Small schools with big hopes in Philadelphia
Small high schools came to Philadelphia in a big way four years ago, when four new ones opened their doors.
Science Leadership Academy seniors await their graduation procession. Ninety-seven percent will attend college; 40 percent plan majors in science, technology, or math. (Photo by David Swanson/Philadelphia Inquirer)Less than three miles apart, High School of the Future in Parkside and Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in Center City had vastly different beginnings.
Expectations for both were high. Both awarded their first diplomas this month.
But although leadership was identified as key to both, one had turmoil at the top and the other had a stable principal. Though both emphasized technology and were given freedom to innovate, one kept a close eye on
Reversing lagging U.S. college completion rates: What will it take?
Texas’ incredibly shrinking dropout problem
Science Leadership Academy seniors await their graduation procession. Ninety-seven percent will attend college; 40 percent plan majors in science, technology, or math. (Photo by David Swanson/Philadelphia Inquirer)
Expectations for both were high. Both awarded their first diplomas this month.
But although leadership was identified as key to both, one had turmoil at the top and the other had a stable principal. Though both emphasized technology and were given freedom to innovate, one kept a close eye on
Reversing lagging U.S. college completion rates: What will it take?
There was a time when the U.S. could boast it had the highest percentage of its adult population aged 25-34 with college degrees, but it’s been a long time since anyone could make that claim. Lately, there’s been a great deal of attention focused on the need to ramp up the number of college graduates, and a report released on Thursday by the College Board came with a statistic that is intended to create alarm: We are now twelfth.
Texas’ incredibly shrinking dropout problem
Reports of another “Texas Miracle” are making the rounds in the media, as the Lone Star state says that the dropout rate for the Class of 2009 was 9.4 percent. That is, only one out of 10 students in Texas who entered high school in the fall of 2005 had quit school four years later.
