Opinion: Course provides a lens on U.S. history
The adoption last spring of a mandatory African American history course for Philadelphia high school students, while widely hailed as a groundbreaking and long overdue reform, also sparked some...
View ArticleReview: stories of great escapes offer different view of slavery
Free!: Great Escapes from Slavery on the Underground Railroad, by Lorene Cary. Third World Press/New City Community Press, 2005. Slavery is without a doubt one of the most difficult elements of U.S....
View ArticleNew text presents varied experiences of African Americans
“Under what circumstances is it permissible to violate the law or threaten to kill another human being?”“What do you think is the meaning of the line (of the poem) 'Many thousand gone?'“Does this...
View ArticleTeachers passionate about African American history course
For veteran teacher Robert Gainey, teaching the new African American history course to 10th graders at Benjamin Franklin is very exciting. “I see the light bulb going on all the time,” he...
View ArticleStudent Union celebrates 10 years of organizing
The Philadelphia Student Union isn't a kid in the organizing world any more.The youth-run group that organizes young people to transform their schools into safer, better-equipped and more academically...
View ArticleAfrican American history mandate: a timeline
Please click on this Adobe Acrobat PDF to view the timeline.
View ArticleWin for student group in small-schools effort
After four years of student organizing and pressuring the School District of Philadelphia to transform the large and aging Kensington High School into four small schools, members of Youth United for...
View ArticleComings and Goings
At District HQ: Joseph Meade left the District, where he was most recently Assistant Director of Parent & Community Relations . . . John Suggs, special projects assistant in office of Faith-based...
View ArticleProposed change in admission policy reaches SRC
While the “Center City Schools” website no longer touts “priority status” for students from Center City seeking to attend any elementary school in their region, members of the School Reform Commission...
View ArticleAt the SRC . . .
In November, the School Reform Commission voted down a proposal to terminate a contract with K12 Inc.By a 3-2 vote, K12 Inc. maintains its $3 million contract to provide science materials to grades...
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