a regular basis. When David graduated from high school from North Penn School District, he was there at his graduation dinner to salute him. So that type of consistency is necessary.
Before he could be suspended a 10th time, I begged the principal at Dobson to allow me to take my son out of the district. When we moved to North Penn School District, he got exactly what he needed and graduated with honors.
So if Montgomery County can do it, if Montgomery County right next door can do it, we should be able to do it. So we need you all engaged, particularly, you know, children. First, I have to thank all of you for always coming with the information, the data, all of it. So helpful because we have a myriad of things in front of us. Getting this kind of navigation tools for us is really important.
Can I tell you one more thing that worked. Unfortunately, my son was a kindergartner when he was 302'd from Dobson Elementary. He was escorted in a police car with his TSS where he was in placement inpatient at Fairmount Behavioral Health, the youngest on his unit at the age of 5. Unfortunately, we can say that that helped because it gave him access to a higher level of care.
So without having to 302 him, he should get that help.
Thank you, Councilwoman, and thank you all again. Clerk, can you please call the names of the next individuals ready to testify for public comment.
Lisa Brown, Tiffany Chavez, Margaret DiSanto. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Tiffany Chavous. Thank you so much for joining us today. Can you please state your name for the record and begin with your testimony. If anyone would like to go first. MS. DiSANTO: Good morning. My name is Margaret DiSanto. I'm a proud mother and grandmother and a long-time resident of Philadelphia Cobbs Creek neighborhood in the 3rd Councilmanic District, a committee person in the 3rd Ward and 6th Division, and a former educator who has worked across both the early childhood and K through 12 systems. I would like to begin by expressing my sincere appreciation to Education Chair Isaiah Thomas for his leadership in convening this hearing and for his commitment to advancing this important conversation. I am here today because I believe every young child deserves to be welcomed, supported and given every opportunity to thrive in an early learning environment that is prepared to meet their individual needs, not excluded or pushed out during one of the most important periods of their development. As both an educator and a parent advocate, I've had the opportunity to see this issue from two perspectives. In the classroom, I saw children who were curious, capable and eager to learn, but who also needed additional developmental behavior or emotional support. Too often these needs were viewed through the lens of behavior instead of child development. I also saw dedicated educators doing everything they could with limited resources. They were expected to support children with increasingly complex needs, but often without access to coaching, behavior health supports or the specialized training needed to respond effectively. That isn't fair to children and it isn't fair to educators. That's why I don't believe PreK pushout begins with children behavior. It begins when children's needs outpace the supports available to the adults responsible for helping them to see. My experience working in both PreK and K-12 also showed me another important reality. The educators entrusted with our youngest learners are among the lowest-paid professionals in education despite carrying some of the greatest responsibility. They are expected to identify developmental concerns, build strong relationships with families, create nurturing learning environments and prepare children for kindergarten, all while earning wages that make it difficult for the field to recruit, retain and support a stable, experienced workforce. When we underinvest in early childhood educators, we underinvest in children. If we want to reduce PreK pushout, we must address its root causes. That means investing in competitive compensation, ongoing professional development and coaching classroom- based behavior and mental health supports, and the resources educators need to respond to children's developmental needs with confidence and compassion. The families you heard from today are not asking for special treatment. They're asking for a system that is prepared to support every child and every educator. When we invest in early childhood workforce, we strengthen classrooms. When we strengthen classrooms, more children remain engaged in learning. And when more children stay in learning environments where they are welcome and supported, all of Philadelphia benefits. Thank you for your time and your commitment to Philadelphia's children, families, and educators.
Thank you so much for that testimony. We are looking in different ways for the city, how we can support educators and resources for funding for their teaching. So it's a topic that the state is supposed to be doing, but it's not happening. So we're going to try to do our best to. Thank you. Please state your name.
Thank you for convening, City Councilmembers, this very important topic. My name is Tiffany Chavous. I am the CEO at Somerset Academy, an early childhood program serving children and families, one of the programs fortunate enough to have fully PreK and PreK Counts. I've been actively engaged in early childhood advocacy at both the city and state level and really appreciate again this convening of this hearing. We are all here at different capacities to talk about the one major issue. Providers are seeing more children enter early learning programs with developmental, behavioral, social, emotional and sensory needs. National data continues to show an increase in the number of children identified as autistic, highlighting the need for stronger systems of support for children, families and early learning providers. When children exhibit challenging behaviors, the conversation often focuses on whether providers are pushing children out. However, most providers, as we all here, want to support every child but lack the funding, staffing, behavioral health resources, training and timely access to evaluations and services needed to do so successfully. Families, as you've heard, often face month-long waits for developmental and behavioral health services. Some specialized evaluations can take 6 to 15 months to access. During that time, children are still showing up to school every day. The expectations however are that providers have increased dramatically -- have increased the expectations on providers, but sadly the resources available to meet those expectations have not kept pace. Somerset, like one of the other providers who spoke earlier, experience has shown that when providers have access to behavioral specialists, one which we have at Somerset, therapist partnerships, RBT training that we heard of that all of our staff must take at Somerset, staff training, such as sensory supports and other whole child interventions, children are more likely to remain engaged and learning successfully to transition to kindergarten. We see how such services have positively impacted our unique learners. Parents have shared that their children were able to receive such services, accommodations and encouragement they need rather than be suspended, expelled or excluded. As a result, our unique learners have developed stronger communication skills, greater independence, improved self- regulation and the confidence needed to succeed. If we want fewer children to be excluded from early learning programs, we must invest in the systems that keep children in classrooms. That includes increased funding for behavioral and mental health supports, faster access to evaluations and intervention services, workforce development and resources that enable providers to create truly inclusive environments --
Somerset has intentionally invested, like others, in supports that many providers simply cannot afford. Without additional funding, these investments include a behavioral specialist and other things mentioned. Inclusion is not simply about asking providers not to push children out. Inclusion requires investment. When providers have the support they need, children stay in classrooms, families stay connected and communities grow stronger. Every child deserves that opportunity. Thank you so much for having this hearing.
Thank you for your testimony and thank you for all you do. We appreciate you. Thank you.
Good afternoon, Education Chair Isaiah Thomas and members of the Education Committee. My name is Lisa Brown and I serve as the Director of Early Learning and Equity Advancement at First Up. For nearly 60 years, First Up has worked to create an equitable early childhood education system across the Southeastern Pennsylvania region. Each year we support approximately 9000 early childhood professionals and we reach more than 50,000 young children by investing in the educators, providers and families who make high-quality early learning possible. I was also recently appointed to Pennsylvania State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care, where I look forward to working alongside colleagues from across the Commonwealth to strengthen our early childhood system. While that role gives me a statewide perspective, today I am here to talk about what we are seeing right here in our beloved City of Philadelphia. I come to this work not only as an early childhood leader, but also as the proud mother of two brilliant Black boys that I'm raising in Philadelphia, one of whom is in preschool and receives early intervention services. Like many families, I know firsthand what it feels like to wait more than a year for services that my child needs during one of the most critical periods of his development. That experience has deepened my understanding of what we hear from educators and the families that we serve every day. At First Up, we have the distinct pleasure of working directly alongside early childhood educators, providers, systems partners and families across our region. What we hear consistently is this: Educators are deeply committed to the children in their care, but they are being asked to meet increasingly complex developmental, behavioral and mental health needs without the coordinated supports they need to be successful. When a young child is suspended, expelled or informally pushed out of an early learning program, it is rarely because an educator does not care or want that child to succeed. More often it is a sign that the system surrounding the child, the family and the educators have not responded early enough in order for us to give the children what they need to be successful. Just yesterday an educator shared something with me that I have not been able to stop thinking about. She said, Lisa, three of the six children in my classroom are currently waiting for early intervention services. I'm doing everything I can, but I don't know how much longer I can continue without the supports these children need. Her experience unfortunately is not unique, as we've heard here today. It reflects what we hear from educators across Philadelphia. The encouraging thing is that we also know what does work. At First Up, we have a body of work titled Positive Racial Identity Development, which reminds us that supporting children means that we need to support the adults that are around them, which means we must invest in helping educators and systems partners to understand how race, identity, culture and belonging shape young children's experiences and how we engage these Black and Brown children that we've been talking about in our city. Please consider this First Up invitation to be a support and a partner in this ecosystem. At First Up, our coaches partner with educators to strengthen social-emotional development. Positive behavior supports trauma-informed practice and culturally responsive teaching. But we know that coaching alone is not enough. Educators are more successful when they're surrounded by a coordinated network of supports that includes early intervention, rapid response, mental health consultation, family navigation and strong community partnerships. When those systems work together, educators are better- equipped to meet children's needs. Families receive support before challenges become crises --
Next we will have Kimberly Nelson, Bridget Hicks and Latrice Johnson. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Good afternoon, blessed afternoon. Thank you, City Council for the invitation, for being here today to advocate for disabled children as well as early education. Good afternoon, Isaiah Thomas, Councilman.
