Elevate 215 Announces $2.2 Million in Grants for Schools to Accelerate Academic Outcomes
Grants Invest in Research-Based Practices to help schools that are “Beating the Odds”
Philadelphia, June 8, 2023 – Elevate 215 today announced the award of $2.2 million in grants to accelerate outcomes at five Philadelphia schools that are “Beating the Odds” for their students with a track record of making academic progress.
The grant announcement, held at Juniata Park Academy, reflects Elevate 215’s commitment to support high-need schools in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods that are making significant academic progress. The grant recipients are district and public charter schools, and each of the five grantees will share a portion of the $2.2 million total over the next two years. All five schools were previously awarded planning grants from Elevate 215 to develop an evidence-based approach to improving academic performance.
“Our mission is to support schools that are making strong progress for their students, often in the face of difficult challenges,” said Dr. Stacy Holland, Executive Director of Elevate 215. “These five schools have a track record that merits additional investment so that they can accelerate outcomes for their students,” she continued. “We are inspired by the impact the leaders, staff and teachers are having on their students, and we hope they can serve as a model of success in our city.”
The five grantees are Juniata Park Academy (K-8) in Juniata; Alliance for Progress Charter School (K-8) in North-Central Philadelphia; Middle Years Alternative School (MYA) (6-8) in West Philadelphia; the Morton McMichael School (K-8) in Mantua; and the Pan American Academy Charter School (K-8) in Kensington.
Educational leaders and civic leaders applauded the announcement that spotlighted examples of positive teaching and learning happening across the city.
“This grant from Elevate 215 is such an exciting opportunity for our schools,” said Tony B. Watlington, Sr., Ed.D., Superintendent for the School District of Philadelphia. “As we help finalize the phased implementation for our strategic plan, Accelerate Philly, we know that these collaborative partnerships will help identify innovative ways to move schools forward. This partnership is a great example of that, and we are excited to see the results from this evidence-based work.”
“As a city, it is so important that we lift up our students and schools who are working hard every day to beat the odds,” added Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, Chair of Council’s Education Committee. “I am grateful to Elevate 215 for taking a research-based approach to identify these schools in North and West Philadelphia that are ready to accelerate learning for their students, and we should work together to spread these opportunities to as many schools and students as we can in the next few years.”
Collectively, the school grantees serve 2,724 students, of whom 90% are Black or Hispanic, and 85% of whom are economically disadvantaged. To select the schools, Elevate 215 relied on a decade of research (2009-2018) on student outcomes in public elementary and middle schools to identify schools serving high-need populations whose students consistently achieved greater growth than their local and national peers during this span. To learn more about this Beat the Odds methodology, see here.
“We are very grateful to Elevate 215 for their collaboration in making this grant a reality,” shared Marisol Rivera Rodriguez, Principal of Juniata Park Academy. “We appreciate the recognition as a school that has a history of beating the odds with our students, and creating a space for us to learn how to meet the new challenges that have emerged post pandemic. This grant will allow us to build on past progress, overcome new challenges, and accelerate learning in the coming years for our students.”
Under the terms of the grant awards, the schools will focus the new funding in the following areas:
| School | Grant Focus Areas | Grant Amount |
| Alliance for Progress | Implementing a new, modern data system that provides better real-time information about how students are learning, and then training and coaching teachers on how to use the data to regularly adjust instruction to meet the needs of individual students. This will improve student performance in Math and ELA through building the capacity of leaders and teachers to better use data. | $323,420 |
| Juniata Park Academy | Building grade-level leadership to incorporate culturally responsive lessons into daily instruction to allow students with diverse backgrounds to better understand and connect with the curriculum. Increase overall student achievement in Math and ELA and decreasing the achievement gap between special education/non-special education students and English language learners (ELL)/non-ELLs. | $574,320 |
| McMichael Elementary | Reducing chronic student absenteeism and improving reading outcomes for students who are most behind via increased family engagement and tutoring. | $323,560 |
| Middle Years Alternative | Launching a career exposure and awareness initiative that features classroom and community-based activities to allow middle school students to discover and be accepted to the high school of their choice, increasing overall student achievement in Math and ELA through better meeting individual student’s academic and social-emotional (SEL) needs. | $460,210 |
| Pan American | Deploying a multi-tiered system of supports that uses data to help match academic and social-emotional behavior assessment and instructional resources to student’s needs, increasing Math achievement, and improving the retention of highly effective educators. | $560,000 |
The grants will fund evidenced-based, promising practices such as establishing a data system that provides real-time information about how students are learning, and then training and coaching teachers on utilizing the data to adjust instruction on a regular basis to meet the needs of individual students. Other practices will include incorporating culturally responsive educational context and examples into daily instruction to allow students with diverse backgrounds to better understand and connect with the curriculum; and launching a career exposure and awareness initiative that features classroom and community-based activities to allow middle school students to discover and be accepted to the high school of their choice.
“We are proud to invest in Elevate 215 and partner in their Beat the Odds school investment strategy to improve the quality of education for so many young people in our city,” said Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend, President of Hamilton Family Charitable Trust.
“Elevate 215 is committed to supporting programs and practices that work, based on the experiences of the educational professionals who lead our schools and teach our children,” Dr. Holland said. “The investments we announced today are designed specifically to serve the mission of supporting the growth of Philadelphia schools whose students are consistently ‘Beating the Odds’ and represent what is possible for all of our children.”