Governor asks city's universities to help revitalize schools

Universities may play a large part in reviving 60 of the city's lowest-performing schools, according to Gov. Mark Schweiker's plan for the Philadelphia School District.

The three-tiered proposal outlined by the governor outlined less dramatic intervention for the top two categories of schools than for the schools with severely deficient levels of performance. The mid-performing schools would be directly supervised by a private manager, while top performing schools -- including magnet schools -- would be left largely untouched.

However, Schweiker's plan would mandate that the schools with the lowest rates of performance be turned over to community partnerships with private providers.

But the schools' proposed saviors greeted the news with mixed reactions.

"There's an enormous commitment out there already, and we have to deal with that first," said Carol Scheman, Penn's vice president for government, community and public affairs. "It's not as well-known as it might be of the depth and breadth of Penn's work in the community. We have to rationalize that under the new system before we do anything more."

Besides being a lead partner in the Penn-assisted pre-K-eighth grade public school, Penn has sponsored nearly 40 supplemental programs in West Philadelphia's 25 schools over the last three years. Considering tightening budgets, that may be enough, according to Penn's top administrators.

"Our responsibility is to our paying customers, and they are our students," University President Judith Rodin said.

Rodin said that Penn's role should not involve managing any schools, saying that the University should leverage some of its existing initiatives instead.

Penn, as well as Drexel and Temple universities, has only begun to examine the implications of the state's proposals for the city's schools, and negotiations between all sides will continue until Nov. 30, which is the deadline set for an agreement between the city and the state on a plan to boost test scores and solve the school district's ballooning deficit.

Schweiker pitched his plan to the presidents of the region's universities at a private meeting last Thursday afternoon. Steve Aaron, Schweiker's spokesman, described the gathering as a "starting point."

"The universities certainly are role models and we'd love to see them involved in our neighborhood school, playing a role and helping to nurture our children," Aaron said.

Under Schweiker's proposal, the entire district would be run by a five-member School Reform Commission that would replace the current school board. The commission would then choose a private manager for the district, most likely Edison Schools, Inc., which did the analysis of the Philadelphia School District that formed the basis of the governor's plan.

Edison runs 136 schools across 22 states, and Edison Chief Education Officer John Chubb said that roughly a dozen universities are partnered with the company in various ways, such as designing curricula and running charter schools. Chubb talked favorably about extending such alliances, mentioning how Boston University runs its surrounding school district.

Chubb also said that about one-quarter of Edison's schools are aligned with community groups, a concept that is also a component of the Philadelphia plan as well.

"The great advantage of working with a community organization is that it provides the school with a natural basis in the community -- and good schools are the ones that have a close bond between the school, the community, and the family," Chubb said.

Paul Hill, who directs the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education, agreed with the governor's plan to use community partners to revamp the worst schools.

"Using community resources that the school system has kept at arms length, and bringing in established groups with track records of running effective schools -- these are all necessary steps," Hill said.

But City Education Secretary Debra Kahn questioned whether community intervention should be the sole remedy for the most troubled schools.

"Whether that's exactly the prescription needed has yet to be determined," Kahn said.

About six community groups, including the Universal Companies of South Philadelphia and Nueva Esperanza of North Philadelphia, have expressed a desire in taking some of the city schools under their wings.

Tom Loveless, director of the Brown Center for Educational Policy at the Brookings Institute, said that while he was not sure of the best group to run urban schools, community and university groups were not the answer.

"Just organizing a community group doesn't qualify you to do a good job in terms of education," Loveless said, adding that it was still an "open question" of whether university involvement in schools had a positive effect.

"Universities don't have a great track record in going out and running school systems," he said. "If Penn and all the other Ivies took over all the schools in their neighborhood, I seriously doubt that that would lead to their improvement."

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