Say my name? My name is Kimberly Nelson, and I'm here to advocate for disabled children as well as early education. Good afternoon. This is my daughter Kennedy Nelson. We have been in City Council for the last few years advocating for accessibility inside of our schools from education as well as having accessibility inside of the schools, the bathrooms and facilities. So I'm here this morning to inform you that I've been a part of the executive order for Head Start program. My daughter was one of those children that was inside of that program since she was 4 years old to 5, and I traveled the nation as an Executive Treasurer for the Head Start Policy Council from one part of the nation to the next to help parents understand how important it is to have their children inside of Head Start, so understanding how you have to have the safety for the children as well as the education and giving them a little bit more understanding of how it would be a little bit better for them to have their children inside of school because they'll be nesting and learning from each other. But as an educator for the last few years, I've been noticing more parents are having issues with their children being inside of PreK or any type of early education where they have been having a lot of behavior issues and not getting the necessary needs and resources to help them. My personal experience is one of my nephews has been going through it for over a year. He's been getting suspended because of the resources that are not available for my sister to get the support she needs for her son, and being an advocate and finding ways to get the support is very challenging. So I'm asking City Council to support the bills that will help to create more funding and find more resources for children that are in early education. Again, my daughter is one of those children that now I'm going to be challenged even more because of the fact that the facilities are not prepared for her to go back to school because she's in a wheelchair and she'll be in a wheelchair past the beginning of the time for school to start in a few weeks. So now, I'm going to be back down here to fight for facilities accessibility again because of the challenges that we are going through. And as a parent that has been living this life and traveling back and forth to try to get the necessary needs to support our children, we're asking for more assistance. We need more help. We need easy access to find resources. And I'm just asking for you guys to make that happen. Thank you so much.
My daughter is in the 9th grade. She's going into the 10th grade and she attends Overbrook High School.
I only have one child, and I have a nephew that's in kindergarten now --
-- in Head Start and in kindergarten. And the one that's in kindergarten has been having behavior issues. And he's been suspended multiple times because of that. So I've been advocating on his behalf --
Thank you for your testimony. We're running a little short on time, so if we can try to keep it to to minutes that will definitely help us. Please state your name for the record.
Good afternoon. My name is Natasha Johnson and I am the owner of and director of Candie's Kids Learning Academy in the North Philadelphia and Kensington section. We have two high-quality child care centers in Philadelphia. We are a proud partner with PHLpreK, PreK Counts and Early Head Start. I come before you today not only as a child care provider, but also as a certified special education teacher, a Star 4 provider and a PhD candidate dissertation focusing on preventing strategies to reduce preschool suspension and expulsion among Black boys in early childhood education. So this is near and dear to my heart. I am writing to bring urgent attention to the growing, challenges facing early childhood education and exclusive PreK classrooms. I want to be clear, this is not to request to remove children from settings or challenge the importance of inclusion. Every child deserves access to a safe, nurturing and high-quality learning environment. However, successful inclusion requires the appropriate resources, staffing and specialized supports in early childhood education. And educators like myself and others that are here today, we need help. The concern is not isolated to one classroom nor one program. National data demonstrates that preschool suspension and expulsion remain highly rated for our Black boys in preschool and also our Hispanic boys as well. Black boys and children are disproportionately rated and suspended nationally. Nationally, 18% of Black boys are enrolled in preschool, 38% are expelled, 33% are suspended every year. Over the last past two years in my preschool classroom, I had ten children in each class. Eight of them had special needs. In a preschool class, the ratio is 1 to 10. I was the only teacher in that classroom with eight special needs children. Because of my moral consent and making sure that no 21 child is left behind, no child is suspended, no child is expelled, I did not suspend nor expel none of these children. And in response to that, I was extremely stressed. I was extremely burnt out and I was extremely not getting any help from anyone --
Ma'am, we need you to give us a brief synopsis because you're over your three minutes.
Oh, I'm sorry. So I'm just here today just to let you know that educators need help with these children with special needs. We don't want to expel them. We don't want to suspend them, but we need help supports so we can be able to maintain them in our classrooms.
Can you make sure that written testimony that you read gets over to our team over here so it can get added to the record if there's anything that you didn't get to say. We'll make sure that it gets reviewed. And before our next witness testify, can you call up the last four witnesses please, Madam Clerk.
Leslie Spina, Medina Rashid, Brad Wilson, Thomas Crane. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
All those folks can come sit in the back. And as soon as your turn comes up, you can jump right in. State your name for the record, ma'am. You may begin with your testimony.
Okay. My name is Bridget Hicks. I'm an early childhood educator and a special instructor. I work with children, families and early learning programs in Philadelphia. I am speaking today from a personal and professional experience and not on behalf of my employer. I'm also a grandmother of a 4-year-old who, in his short life, has already been expelled from four early learning centers. I want to make two central points today. First, families and early learning programs are both struggling. Programs are being asked to support children with increasingly complex developmental, behavioral and emotional needs. Yet they lack sufficient staffing, training, funding, behavioral consultation and timely access to specialists. Families face long waits for evaluations and services, confusing systems, missed work, financial strain and constant fear that another program will say it can no 18 longer care for their child. My second point is that preschool expulsion can be traumatic for the child and affects reach the entire family. Each time my grandson was expelled, he lost familiar teachers, classmates, routines and another place where he was supposed to feel safe and be accepted. At years old, he could 4 not understand staffing shortages, service delays, decisions being made by adults. What he experienced was rejection. Repeated rejection can affect a young child's ability to trust, form relationships, regulate emotions, and develop a sense of belonging. No 4-year-old should begin to believe that he is the problem. Families and educators should not be placed against one another. We should be supported as partners. I respectfully ask the city to invest in timely evaluations, intervention services, behavior consultation, appropriate staffing, trauma-informed professional development, and meaningful protection against formal and informal preschool pushout. Let us make that this lesson one of acceptance, support and hope. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. Very much appreciated. We definitely have work to do, so thank you. The next witness to testify. If you can come on up, please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
My name is Leslie Spina. I'm here as a 32-year veteran of the early childhood environment. I'm a provider, but I'm also a member of the Voice of an Advocacy Group. Before I begin, I want you to look at this picture. I don't know if we can send that up there to you. This is a picture from a classroom. Before I tell you about preschool pushout, I want you to look and see what happens before the child ever leaves the classroom. This happened in a classroom, one of my classrooms. This is an early childhood classroom. After one preschool child overwhelmed by severe behavioral dysregulation destroyed the room. During the incident, our teachers had only one option, remove the other children from 12 the classroom to keep them safe. 13 This is not a rare event. This is 14 happening in early childhood 15 programs across Philadelphia every 16 day. 17 That day that teacher 18 left in tears, promptly left the 19 field never to return. We lost a great teacher. When people hear the term preschool pushout, they often imagine providers who are unwilling to support children with challenging behaviors. I understand why families feel that way. If I were a parent whose child had lost their child care placement, I would be devastated. But I want to ask you to consider something important. Preschool pushout is not the problem. Preschool pushout is a symptom of a much deeper problem. The deeper problem is a system that is failing children, families and providers long before a child ever enters a learning classroom. Early childhood educators do not enter the profession because they want to turn children away. We dedicate our lives to helping children learn, grow, and succeed. Asking a family to leave the program is the most painful decision a provider makes. But we also have a responsibility to every other child in our care. We have a responsibility to the children experiencing significant behavioral challenges who deserve timely evaluations, appropriate interventions and coordinated support. We also have a responsibility to the other 10 preschool children who deserve a 11 safe, nurturing environment where 12 they can learn and we have a 13 responsibility to the educators who 14 walk into these classrooms every 15 day determined to help children 16 succeed across our city. Talented, 17 experienced teachers are leaving 18 the profession at an alarming rate. 19 This workforce crisis is driven by many factors, but one of the most significant is the growing intensity of children's unmet behavioral and developmental needs. Without corresponding supports, master teachers tell us they are no 2 longer able to teach to the high standard they have spent years developing because much of the day is spent managing crisis. Instead of engaging children in literacy, language development, science exploration and social-emotional learning, classrooms are in survival mode all day, every day. A teacher is often assigned to support a single child in crisis, while the other is left to care for the remaining or 15 children. This is not what high- 16 quality environments look like. 17 Our teachers did not choose this 18 profession to spend every day 19 responding to emergency. They chose it because they wanted to inspire curiosity, nurture relationships and build strong foundations that children need for lifelong success. Families face an incredibly difficult system to navigate. Providers face an equally difficult system. I should mention here that I should be really great at this, but I still can't manage it. Eight months is the typical amount of time it takes for a child to receive services. Over 20% of the life of a 3-year- old, providers spend hours working on this. Let's invest in earlier identification of developmental and behavioral concerns. We need faster access to evaluations and behavioral health services. We need stronger coordination, coordination in early intervention and every child deserves to thrive in our programs. We are putting money in the system.
