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This report describes findings from an evaluation that documented approaches, successes, and challenges of partnership coordination efforts in Philadelphia facilitated by the Community Partnerships VISTA Project of the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND) and by the United Communities' Southeast Philadelphia Collaborative (SEPC) Partnership Coordination project. Each of these organizations implemented its own partnership coordination strategies in 19 School District of Philadelphia (SDP) schools during the 2014/15 school year. This evaluation tried to understand the roles and functions of "partnership coordinators" and the extent to which partnership coordination efforts promoted "integrated activities and partner collaboration" that aligned with a school's needs and goals.

When schools, families, and communities work together, student outcomes are better. This brief focuses on the ways family and community engagement can enhance schools' efforts to improve outcomes for ELLs and highlights specific strategies schools can use to more effectively engage families and communities.

Districts, charter management organizations, and individual schools can learn a great deal from each other about strategies for creating robust and supportive learning environments for English Language Learners (ELLS). This brief highlights key findings about how Philadelphia public schools were crafting instructional approaches to serve their ELLs and creating possibilities for teachers to collaborate to strengthen teaching and learning.

Academic success for ELLs depends on high quality instruction and the infrastructure needed to support it (e.g., staff, curricular materials, collaboration, professional development). This brief examines the challenges schools face in these areas and the strategies they use to mediate them. The purpose of this brief is to share these strategies across schools and with the larger Philadelphia community, in order to help schools continue to improve ELL programming.

As a group, English Language Learners (ELLs) are diverse and come from a variety of home languages, cultures, educational backgrounds, and educational needs. This brief focuses on descriptive characteristics of the ELL students served by the School District of Philadelphia in 2014-2015. Specifically, this brief highlights the diversity of the ELL population in three key characteristics that impact schools' resource needs and program decisions: ELL population concentration, linguistic diversity, and English language proficiency levels.

The Philadelphia Education Research Consortium--or PERC--was launched in August 2014 as an innovative partnership designed to provide research and analyses on some of the city's most pressing education issues. This partnership was forged among the School District of Philadelphia, Philadelphia's charter school sector, and Research for Action (RFA). PERC draws on the rich research expertise in Philadelphia--both within RFA and from three of the city's major research universities--to conduct research that meets the information needs identified by representatives of Philadelphia's public schools. Building on their initial study of blended learning definitions, empirical evidence, and conditions for implementation success, this Research Brief examines educators' on-the-ground perspectives about blended learning implementation. In their two-pronged study approach, the authors: (1) explore best practices in implementation at four sites: New York City's iZone schools; District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS); Lebanon, Pennsylvania School District; and E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington, DC; and (2) present findings from a local survey of technology coordinators and teachers in the School District of Philadelphia and the city's charter partners regarding the capacity of schools to implement blended learning models and strategies. Three appendices are included: (1) Alignment of Philadelphia Needs, Best Practices, and Recommendations; (2) Technology Coordinator Survey Responses to Implementation Questions; and (3) Technology Coordinator Survey Responses.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Institute of Education Sciences, is requesting clearance for data collection materials and procedures for the full-scale collection of the 2012/14 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12/14) first follow-up, including the student interview and panel maintenance activities. In 2013, NCES received clearance of the BPS:12/14 field test data collection that was conducted in the spring of 2013. The materials to be used in the main study are based upon those that were approved in February 2013 for the field test data collections (OMB# 1850-0631 v.7). With that submission, NCES adequately justified the need for and overall practical utility of the full study as proposed and an overarching plan for the phases of the data collection over the next 3 years, and provided as much detail on the measures to be used as was available at the time of the submission. OMB approved the initial phase of this collection in February 2013, and now NCES published a notice in the Federal Register allowing a 30-day public comment period on the details of the subsequent study components (full-scale first follow-up) described in this submission. The BPS longitudinal study is designed to follow a cohort of students who enroll in postsecondary education for the first time during the 2011/12 academic year, irrespective of date of high school completion. The study collects student data on persistence in, and completion of, postsecondary education programs; their transition to employment; demographic characteristics; and changes over time in their goals, marital status, income, and debt, among other indicators. Data from BPS are used to help researchers and policymakers better understand how financial aid influences persistence and completion, what percentages of students complete various degree programs, what employment and wage outcomes are for certificate and degree attainers, and why students leave school. Includes a list of appendices that are not included in this document. [This study was conducted with the assistance of consultants Dr. Cynthia Decker and Andrea Sykes.]

