A chance to study the world at home

High schoolers in West Philadelphia will soon have a new high school to call their own.

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission authorized Penn to proceed with the development of the long-awaited International Studies High School on May 31, which will provide students with a college preparatory program focused on world cultures and global systems.

The school will be located at 3020 Market St. in a building leased from Lincoln University, a historically black college with a main campus in Chester County. It is situated across the street from 30th Street Station.

"The theme of the high school is international cultures and languages," University President Amy Gutmann said. "The students will be given in a college preparatory way exposure to world cultures, world geography, languages and will have access to some of what Penn has to offer."

The school is set to open its doors next fall to a ninth grade class and will expand to a full enrollment of 500 students by 2010.

The University is currently hammering out the details on what Penn's role in the school will be.

"We have been working on internally determining what sorts of support that Penn is going to be able to provide in terms of human capital and expertise," said Michael Harris, an assistant vice president in the Office of the Executive Vice President. "At the end of the day, we will work with the school district to determine what kind of support the school district will need to be successful."

Harris said that the property developer will be responsible for renovating the existing building and that the school district will be in charge of furnishing it.

Penn is considering contributing financially with "some sort of operating subsidy on a per-student basis," Harris said. That subsidy could be along the lines of the aid provided to the University-affiliated Penn-Alexander School -- $1,000 per student for 10 years.

According to Gutmann, students living in West Philadelphia will be given preference when it comes to admissions, but kids can apply from all parts of the city. All students are required to have at least a C average to be considered.

The International Students School joins the Penn-Alexander School -- which runs from kindergarten to eighth grade -- in an experiment aimed at providing better public education to West Philadelphia.

Nancy Streim, associate dean for education practice at the Graduate School of Education, helped organize the Penn-Alexander School and is now preparing GSE's resources for the new high school.

"When we created the Penn-Alexander School we always envisioned that we would one day work with the school district to develop a high school," she said. "Having the opportunity to build a public school from scratch is the sort of opportunity that a professional school like this dreams of."

Gutmann said that students graduating from the new high school won't necessarily have an edge when it comes to being admitted to Penn despite the schools' close ties.

"Any student who is a superb student will be somebody we would love to apply to Penn, but we don't actually give preference" to students of any particular high school, she said.

The school's location will also be key to its success, according to Penn officials.

"This location is so convenient to public transportation," Gutmann said. "Everybody from West Philadelphia can get there very easily."

Officials also said they believe the site to be ideal in many ways but acknowledged that a back-up site never existed for the school and that there were no other viable options in West Philadelphia.

"We have got work ahead of us, but I think we have got very positive momentum on the project," Harris, the vice president, said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.