We need to re-evaluate how we put that money, where we put that money and make sure that it's supporting children. So this classroom is not what we do every day.
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Final public comment.
Good afternoon, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas and the members of the committee. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I am Medina Rashid. I'm the founder and head of School of Mecca Child Care, a Philadelphia early childhood education program and PreK provider. We are in the northwest area of the city and we are a Star 4 program. We serve infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children, including children with developmental delays and children who sometimes communicate their needs through challenging or reactive behaviors. We have 136 children enrolled and that includes 70 preschool children. I want to begin by saying something very clearly. We believe children belong at Mecca. We work hard to create an environment where children are not pushed out simply because their behavior is difficult or because they have developmental or behavioral needs that require additional support. We partner with families, we work with specialists we know and look at what the child is communicating through their behavior. We make accommodations. We adjust our environment. We provide additional guidance to teachers and try to understand what is underneath the behavior rather than simply responding to the behavior itself. PHLpreK has invested in the family navigators and early childhood mental health consultants and they have been helpful. We believe that inclusion is not just about allowing a child to remain enrolled. True inclusion means creating the conditions that would allow a child to participate, learn, develop and feel like they belong at Mecca. We have at least 20% or more of our children in each of our classrooms with special needs. We're doing it, but we are struggling and that is where I believe we need to have an honest conversation. Inclusion requires resources. As an early childhood provider, safety is always our first concern. We have a responsibility to keep the child who is struggling safe. But we also have a responsibility to keep the other children and the adults in the learning environment safe. And we have another responsibility. Our teachers have to be able to teach. There are times when a child is experiencing significant reactive behaviors and classrooms do not have the appropriate support. A teacher may spend a large portion of the day managing one child's behavior instead of guiding the entire classroom, delivering lessons, supporting children's social-emotional development or maintaining the learning environment. It's not fair to the child who needs the additional support. It's not fair to the other children and it's not fair to the teacher. So when we talk about preschool and suspension/expulsion, I would encourage us not to make this simply a conversation about whether providers should exclude children. We need to ask providers what they need to successfully include them. Families should not have to fight to get services. Teachers should not have to feel like they are failing a child because they don't have the resources to meet that child's need, and providers should not have to choose between maintaining a safe, productive classroom and keeping a child enrolled. We should be able to do both at Mecca. We want to be the kind of program where a child with developmental delays or reactive behaviors can stay, grow and thrive. But inclusion cannot rest solely on the goodwill, creativity and determination of individual providers and teachers. I also want to recognize that families whose children have experienced suspension, expulsion or informal exclusion when a child is told directly or indirectly that they cannot remain in their learning environment, it can be devastating for the child and the family. We have to listen to those experiences and do better. We need a system where the expectation is not simply don't exclude the child. The expectation should be here are the resources, the staffing, the expertise and the support you need to include the child.
Thank you. That is the system I believe Philadelphia's children and families deserve. And I want to thank you again for allowing me to share our experience and perspective today.
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. All right, folks. We're behind as it relates to our schedule, but we want to move on to the next part of our hearing. So, Madam Clerk, just as a refresher, if you can read the resolution title for the next part of our hearing, that will be helpful.
Mr. Chair, that concludes this hearing resolution. We will now change Clerks and have the new Clerk read the second hearing resolution and proceed on this legislative matter.
Thank you, Chair Thomas. Resolution 260647 states, authorizing the Committee on Education to hold meetings examining the accessibility and equity of Algebra education curriculum in Philadelphia high schools.
Resolution 11 260647 states, authorizing the Committee on Education to hold hearings examining the accessibility and equity of Algebra education curriculum in Philadelphia schools, and the impact that has on accessibility to special admission high schools.
Good afternoon. Please state your name and begin your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Brenda Elliott and I serve as the Deputy Superintendent for Academic Services for the School District of Philadelphia. Good afternoon, Chair Thomas, members of the committee and members of the public. My name is Dr. Brenda Elliott and I serve as the Deputy Superintendent of Academics for the School District of Philadelphia, and I'm pleased to present the district's testimony and will assure that any questions regarding additional information are followed up promptly. Superintendent Tony Watlington regrets that he's unable to attend today's hearing. The school district is committed to ensuring that all eligible 8th grade students have access to eligible Algebra 1 by 2027-2028 school year. The School District of Philadelphia currently provides two primary pathways for eligible 8th grade students to access Algebra 1, a traditional school-based model and a cross-school learning model. During the 2025-26 school year, the district operated 125 schools serving 8th grade students. In the upcoming 2026-27 school year, that number will increase to 126 with the return of Memphis Street Academy. We continue to make meaningful progress toward our commitment that every eligible 8th grade student will have access to Algebra by the 2027-28 school year. Last year 65 schools, approximately 53% of our 8th grade schools offered Algebra 1. This year that number will increase to 75 schools or 60%. By the following school year, we expect to provide access to every district-operating school serving 8th grade students. Currently 42 district schools offer Algebra 1 directly to eligible 8th grade students, and that is an increase from 40 schools last year. As staffing and school schedules continue to be finalized, the number may increase further beyond the school year begins. Students qualify for inschool Algebra 1 based on their 6th grade math performance. The district uses a rigorous, compressed curriculum that integrates 8th grade mathematics standards with Algebra standards, ensuring students receive instructions on nearly all 8th grade content while completing the full Algebra 1 curriculum before taking the Keystones Algebra assessment. All participating students take the Keystone Algebra exam, and teachers receive specialized professional development to support implementation. For schools that are not yet able to offer an inperson Algebra course, the district provides access through our cross-school learning model. This hybrid program provides inperson and virtual instruction with the same certified teacher throughout the week. The program has expanded steadily from serving just three schools and School Year '22-23 to schools last school year. This 22 year eight additional schools will 23 participate, bringing the total to 24 33 schools. Students are selected based on 8th grade Math PSSA results to ensure they are prepared for accelerated coursework. Supportive services assistance provide additional support during virtual instruction. The program was developed in partnership with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and is incorporated in the district's collective bargaining agreement. Most importantly, the cross-school learning model is producing strong academic outcomes on the 2024-25 Keystone Algebra assessment. Nearly 80% of cross- school learning students scored proficient or advanced, significantly outperforming the district-wide average for Algebra students. The school district will have full access to Algebra for all eligible 8th grade students beginning in School Year 27-28. The District Office of Teaching and Learning, the Cross School Learning Team, the Office of Student Life and School Organization, and the Office of Research and Accountability are currently planning for Algebra 1 access at all schools not offering Algebra 1 access in preparation for the 2028 school year.
The district will do the following and that plan is mapped out in detail here: It indicates steps that will take place in fall of 2026 and then in the spring, where we will bring our teaching staff together to ensure that we have enough staff to provide Algebra courses and access for all eligible students. And then in the summer, finalizing that plan and then implementing it in the fall of 2027. Questions have also been raised regarding admission requirements at the district's criteria-based schools. The school district currently operates 6 criteria-based schools and only 7 Julia R. Masterman school requires 8 Algebra for admission to the 9th 9 grade, and that requirement has 10 been in place for at least a 11 decade. 12 Importantly, 21 of the 13 district's 22 tier-based schools, 14 including nationally recognized 15 schools such as Central High School 16 and the Academy at Palumbo, do not 17 require Algebra 1 for admission. 18 For context, the Charter School 19 Office reports that 23 of the 20 district's 68 charter schools 21 serving 8th grade students offer 22 Algebra 1 during the most recent 23 school year. Because each charter 24 school operates as an independent 1 local education agency, LEA, curriculum and course offerings are determined by each individual charter school rather than by the school district. The school district remains committed to expanding equitable access to rigorous mathematics instruction. We have made significant progress increasing the number of schools offering Algebra 1 while continuing to scale successful models such as cross-school learning. The careful planning over the coming year, we are confident we will meet our commitment to ensuring every eligible 8th grade student has access to Algebra for the 2027-28 school year. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and I'm happy to take the committee's questions and ensure that any questions requiring additional information are followed up on promptly.
Thank you for your testimony. I have a question. You just piqued my interest when you said that the cross-school learning model actually did better than the district-wide Algebra students. Could you explain or at least intimate why that is? And then why is that something we should have everywhere?
