Review of the K-16 Partnerships Institute: June 2-3, 2011 at the School District of Philadelphia

Posted by on June 30, 2011

By Hillary Kane

“[We need to create] shared vocabulary, reference points for how to work with community members to co-design, co-empower, carry out research and services, disseminate findings, and do advocacy. Shift the emphasis from ‘empowering’ students as just students, to empowering whole communities in longer term, structural/systematic ways.” -K-16 Institute Breakout Session

At the beginning of June, PHENND brought together 47 individuals from 20 campuses, community organizations and public institutions for our first-ever, two-day “K-16 Institute.”  The goal of the gathering was to bring people together, who in various ways, are participating in university-school partnerships, and who want to make those partnerships stronger.

Much of the discussion focused on what is going on with the School District of Philadelphia, particularly in the wake of disastrous budget cuts.  Participants wanted to learn how budget cuts would affects the schools and programs with which they are already partnering; conversely, budget cuts also present opportunities for new partnerships as colleges and universities can fill (to some extent) specific unmet needs.

District officials presented on their offices specific needs in the upcoming year and opportunities for partnership.  The group also heard from Dr. Lori Shorr, Chief Education Officer of the City of Philadelphia, about the fact that most local colleges and universities need to in order to improve graduation rates at their own institutions, particularly for low-income, first-generation students.

In addition to sessions focused specifically on the School District of Philadelphia, there were also workshops on more general topics of interest.  These include working with non-profit partners to support our school partnerships and better training of college student volunteers to work more effectively in schools.

Ultimately, PHENND’s goal is to foster a dialogue between and among universities involved in K-16 work, as well as between universities and the School District of Philadelphia. While this is undoubtedly taking place in an ever-evolving landscape, the K-16 Network is off to a great start as a result of the sharing and discussions that took place at the Institute.

Non-Profit Partnerships Breakout Session

“The most obvious was the idea of pairing higher-ed service-learning classes with NID [Need In Deed] classes that have chosen similar issues. The possibilities for synergy in these pairings seem exciting and endless!” -Kim Kirn, Need In Deed

Student Teaching Working Group

“Our IHE group will be pro-active in re-establishing University Partners with the district.” –Dr. Joyce Munro; West Chester University

“Higher Eds [IHE’s] can train their whole campus communities ([to work on college retention] in our own back yards, as was said in [Dr. Lori] Shorr’s talk)” –Working group at the K-16 Institute

“We can help the city with its effort to make college more inevitable for the students in the School District of Philadelphia.” –Dr. Ellen Scales, Arcadia University

School District Officials Panel on K-16 Partnership Opportunities: Deborah Wei, Office of Multilingual Education Justin Grayson, GEAR UP Program Coordinator, Janiece Frisby, Advance Placement Programs, Office of Secondary School Reform