Three Philly neighborhood high schools will revamp with a career focus
College is an option for some, but not all students. “When they leave, we just want to make sure they can start with something and not go into a minimum wage job,” a district official said.
Three Philadelphia high schools have been tapped for a new program that will partner each with businesses to prepare more students for in-demand careers after graduation.
The “21st Century Schools Model” program, announced Thursday by Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr., is aimed at making “whatever changes we need to over time so that we can meet the demands of the changing labor force,” Watlington said. The schools will shift to their new programming in the 2023-24 school year.
Bartram High School, in Southwest Philadelphia, is getting a focus on the transportation and logistics industry, with programs in automotive mechanics, supply management, and warehousing.
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Overbrook High School will adopt an entertainment-industry programming approach, including digital design; film, television, and music production; and entertainment management.
West Philadelphia High will move toward programming in urban development, including real estate, information technology, entrepreneurship, and arts and cultural studies.
Students will continue to take all core subjects, but the curriculum will be infused with material specific to each school’s chosen industry. And industry partners will work with schools to offer career exploration opportunities, then job shadowing and eventually internships and possibly employment. Some partnerships are already in place; others are being developed currently.
Districtwide, 48% of the Philadelphia School District’s graduates enrolled in a college or degree program the first fall after high school graduation, according to district data.
Some students can and should still go to college, officials said, but for those who don’t choose that path, the 21st Century model will give them more options.
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“When they leave, we just want to make sure they can start with something and not go into a minimum-wage job,” said Ali Robinson-Rogers, the district’s deputy chief of academic supports. Students “will be able to graduate ready for the world of work.”
The idea is to offer the students at the city’s comprehensive high schools, where the vast majority of high school students are educated, career coaching, access to industry-specific conferences, skills, and unions, as well as industry certifications, when available.
Watlington has stressed that he wants Philadelphia to become the fastest-improving urban school district in the nation, and “that includes making sure that our students have an array of great options, not limited to our criteria-based schools, but also in our neighborhood schools,” he said. “I believe in investing in partnerships that provide life-changing opportunities and life-changing outcomes for our young people so they can later provide for themselves as well as their families.”
The new model will require more teachers focused specifically on each school’s career track. The concept was endorsed by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, officials said. Pathways were chosen based on industry demand and school interest.
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Kahlila Johnson, Overbrook principal, said the programs will serve both as workforce development but also as a way to close “the opportunity gap here in West Philadelphia.”
Though talent is equally distributed, “access and exposure and resources are not equitably distributed,” Watlington said. “That’s why initiatives like this are so very important.”
The budget for the program has not yet been developed, but Watlington stressed that it’s a priority, and funds will be redistributed from existing programs, if necessary.
If the program is successful, the goal is to expand it beyond Bartram, Overbrook, and West.
“We’re hoping that this model will not only change the landscape for these schools in particular but serve as a model for this city,” said Robinson-Rogers.