Well, one reason we think it is, is smaller class sizes. So the way that program is structured over the 19 schools that have access to it is 20 that each teacher is assigned to 21 five schools, but that teacher has 22 a total class size. If you think 23 that there's 250 kids over 25 24 schools with 5, they each have about 50 students. So one of the reasons we believe we are pushing faster outcomes is that there is only 50 students per teacher that they are managing across their entire course enrollment. So there is opportunities for more individualized instruction and support.
I have to tell you, your Superintendent told us that smaller class sizes did not demonstrate better achievement, which I strenuously disagreed with him. And your own data is telling me that this kind of individualized attention due to small class size actually works. So make sure you share this with him because it's contrary to what he told us about scaling our schools down, right. So that's number one. Number two is, it seems to have some discrepancy in numbers of -- addition to the table you provided indicated that in the School Year 2026 to 2027 will be operating a total of 75 schools offering Algebra. Let me see your data actually. 75 schools, yeah. And we have seen other data indicating only 46 schools offer Algebra. So is that because you're rolling in the cross learning in the 75 number?
Yes. That includes the 33 schools where we offer the cross learning.
Going back to my original question, the small class size improved the outcome for the cross learning. How is the cross learning different from the classroom Algebra in terms of the content? Just briefly. You don't have to go into detail.
The content isn't different. It's still the Algebra 1 content. What is different is that in cross- school learning, we offer two models. One is a full virtual instruction. So the teacher is serving five schools. Those students are learning virtually from that teacher with special assistance in the classroom while those students are learning. So for instance, we have some schools that only have five students who are eligible based on their 6th grade PSSA. And so, they are in a classroom with students and the other five schools learning virtually. But the content is the same. The second model is a hybrid model where the teacher over a 10-day period is in person at the school five days and then virtual for five days.
We have not seen a significant difference between those two models. And one other thing I may say that we're hearing anecdotally that is contributing to the higher outcomes is that for the cross-school model, you know, it's really selective. So students who are performing advanced or proficient on the 6th grade essay and in other schools, they open up the pool for more students to attend so that they have a higher --
Yeah, so that's part of being more selective in who you have in the cross-school model versus the Algebra in the classroom. The reason I ask this is because by 2028, you want everybody to be offering Algebra. Is there going to be Algebra in the Algebra 1 model or the cross learning, which clearly seems to be more beneficial?
Sure. It'll be a combination of the two. Currently, when we look at our data for the remaining 84 schools that don't have an inperson Algebra 1 teacher, there are only two schools that have more than students 14 that are eligible, right. So we 15 anticipate those schools that have a higher number of students considering this being a section 18 that a math teacher teaches at their school, but we have many schools that have four or less students that are eligible based on their 8th grade, their 6th grade PSSA. And so, those schools, it makes more sense for them to use cross-school learning where we're combining students from several schools to make a class.
One last question before I go to my colleagues. In terms of the equitable distribution of who actually qualifies, you're using scissors to say who could take Algebra. That will still continue to be the same case when you go to all schools offering Algebra, correct?
So the question becomes who actually is eligible to get -- who qualifies. Meaning, how do we improve that outcome. Because it seems in 2021-2022 school year, only 24% of Black students and 33% of Hispanic students attended schools with Algebra compared to the 71% White students. So this is even before being qualified to take Algebra. Why was there a discrepancy in how Algebra was offered?
I am not sure. I can get that information and come back to you, yes.
Because if you're really looking for equity, we have to know the reason why from the get-go 71% of the schools had more access. And then came the layer of who actually qualified with the PSSA scores, which is a whole other issue of how do we make more children get a sufficient PSSA score, which is, you know, a whole ball of wax we have to address. Because if we don't do it, then we're really, truly not letting our children have a quality education at these schools, special admit schools, which changes their trajectory in life, right. So I mean, I think every school should have that across the board. But I understand there's a lot of nuance in that space. So it is really important to know why that allocation was so disparate between the demographic description of these schools. And then we can go to understand, was that a policy decision, was that based on some metric that we don't know because on the surface it looks racially biased. That's just how it looks to us.
Okay. Happy to do some research and get back to you on it. I will say the way that we have expanded cross- school learning has been schools that have had the greatest need, students that are ready for the Algebra 1, those are the ones that we first provided the intervention. And so, we only have, like I said, two schools now that have more than schools -- I mean, students that 5 qualify. The vast majority of 6 those schools in fact, 49 of the 7 schools of the 51 that we have, 8 have four or less students. 9
We 10 need to increase that number. We 11 would want those children -- 12
15 Basically, we should be giving algebra to everybody because everybody qualifies.
In 27-28, we'll be able to expand to every school that serves 8th graders.
But it will still be based on the PSSA qualification in every -- even though you're offering it in every school, there's a test score that will allow them to actually take that class. So my global point I want to make is we need to not -- we need all children to be eligible to take PSSA. I know that's a separate thing. It's about children being ready and scoring well enough on the PSSA. We need them all to be scoring well. So thank you for your testimony. Our Chair is back. Okay. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you so much for your testimony. I have a few. I'm going to start off with the PSSA thing. So absent PSSA, you're not eligible for Algebra?
Yes. Typically the 8th grade students are taking 8th grade math. But we offer Algebra 1 as an advanced course in the 8th grade. So instead of taking regular 8th grade math, they go directly into Algebra 1, which is typically offered in the high schools.
Well, suppose parents that opt out of PSSA testing, does that eliminate their children's ability to be able to go into Algebra 1? Because PSSA is not the only determinant of a child's eligibility for anything.
Correct, that is our predetermination that we use for access to Algebra 1. But I can do some research and get back to you to see if there's another way we determine a student's eligibility, particularly if a student is coming to us and does not have a PSSA score for 6th grade, like maybe they've come from another state. I can research and get back with you how we respond to that.
And then to that question, my next question is what would it take to scale up Algebra 1 access citywide and what supports exist for 5th and 6th graders to prepare students for Algebra 1? And are they equitably available? So this is back to the absence of PSSA. Okay, you don't do well. People don't test well. For whatever reason, you don't do well. What else is in play for students in 5th and 6th grade to be prepared for the testing to even possibly get them into Algebra to prepare for college, especially with traditional neighborhood high schools -- I mean K to 8 into high school?
Sure. I want to make sure I'm answering the question that you're asking. So we are working really hard to increase the rigor of our math curriculum and instruction beginning 3rd grade on up. So two years ago, we started with the implementation of green-rated curriculum, a standards-based curriculum. We have provided additional professional development and support. We have launched an Algebra 1 fellowship with the University of Pennsylvania, really focused on building math proficiency skills for our teachers. Part of that includes dedicated professional development in the summer. It also includes professional development once a month during the school year in coaching. So one of the things is really building up our teachers proficiency. In K -- as you can imagine, in 3rd grade through 6th grade, folks aren't just certified in math, they have a general certification. And so, we are doing additional professional development to really build up the skills of our educators so that they are able to really support our students in becoming very skilled in mathematics at the earlier grade, so for your first question about what are we doing in addition to support students. Another lever that we are offering for students that are scoring early in math in basic or below basic is to provide high- impact tutoring in the classroom, so in their classroom additional tutoring to fill those gaps so they start to get into the proficiency range hopefully in the next grade level or definitely within the next two grade levels. So trying to use levers on both ends, building teacher proficiencies, but also supporting students in building their gaps. Again, typically many states offer Algebra 1. That's the 9th grade math. We only have one criteria-based school that requires it for admission. But we want young people who are ready for advanced courses to have that access. And so, cross-school learning is one of the mechanisms that we're using to do that.
Can you explain a little bit in detail what's this cross-school learning model? Is it an online version? I'm trying to figure out exactly what that is for.
Yeah. So we have actually dedicated teachers that they teach either -- we have a virtual model and then we have a hybrid model. So each of those teachers have five schools that they are assigned, currently, five schools that they are assigned to that they provide instruction to. Some of the schools, again we have schools that may have only two, three, four students that are eligible and enrolled in the Algebra 1. In those cases, many of those students are accessing that instruction in the virtual model. And again, we're seeing above- average performance for our students, whether it's the virtual model or the hybrid. For students that are accessing cross-school learning in the hybrid model, they see the teacher in person over a two-week period, five days. So the first week some schools see them Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The next week they would see them Tuesday, Thursday and then they have a separate rotation of schools. And so, the teachers are seeing the student part-time in person and then part-time virtually. So that is the model that we've used to be able to expand. That's allowed us to provide Algebra 1 access to 25 schools only using five teachers, so 25 schools across the district for five teachers. We are adding one teacher to cross-school learning. And that's allowing us to go up to serve 33 schools. And so, we're mapping that out. So next year either by inperson teachers or cross-school learning, we're able to serve the remaining schools that don't have inperson teachers.