This report documents the work of Amachi, a mentoring program for children of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated parents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Volunteers are recruited from inner-city congregations to provide one-to-one mentoring to the children. Beyond being the source of mentors, the congregations are a key part of the initiative. Information for this report comes from interviews with program developers, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Amachi staff, pastors, church volunteer coordinators, and mentors. This report describes challenges and successes of the Amachi model, focusing on the structure of the program in Philadelphia; describes the steps involved in transforming Amachi from plan to reality, highlighting the strategies for recruiting children, pastors, and volunteers; and examines the experiences of mentors and mentees and the challenges and successes of the matches thus far. A combination of four factors was essential (structure, management, commitment, and resources). One partner was an organization that had substantive experience with mentoring and could provide the necessary infrastructure. The partnership between secular and faith-based organizations was designed to be a "true partnership." There was leadership that was able to bridge the faith and secular communities. A firm system of accountability was key to success. (Contains 11 references and 23 endnotes.) (SM)

This report examines Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Annenberg Challenge, Children Achieving, a districtwide systemic reform initiative designed and led by a small core group of district officials and external partners. It was organized around eight core strategies (fair funding, standards, accountability, decentralization, leadership and support for teachers and principals, better coordination of resources, civic and parent engagement, and the all at once philosophy). A combination of factors contributed to Children Achieving's failure to produce sustained improvements and deep changes in practice and included flaws in the theory of action itself, flaws in implementation, lack of capacity, and behavior inconsistent with underlying beliefs and values. Reformers encouraged stakeholders to believe that standards, accountability, and decentralization would result in improved student performance, but this did not occur. Lessons learned include: content standards and accountability measures offer a foundation for instructional change, but produce results only if teachers are given the time and support needed to develop high-quality curricula and alter their classroom methods; curriculum-based, sustained professional development is essential to instructional change; and too much reform can overload schools and teachers. Two appendices present additional reading on Children Achieving and research methodology. (Contains 28 endnotes(SM)

This report describes work by Public/Private Ventures to mount a faith-based initiative that would produce credible evidence and lessons concerning the capacity, limits, and practices of faith-based organizations in working with high-risk youth. Organizations in 15 cities agreed to participate in the National Faith Based Initiative for High-Risk Youth, entering partnerships with the justice community and with other faith-based organizations, and recruiting high-risk youth and providing them with a range of services including education, employment, and mentoring. The report documents the first phase of implementation of the National Faith-Based Initiative for High-Risk Youth. Cross-site and case study data indicated that the faith community was successful in both securing the enthusiastic cooperation of representatives of the juvenile justice community and attracting young people who had committed juvenile of criminal offenses or were considered at high risk of doing so. Faith played an important role in program operations, though there was little evidence of proselytizing or coercion. Overall, while small- to medium-sized faith-based organizations have the capacity to form effective partnerships with the justice community and recruit high-risk youth, they nevertheless need support in implementing intentional programs that are of sufficient intensity and duration to have an impact on participant behavior. (SM)

In the 5 years since welfare reform was enacted, the Watching Out for Children in Changing Times initiative in Philadelphia has been meeting with families receiving welfare and listening to their experiences. This report is the third in the series and details the experiences of 40 families. Information for the report was based on interviews conducted from December 2000 through December 2001. Twenty-two of the families interviewed were African American, 8 were White, and 10 were Latino. Findings indicated that over half of the Watching Families had left the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) rolls, with over two-thirds of welfare leavers working, many in full-time jobs. Unemployed leavers had other sources of support, typically through the SSI program. However, family income was often below the poverty line. All the families reported struggling to make ends meet. Parents reported that they and their children had significant difficulties adjusting to parents' increased time away from home. Findings also revealed that securing and maintaining a job was often an uphill journey, easily thrown off course by a parent or child's health problem, difficulty finding appropriate quality child care, lengthy and expensive commutes, or a lack of education and skills. In the Spring of 2002, seven families will have exhausted their 5-year lifetime TANF limit for cash assistance. The report includes recommendations for the public and private sectors, and 12 charts compiling information on families in Pennsylvania and in Southeastern Pennsylvania receiving cash assistance and current situations of the Watching Out families. Findings are illustrated throughout the report with short stories of particular family situations. Two appendices provide details about TANF time limits, sanctions, and work requirements nationally and in Pennsylvania, and define the time-out categories used in the study. (Contains 49 endnotes and 22 references.) (KB)

Noting that over half of Philadelphia's public school students score in the bottom quarter in standardized mathematics and reading tests, the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, in cooperation with the City of Philadelphia and School District of Philadelphia, conducted a year-long planning process to craft an action plan. The planning process involved original research, community engagement, and extensive information gathering. This report details the resulting action plan and summarizes research commissioned for the project. Part 1, "Why School Readiness Is a Critical Issue," defines school readiness and details an approach to improving school readiness. Part 2, "The Philadelphia Story: An Assessment of Services and Need," identifies areas of success in meeting the needs of young children and their families as well as gaps in providing high quality readiness services. Part 3, "A Vision for Improving School Readiness: Recommendations" details recommendations in five areas: early care and education; health care; public engagement of parents; parent involvement, education, and support; and systems coordination. For each recommendation, possible strategies are delineated, costs are estimated, and community responsibility outlined. Part 4, "Summaries of Research Commissioned for the Project," presents findings of studies of child care quality in Philadelphia, parenting education and support, and a survey of Philadelphia families regarding their use and need for early care and education, health care, and parenting education and support services. Part 5 concludes the report with a series of maps showing the locations of services in various sections of Philadelphia; this part also lists acknowledgements. (Contains 41 endnotes.) (KB)