So is there a plan to scale that up with the closure of middle schools and schools combining for the K to model? Would that increase the 6 number of educators that are 7 available for such program if other 8 children are prepared to enter this? Because some of the middle schools are closing, going into a larger sum --
Not some. We've been told that the school district wants to fade out the middle school model. So I think what the Councilmember is asking is if we're deviating away from the middle school model in general and we're going more K through 8 and 6 through 12, will we see an improvement?
So I don't have the information to respond to that question, but happy to take that as a homework assignment.
So let me just provide some context. Dr. Watlington always attends these hearings. He reached out to me early to say that he was unavailable to attend. When Dr. Watlington isn't available, it's normally Deputy Superintendent Colonel Hill who comes. And if you don't know, Colonel Hill lost his father. And so, it's pretty much out there. I just wanted to make sure that folks understood and we've offered condolences to him. And so, we do want to thank you for being here. We understand that your position and your role is very important in the district. And we know that there will be things that you kind of have to take back for a homework assignment and we're not going to charge that to your head or your heart for today's conversation. So I apologize. I had to step out for a second, so I was unable to provide that context prior to the start of your hearing. But know that there may be other assignments. And I see Laurel back there as well too. Laurel, thank you for your work as well. There may be other homework assignments that we ask you to take based on other questions that we may ask as well as things that may come from other panel experts. And so, if I could just provide another point of clarity. So my son is in 8th grade right now. Both of my sons are really mathematically gifted, right. My 8th grade son has never gotten anything below a 95 in math from kindergarten all the way through. My father's a math teacher. I was always good in numbers. I remember being in like the citywide competition as a 7 kid. And the craziest thing is 8 that my 6-year-old, 5-year-old who 9 will be 6, who's going into PreK, 10 which was relevant to the last 11 hearing, he's actually better than 12 all of us, right. That kid can do 13 double-digit multiplication in his 14 mind right now at 5, so he's super 15 special. 16 With that being said, as 17 gifted as my sons are and as 18 influential as their father is as 19 it relates to public education in 20 the City of Philadelphia, we were 21 not eligible for my son to go to 22 Masterman. And he wasn't eligible 23 to go to Masterman because I never 24 knew that there were requirements to get into special admission schools as it relates to courses. Now, of course we knew there was an attendance requirement. Of course, you have to have a certain GPA and do a certain amount of community service, but this practice is discriminatory. And so, what I would ask, and I know you can't make this decision right now, but what we've been advocating for as it relates to City Council is anything that's in a special admissions policy that everyone can't have access to, let's just take it out until everyone gets access to it, right. Because if you look at where we are right now, the data would suggest that the people who have limited access to Algebra in middle school are Black and Brown children. And so, when we look at what we did a couple years ago as it relates to changing the criteria for special admission schools, the target of that conversation was Masterman. I remember it vividly. And at the time, the Superintendent was Dr. Hite. And his biggest thing was we needed to make Masterman more inclusive. Well, since we've changed the criteria as it relates to special admissions schools, Masterman has not gotten more inclusive, right. So what appetite does the district have to revisit the special admission criteria and have a criteria that gives all children access to all special admission schools. No child should not be able to apply to a special admission school because of a course that their current school didn't offer, right. And that's one part. Let me tell you the other part I hate. I hate with a passion the process, right. So when my son goes to apply for a high school, he can only pick five schools. Now, we never wanted him to go to Masterman, but I was curious to see if he would get in or not. Now, once we pick Masterman and he was ineligible for Masterman, now I'm down to four schools.
And here's the worst part about it. You have to rank the schools. So if I say my number one school for my son was Masterman -- and you know that's off the list because he didn't take Algebra in 8th grade -- my number two school for him is Central. All right. So I would have to reject Central's offer to find out if my child got into the other three schools. And if I picked schools that my child was never eligible to get accepted in, I just lost out because the school district only limits me to five. I think the worst thing about the special admission criteria outside of these prerequisites that some children don't get access to is the fact that you only get to pick five schools. And so, I know you can't answer this right now, but I'm hoping that the school district has an appetite to revisit the special admission criteria. First and foremost, to be able to say that if my school doesn't offer a course, it should not prevent me from applying to another school. That's the first thing because it's not my fault. But the second thing, we have to move away from this idea of people only applying to five schools. It is killing the smaller special admission schools, the Lankenaus, the Paul Robesons, the Parkway Northwests. It's killing them. I would bet if you did a survey or if you go back and look, because everybody could only pick five, I would bet that the five schools that people pick, I'll bet that they are overwhelmingly the same five schools, Central, Masterman, Girls' High, Engineering and Science. I don't know. What y'all think the fifth is, I don't know. But these are the ones that -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: SLA.
Maybe SLA, that's a good one. That's the one we pick. Those are the ones that are the ones you hear about and see the most. But it doesn't necessarily mean that the Parkway Northwests, the Lankenaus and some of our other special admissions schools, Bodine, that they're not doing their job. And so, I think for us part of the reason why we wanted to have this conversation is because we're concerned about Algebra and access to Algebra, because it puts you on a trajectory to be extremely successful academically. But then the other side of the conversation is that we create these barriers that discriminate against young people who deserve to be in these special admission schools, but will never be able to walk foot in because of practices that we set up. And we set them up in the name of trying to get them in the schools. And the same people we try to get in the schools are the ones that's locked out. So I know you can't give me a direct answer, but I do want to at least allow you the opportunity to respond to that.
Yes, I definitely will need to do some research to get you a very clear response to that. I think you brought up some really good points. And whenever we move to a best single offer, the goal was to create a system in which students got into the school that they had the strongest desire to get into, but no system is perfect. And so, sometimes it does not result in those outcomes. And we're certainly willing to review the system and to provide some data around what those outcomes look like and continue the conversation.
I think when you listen to that focus, I think the problem is, is people don't know what school they want to go to, right. So if that works, if you know what school you want to go to, if my niece who is an amazing performer, she belongs on someone's stage every day, all day. She may be in what, 6th grade. We know we want her to go to KAPPA. We're 100% sure, right. So when you talk about a situation like hers, that objective makes sense. But when you talk about somebody like my son, right, that objective doesn't make sense because it's August and we're still on the fence and don't know what to do. And when you have these type of situations, the more options, the better. And what our system does is it limits the options for parents and children and in turn, the people who are suffering the most are the ones who go to those special admission schools that's not the top-branded ones, because now we're trying to close them and that doesn't make any sense. With that being said, Mr. Clerk, can you please call the next panel. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for your representation for the school district. I know you will continue today's robust conversation and hope that some of the things that the other panelists say get taken back to the district as we continue to deliberate, to provide the best service to our children. So thank you all. Next panel.
We can't hear you, Mr. Clerk. You got to speak into the mic.
There we go. Diana Lievano and Symbol Lai. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Thank you. Good afternoon, Chair Thomas and members of the Education Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Diana Lievano. I am the Executive Director of the Philadelphia STEM Equity Collective or PSEC. And today I'm presenting the Collective's statement on Algebra access in Philadelphia public schools as a gateway to STEM opportunity and economic mobility piece that comes to this conversation as a partner and with a deep sense of possibility for the Greater Philadelphia region. Our efforts at PSEC did not start with Algebra. They began exploring a broader question about what prevents too many Philadelphians from accessing educational and workforce pathways that lead them to high opportunity STEM careers and economic mobility. Through conversations with cross- system stakeholders, we found that access to Algebra continuously emerged as a critical inflection point. They identified Algebra as a foundational gateway to advanced math, college readiness and future career opportunities. Missing that gateway does not automatically close a student's future opportunities, but it makes the path harder to navigate. A student may hope to attend a particular high school, like your son, or take an AP course sequence or pursue a STEM major, only to learn that a critical milestone could be reached years earlier. By that point, the issue is no longer awareness. It's lost time, and that makes this an equity issue. While Algebra is still at a national flashpoint, Philadelphia has made progress and has been trialing solutions to this barrier. We just heard from the school district. I particularly want to share the story of three students at Nebinger Elementary. The story was published in 2023 in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Nebinger is a K through school in South Philadelphia that at the time did not offer Algebra in the 8th grade. Three students Rahim Gardner, Jordan Simmons and Kristen White understood what that meant for their high school opportunities and future careers. So they brought the issue directly to the Board of Education with a clear message: Students should not have different futures available to them simply because they attend different schools. Their advocacy seemingly had good impact and poised the district to expand their Algebra 1 access through a shared resource pilot we just heard so much about. This shows that unequal access is real, but is not inevitable. For PSEC, that is the lesson worth amplifying. Algebra can be a lever by which we can change the narrative from inequity to collective action, students, families, educators, community partners and institutions working together to expand opportunity. We also want to recognize that the School District of Philadelphia has made important investments, including new math curriculum, expanded tutoring efforts, accelerated tracks in the 6th and 7th grades and work to strengthen educator capacity. We also heard about that in the prior testimony. And in 2026, reports indicate that students math scores have reached their highest level in nearly a decade, while also acknowledging that work is still required to meet the math proficiency goal. These efforts are not only valuable. They can really help Philadelphia move from problem identification to sustained progress, because this work is complex. Expanding access to Algebra 1 cannot simply mean adding more seats, more students to a course without preparation and support. Research on large scale 8th grade Algebra expansion has shown that increasing enrollment without sufficient readiness and instructional support can perpetuate or even deepen uneven outcomes. So the goal must be access, yes, but also awareness, preparation and success. That is where the broader ecosystem has an important role to play. And we have identified three opportunities that help build on the ongoing efforts. Firstly, we can support efforts to strengthen educator capacity and self-efficacy.
Increasing Algebra access and 1 success depends on educators who are prepared and supported to teach. This includes Algebra 1 teachers, but also includes educators in earlier grades, Councilmember Ahmad to your point, that help build students' foundational skills to ensure they succeed in later grades. PSEC can of course serve as a convener and connector, helping educators connect mathematics to STEM careers and supporting educators' community of practice regionally. Second, we can help shift the culture and messaging around mathematics. Too many students internalize the message that some people are math people and some others are not. We do not accept that. Numeracy is not a gift reserved for a select few. It is a foundational capability that can be developed, strengthened and supported. Students and families need clear, accessible information about why strong math preparation matters, but they also need to see this communicated through people that look like them. PSEC can support math awareness and identity campaigns. Third, we can help expand meaningful math opportunities beyond the traditional classroom, and that includes all experiences outside the classroom and in the community that helps students build confidence and skill before they reach a placement decision. Philadelphia's future competitiveness depends on developing talent capable of succeeding in an increasingly STEM- oriented economy. Not every student has to choose a STEM career, but the skills associated with algebraic thinking, including quantitative reasoning, problemsolving and analytical thinking are increasingly valuable across all professions and industries. That's why we welcome this hearing and the leadership of this committee. We see this moment as an opportunity to build a broader coalition around math access, STEM opportunity and economic mobility. Philadelphia students have talent. They have ambition. What they need is information preparation and support to open doors. PSEC stands ready to work with this committee and the school district and partners across the city to make that possible. Thank you.
Thank you for your testimony. You listened to some of my remarks earlier as it relates to the district and my concerns around not just Algebra access. You also listened to some of Dr. Ahmad's concerns around Algebra access. Based on some of the things that we've communicated in our concerns, talk to us about your thoughts on some of the questions that we've asked, the response that we got from the district and the direction that the city should be going in?
So when I asked the district about what -- my concern was around 8th grade Algebra, it was twofold. It was the academic side as it specifically relates to young people getting on the trajectory to receive a quality education. That's one side. But then the other side is, that it's a big pillar as it relates to the criteria to get admitted into certain special admission schools. And so, what I asked for was, number one -- and maybe it was Councilmember Brooks or Dr. Ahmad -- one of them talked about the fact that we're closing schools and moving away from the middle school model. And so, since we're moving away from the middle school model, the question is will we have more access to Algebra for young people or less? Then the other side of it, outside of the academic concerns was special admission schools. And so, the push on my end was for us to get rid of any requirement for special admission schools that all students don't have an opportunity to have access to complete. So we'd love to hear your thoughts on those issues as well as other things that was discussed by the administration -- I mean by the school district.
Yeah. I think just to double-down on the point I was trying to make, access needs to be matched with support. So I think the problem of access to Algebra and I think the intentions of the school district to ensure that all 8th graders have access to some form of Algebra is something we should be impressed, be proud of. But it needs to also come alongside a lot of support, building the structures for students, but also helping educators be prepared. One of the biggest surprises out of the conversations we had was to really correlate a teacher's self-efficacy with student outcomes. We thought fixing the pathway for students meant focusing on students. But we heard from professionals and experts and SMEs in this matter, that if a teacher does not identify as a math person themselves, they can hardly have an impact and pass this message along to their students. So supporting educators is a big piece of the component. Now, as it pertains to the enrollment for Masterman, I think, Council Chair, your request makes sense to me. If Algebra is not available for everybody, it should not be a requirement. I'll pass it over to you.
Hi. My name is Symbol Lai with Children First. I think to echo Diana, your point if there is a support that's removed, that work has to go some place, right. And so, it's really important that if we're trying to get everyone, all the students access to Algebra and to increase math access throughout the city, that if the school district is making any sort of big changes, that they examine the supports, they fill the gaps and make sure that it's a seamless transition. And in terms of the special enrollment, I think there should be consideration in terms of -- until there is full access across the city around Algebra, something has to be done to make sure that students are not falling behind because or not lack, you know, losing out on more opportunities because the pipeline hasn't been built yet.
Thank you, Chair. A quick question and I don't know if either of you can answer best practices in other counties in Pennsylvania with respect to Algebra. Is this the same method everywhere else or is this specific to Philadelphia school district?
Surrounding counties do not have admission high schools as far as --
The admissions high schools issue is particular to Philadelphia. But surrounding counties have similar issues delivering or ensuring access to Algebra to all 8th graders. So I think you'll see regionally there is a mixture of Algebra being available in the 7th, 8th and 9th grade.
Yeah. I just asked that because if you're looking for solutions, maybe somebody figured this out somewhere else within Pennsylvania. And the state can actually make some changes in all the counties with respect to this. Thank you, Chairman.
I'm sorry if I got (inaudible). Thanks, Doc. I appreciate you. Please state your name for the record and begin your testimony.
My name is Symbol Lai. I'm with Children First. Thank you for convening the Committee on Education over the summer. So I understand that this hearing was called as a result of students being denied access to the city's top schools because they lacked the requisite Algebra coursework. While this is one consequence, I want to encourage Councilmembers to think a little bit more broadly about this issue. In a city where medicine, pharmaceuticals, tech and even our trades dominate, the fact that not all students are able to take Algebra in their school, hinders their ability to connect to good jobs, stable careers and opportunities in their own local economy. Expanding Algebra access is an equitable education issue. It's a workforce development issue. It's also an equitable economic development issue. So I want to direct Councilmembers to Children First's brief to highlight two points that we found in our early research around Algebra access. So the first is Algebra access is a citywide problem. So you'll see from our research that only 46 of the 180 schools, district and charter, offer Algebra in the 7th and 8th grade, and only a third of 7th and 8th graders are enrolled. That by itself speaks to the citywide gap in Algebra access. So you might have kids that are interested in Algebra but can't take the course because their school doesn't offer it or students who might be interested but don't think they're qualified, they're self-selecting out of this opportunity. When we look at the data, we see that the lack of citywide access impacted about 400 8th graders whose PSSA scores proved that they could have succeeded in Algebra but didn't have the opportunity because the school simply didn't offer the course. And then we found another 1100 students who scored basic on the PSSAs, but can be ready with adequate support. So these are students that with a little push they are, you know, this is part of the pipeline, right. They can succeed in Algebra if we had adequate resources for them to access. So the point here that I want to make is that the lack of Algebra access affects all Philly students. A second point I want to make is that the lack of citywide access to Algebra disproportionately affects low-income Black and Brown students. We found that among 7th and 8th graders, Black and Latino students are less likely to have access to Algebra, and only a third of students from low-income families attend a school that offers Algebra 1. So if you're more a visual person like myself, there is a map that we were able to make on the first page of the brief. So you can see geographically what Algebra access looks like across Philadelphia. You'll see large gaps across Southwest Philly, West Philly, North Philly, Olney, Logan I believe, and the Lower Northeast. So, City Councilmembers, I think you know this map well because this is the same map that shows deep poverty in Philadelphia, lack of access for other basic needs, affordable housing across Philadelphia. And so, the point I want to make here is that this is a matter of inequity across the city. And if invested properly, this can be a way to break cycles of generational poverty. So on the second page of the brief, I want to point to some possible solutions that we can look towards as we're digging deeper into what to do about this problem. The main point that I want to make is that this is a fixable problem. And some of these policies that we've recommended are, one, working with the School District of Philadelphia to pass policies that ensure all students access to Algebra 1 by 8th grade. Today's testimony by the district says that they're working towards that for next year. And I encourage Council to work closely with the district to make sure that they meet that goal. The second recommendation we have is to work with the school district to implement a universal screening for Algebra access. This is because some students might self-select out, right.
They might lack confidence, you know, in doing math. They might not think they're a math person. And so, they might not go towards that path and stuff. And so, something like a screening tool can kind of take subjective measures out of it. It could also, you know, you never know what's happening in a student's life in a school, right. They might just -- they might not thrive in the environment or what have you and stuff. And so, having a screening measure that automatically enrolls or identifies students that are ready for Algebra 1 can make sure that all students have access to this opportunity. The third recommendation we have is working with the city and the district to expand supports in and out of math classrooms so that 8th graders can be more ready for Algebra. And this includes things like tutoring and Algebra- focused OST programs. And I believe I have one more -- no, those are the three. So, Councilmember Thomas, members of the Education Committee, thank you for convening this hearing and for your attention on the lack of Algebra access across the city. Again, this problem comes up because students reported not being able to attend top-tier schools because they didn't meet the requirement. But this is only one missed opportunity of many others. Access to Algebra can link students, especially low-income students and Black and Brown students to good schools, good jobs and industries that are right here on their doorstep in Philadelphia. This problem has big implications and most importantly, it can be fixed. Thank you for your time.
Thank you for your testimony. Chair recognizes Dr. Ahmad.
Thank you both for your testimony. So I can see best practices elsewhere, outside of Pennsylvania that is doing this. In order to have access to Algebra, they have to pass the PSSA with a certain score, right. So the culture shift that we need around math itself that you refer to has to happen before that right. And I'm just wondering if you have noticed any gender- based preference in our Algebra classes or not? That's one. And two, Algebra should be everywhere, not just because they had a PSSA score -- well, everybody should be scoring well on PSSA in order to be getting this. So that's the goal, right. How do we do the culture shift around math in general that you mentioned? You know, you have to be a math person or something. And I experienced that as a child, was told you have to be a certain kind of person to be able to do mental math or something like that. I'm a scientist with a PhD. I said, nope, I'm not listening to that. But math is still not my strong suit. I was imprinted very early on as a child about how I view myself and my capabilities because somebody else told me that. So I just wanted to know the culture shift that needs to happen, which is not necessarily something we can legislate as such, but maybe there could be a paradigm shift in how our educators are approaching that. So this is a philosophical kind of question. But if we are going to have our children have access to the jobs that are available that pay a living wage, we need them to know how to do math, period, across the board. So if you could just give us some thoughts as to how would we have that culture shift? And the school district is the best place to do it because that's where children are eight hours out of the day.
Yeah, I'm happy to take that first. I've been thinking about this as it pertains to Algebra specifically, but thinking about it as well. And you asked about girls specifically because it overlaps with the development of STEM identity, which includes math identity, right. The critical years for development of identity are in elementary school, in the years that we are telling our students they are or aren't good enough to be taking Algebra in the 8th grade. And so, I don't have the numbers in front of me for preference for Algebra in the 8th grade. But I can tell you that after that elementary period is when we see decline in girls feeling like they identify as scientists or STEM people. As much as we have a good question, I haven't seen a lot of data around this, whether or not the narrative that we're imparting on our children in elementary has an impact on whether or not they are able to select Algebra in the 8th grade because they believe in themselves as capable and they perform well in PSSAs and then they go on to be selected for early or 8th grade Algebra. So I think the question is absolutely worth exploring to develop some identity. Just to wrap up this idea, you need three factors, three components performance, which is positive experiences, and they don't necessarily have to be successful experiences. They just have to be positive. You have to be able to abstract and learn something from it. The second factor is knowledge and competence. This is the personal belief that you have knowledge and that you can succeed in this field. And the third one is recognition. And I think for a lot of our students that part is really lacking, especially I think there's some socioeconomic biases that would also underline this data about having good mentors outside of their families or inside of their families. But often it requires someone outside of your family to tell you that you are capable and to be able to develop that self-belief to pursue and persist.
Yes. So in regards to your question around the bias, I think that's where the universal screening tool comes in, because that takes some of the bias out of it. If you have at that point in your life, you know, if you are ready for Algebra 1, you can get screened for it and have the option of taking it. The other thing that I thought about was, you know, I think this is a policy lever, I mean, this might be a really good place to invest in OST programming, right. Because I think even outside of the, you know, you need more supports and everything, every -- Councilmember Thomas, you know this. You need more support than you know beyond the school classroom to cultivate to kind of get a culture shift, right. And the more OST programs that we have that can target, you know, changing these kinds of gender-based biases of women in STEM or girls in math and stuff like that, right, that can really help. And I do believe that there are working models of this in Philadelphia. I know Elevate 215 has a really good pilot just to build up confidence of 6th graders, middle schoolers in taking math, right. And so, they believe that they can do Algebra, right. And so, bolstering this kind of ecosystem that we already have existent with more funding and support from the city and more partnerships I think can target and change some of the culture. The last thing I would say is a lot of our recommendations, these are early in development. Children First is really interested in this topic. So we'll have more recommendations coming out. But one of the things that we really identified as an office is that there probably needs to be a lot more attention towards like families and parents and how they consider, you know, do they see themselves as a math family, are they scared of numbers. And how does that how do you shift that, right, so that it's something that is more a norm, like we're a family that do math, right, and not something that is really scary because then that can really impact whether or not a kid feels that their math-ready.
Thank you. Thank you to this panel for your testimony. We very much appreciate it. Is there anything else you would like to add? Anything you think we need to think about as it relates to this issue, anything you want to put on the record? (No response.)
Thank you. And thank you to both of your organizations as well. We appreciate you as well as the work that your organizations do. So thank you. Mr. Clerk, can you please call up our final panel for today.
Up next is Carla Hill and Dr. Chad Womack. (Witnesses approached witness table.)
Please state your name for the record and you may begin with your testimony.
Thank you. Carla Hill. Good morning, Chair and distinguished members of the Committee on Education. My name is Carla Hill. I come before you today as a long-term Philadelphia resident, a former parent of students in the School District of Philadelphia and a retired municipal leader with 35 years of HR experience across the city, from Portfolio Manager in Central HR to Deputy Director for the Department of Planning and Development. Today I serve as National Education Committee Chair for the National Association of Black Women in Construction, NABWIC, and co-founder and Chief Navigation Officer at GPS Career and Business Strategies. Throughout my 35 years in city leadership, I managed talent across diverse municipal portfolios, including Public Health, Behavioral Health and Fleet Management. I loved working for the City of Philadelphia because virtually every occupation exists within our city government. But across those decades, I observed one consistent tragedy. 90% of career exits are not due to a lack of skill, but a lack of alignment. When we fail to align a student's foundational education with high- demand career pathways early on, we effectively lock them out before they even reach the starting line. As local community leaders and entrepreneurship partners like the Business Center point out, this is more than an educational challenge. It is a direct economic development issue, a workforce issue and an equity issue. Right now the School District of Philadelphia, roughly three-quarters of K through 7 schools do not offer 8th grade 8 Algebra 1. This structural barrier directly impacts 76% of our Black 7th and 8th graders and 67% of our Hispanic students compared to just 29% of White students. When middle-schoolers lack access to 8th grade Algebra, we are actively eliminating career pathways for them before they even reach high school. And those statistics were from the Philadelphia School District website in terms of the access reports and their internal reports. We aren't just missing an opportunity. We are cutting off options. Algebra is not just a math class. It is the non-negotiable gateway. Every year Philadelphia employers struggle to fill positions in skilled trades, advanced manufacturing, engineering, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, health care and construction management. When our children are denied foundational mathematical reasoning in middle school, entire high-wage industries are instantly removed from their future. By the time these individuals reach young adulthood or seek mid-career transitions, the door to technical careers is already locked. When young people entering the workforce and adults looking to pivot arrive without foundational math skills, employers and training centers cannot focus on career advancement. They are forced to stall progress for basic remediation. We see this directly in the classroom data and worksite observation shared by vocational educators, like one of my partners, George Jenkins at YouthBuild Philly, where young adults trained to earn nationally- recognized construction credentials. I have some quotes from Mr. Jenkins. Currently, students show up in my classroom understanding basic addition, subtraction and multiplication. This is outstanding if we want to give them an opportunity on being average. As leaders, we all know if you're shooting for average, on average you will reach just levels below that. Mr. Jenkins's experience on the ground captures the core issue. When young people arrive at vocational training with only basic arithmetic, we have already limited their ceiling. But as Mr. Jenkins notes, by giving students a baseline of early STEM education, we allow a critical foundation of achievement. So when they get to my high school classroom, I will be able to easily excite them about mathematics instead of running away from mathematics.
They will lean into it when I give a hands-on project and show them how to build a wheel, how great the wheel was to the development of mankind, you start to understand the power of that math. When you prime a young mind with excitement and a high level of knowledge, you are not only developing a young mind, you are developing a highly fluid thinker for the future to achieve the best they can be at any job they get or business that they establish. This creates a strong- minded student who can critically think through problems and move forward economic development across all our communities. This perspective is reinforced across national industry leadership. Dr. Egheosa Igbinoba, National President of National Association of Black Women in Construction and a former teacher of Business Administration, Entrepreneurship and Microsoft Office applications, emphasizes how early education aligns directly with industry advancement, technical certifications and business ownership. NABWIC's mission is to train and empower the next generation of Black women and underrepresented leaders in construction and technical trades. But that mission begins long before a student reaches a job site or starts a business. Having taught business administration, software certification and entrepreneurship, I know that real-world success requires a solid foundation in computational thinking. Without early access to middle school math and STEM, our youth are systematically locked out of critical industry certifications, advanced trades and business ownership long before they entered the workforce. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Pew Research Center, Black adults make up 11% of the total national workforce, but hold only 9% of STEM jobs and a critical 5% of engineering and architecture roles. Hispanic workers comprise 17% of the overall workforce, yet account for just 8% of STEM professionals. We see this disparity play out directly in Philadelphia's economic landscape. Mathematics becomes meaningful when students see its direct connection to the real world. How Algebra powers electrical systems, geometry guides architecture, statistics informs business decisions and chemistry drives product development. Without early exposure to algebraic thinking, our students don't just fall behind. They are systematically disqualified from entering high-growth fields that provide family-sustaining wages, economic mobility and generational wealth. As a workforce practitioner and National Education Chair who works daily, both with young people starting out and adult workers seeking to pivot into better opportunities, I know that we cannot wait until an adult is facing economic instability to offer a solution. We must champion a multi-pronged economic approach that balances early youth development with support for adult career transitions. One, architecting early -- building early entries. We must expand access to pre-Algebra and Algebra instruction, starting in middle school and introduce curricula designed to cultivate student -- I'm almost done, sorry -- student learning based on their unique individual design. That means equipping middle-school educators with the training and resources to teach Algebra effectively and support struggling students, pathways across high-demand sectors. We must strengthen partnerships between schools, parent organizations, vocational programs like YouthBuild Philly, industry associations like NABWIC and industry to build intentional pipelines into technical trades, construction, AI and science fields, ensuring every young person leaves school with a written career blueprint. Intentional retraining and pivoting. For our adult Black and Brown workforce who were denied these early pathways, we must provide specialized assessment tools, makerspaces and targeted retraining resources to successfully pivot them into an existing municipal and private sector vacancies.
If we want a thriving, equitable economy in Philadelphia, we must stop managing bad exits and start architecting good entries. Access to early mathematics and science education is an economic imperative to reduce poverty, increase workforce competitiveness, and create pathways to generational wealth. I urge this committee to treat middle-school math access as a critical long-term workforce investment for the future of our city. Thank you for your time today.
Thank you for your testimony. We appreciate it. We appreciate your expert experience. Please state your name for the record -- and the historical context and the impact on Black and Brown people, because it seems like that's been something folks are afraid to say, and your testimony directly speaks to that, so thank you. Please state your name for the record, sir. You may begin with your testimony.
Yeah. Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Chad Womack, and I'm coming here representing iRISE PHL as its founder and Managing Director. I'm a Philly native and I'm a life scientist by training. I spent my whole entire life in science and technology. I'm going to deviate from the written testimony because I want to react to some of the things that have been said, which I think are all positive but need to be accentuated and some other aspects of it brought out. iRISE PHL is an early stage nonprofit that is serving as a backbone organization for community-based organizations, including neighborhood associations, CDCs, churches, mosques, temples and so forth. We are decidedly focused on building the infrastructure and capacity for STEM inside of the community. I want to acknowledge some of my colleagues that have spoken and some that have not that are in the audience. Dr. Idris Stovall, who's a co-founder and a PhD mathematician; Mr. Jonathan Lee, North Philly native who's been working on STEM in North Philly and Philadelphia citywide for over 14 years. And I want to also 15 acknowledge the fact that there's a 16 lot of work that's going on around 17 STEM, including mathematics 18 education with other organizations, 19 including Philadelphia Fund, 20 Philadelphia STEM Equity Collective and others. The data and the statistics that people have discussed today, I won't repeat. I'll just add to one statistic that is important, which is downstream from middle school or high school Algebra, access and performance are STEM outcomes, post-secondary outcomes. Where do our children who graduate from high schools in the city of Philadelphia land? And we did this study in partnership and collaboration with the school district over ten years ago. It needs to be repeated, but I can guarantee you that the results probably will not change all that much. Overall, the STEM yield for the City of Philadelphia is around 4% to 5%, meaning 4% to 5% of high school graduates from the City of Philadelphia go on to earn a Bachelor's degree in four to six years, four to five. For African Americans, that number drops down to 1% or less, which means that 99% do not. To my colleague to my left's point, this is an economic issue, something we call STEM mobility science and tech-driven economic mobility. Without the core skills of STEM, our students and our young folks, our families and our communities are essentially locked out of the innovation and tech economy. As it was mentioned before, Philadelphia and the Greater Philadelphia region is a major hub, now the third largest in this country for life sciences and the biopharmaceutical industry. Yet we represent, African Americans that is, less than 5% of the workforce, not in sales and marketing, but in the R&D side. We represent less than 2% of the biotech entrepreneurs who actually launch companies and hire people and build equity in this space. So when we think about what this is about, it is absolutely about Algebra readiness, access, performance. But we broaden the frame a bit to include computational and design thinking, which I think has been mentioned before, but we also include the ability to apply those skills to solve real-world problems. That is the frame that iRISE is promulgating, and we call that computational readiness. So as we're discussing the much-needed topic of Algebra readiness, all of the previous speakers have done a great job so I won't repeat that. We are saying that that needs to be broadened a bit. And we also need to focus on building that infrastructure and capacity within our communities. To Dr. Nina Ahmad, Councilwoman Ahmad's point about how do we move this needle in our communities, our answer to that is rather straightforward. We need to actually go into our communities to build that infrastructure and capacity. I grew up in this city in East Mt. Airy and Germantown.
My mother grew up in North Philly, and I had an absolutely wonderful childhood that was surrounded by Black teachers, most of whom graduated from Cheyney, Lincoln or Howard. I am a very proud graduate of Morehouse College and Morehouse School of Medicine. I'm bringing this up because one of the things that is missing in this conversation is the need for young Black and Brown kids to see themselves in their future. There is nothing but opportunity for us to connect the dots between our kids and our communities, STEM professionals who look like them, who sound like them, not exclusively, but certainly have an opportunity to showcase that there are STEM professionals, even mathematicians like Dr. Stovall, who look like them so that they can decode the fact that they are capable of performing in math and Algebra, calculus and everything else in between. This is a particular point of our organization's mission. We are happy to say that we're working with stakeholders and organizations like the Philadelphia Fund, like PSEC to have Philadelphia's first STEM Festival and Expo next year, May 8, 2027, where we intend to put on full display what Philly has to offer, which is quite a bit. We want every community, every child, every family to be able to access and see why this stuff is important. A lot of us throw numbers and statistics and all of them may be correct, but we fail sometimes to showcase why it's important that Algebra math, which is the language of STEM, means that you have the opportunity to have a wonderful career, that you have the opportunity not to just get jobs, but to create them too. So we are extraordinarily happy, Councilman Thomas, that you are having this hearing. We appreciate your leadership, the leadership of other City Councilmembers as well. We welcome the opportunity to join you in this discussion and our colleagues. We think this is a very, very important moment in Philadelphia's history to really reflect on how we can invest in our young folks and our families and our communities. So thank you.
Thank you for your comments. I think the perspective that you all offered as it relates to showing the relationship between Algebra, because when we're thinking about it, we're thinking about special schools and the trajectory for their academic career, the perspective you provided around post-academia and into the professional world, and why we see a lack of Black people in certain spaces and in certain professions that's being tied back to the work that is being done in the middle school level, I think is alarming, but it's enlightening to listen to your perspective and to know that we're on the right trajectory in having this conversation. But we have to figure out what do we do to make sure all of our young people get access. So thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for being here. And thank you for the work that you do.
Mr. Clerk, can you please call our next panel or set of witnesses to testify.
There's none at this time -- hold on. We have one. Priyanka Reyes-Kaurana. Sorry if I pronounced your name wrong.
All good. Hi. Good afternoon. I'm Priyanka Reyes-Kaura and I live in the 2nd District. I'm the K-to-12 Education Policy Director at Children First, so joining my colleague Symbol. Thank you --