Elevate 215’s Education Priorities Over the Next Year

A message from Elevate 215 Executive Director, Dr. Stacy E. Holland

Elevate 215 is proud to start this school year thinking deeply about how to support over 16,600 students who attend schools within our current portfolio.  The beginning of school is a time for us to renew our commitment to their success and continue to work collaboratively with the educators and system leaders who support the education system.  In service of this reality, Elevate 215 is engaging with education and civic leaders to create the conditions needed to move education forward across Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is approaching a tipping point moment, with new mayoral leadership, unprecedented public funding, and the opportunity to create a long-term vision for an excellent education system. We want to share with you our priorities for the next school year and describe how our collaborative approach will lead to this collective action.  There are also highlights from our impact this past year and why key investments have built momentum that will carry through this year and beyond.

Elevate 215’s Education Priorities Over the Next Year

1. Attract More Educator Talent to Philadelphia:  We will work with a coalition of education partners to launch a citywide campaign to attract and retain hundreds of teachers who are prepared to educate Philadelphia students.
2. Define School Quality: We will establish a standard definition for what a quality school is in Philadelphia, and determine how best to measure a school’s progress toward it.
3. Invest Directly in Beat the Odds Schools:  We are learning from our current ‘Beat the Odds’ K-8 school cohort, and in the upcoming year we plan to invest in a second cohort of schools with a track record of success with our highest need students, which will include high schools.
4. Identify and Highlight Successful School Practices: We will showcase and celebrate success stories from our schools, teachers, and students to emphasize the impact of quality education. There are proof points in our city, but we also know we need even more. We hope to inspire others and create a positive narrative around the transformative power of education.
5. Convene Around Citywide Strategic Education Solutions: We will champion equitable education policies that proactively address the opportunity gaps faced by marginalized communities and the crippling school facility issues. By highlighting successful interventions and sharing data-driven insights, we aim to influence policy decisions that promote fairness and equal access to quality education and modern learning environments.
6. Continue to Expand Student Access: We will continue to work to expand the number of quality schools in the city and boost student access to them through our Great Philly Schools website, our ‘All Schools’ Fair, and Apply Philly Charter initiatives.

Philadelphia will soon elect a new mayor, which will provide an opportunity for education leaders like ourselves to help set a new vision for the policies and initiatives that drive the education system in the city for the next decade. It will be a top priority for Elevate 215 to engage with the future civic and community leaders, and amplify our education priorities for the next year.

This agenda is ambitious by design. Our students and families are eager for us to take action to improve their education experience; but we know that we at Elevate 215 can not do this on our own.

We believe that in order for systemic change to truly take hold in this city, we need to bring people together to not only talk about addressing the problems, but commit to taking concrete steps toward solutions – no matter the obstacles we face along the way. This requires collaboration, trust, resolve and political will.

We know this is possible. The collective impact we’ve accomplished over the last year has set the stage for further education advancement.

As we head into the new school year and embark on this enterprising agenda, we invite you to join us once again in our mission to improve educational outcomes for Philadelphia’s students. Your continued support is instrumental in creating a brighter future for our community. Together, we can make a lasting difference.

We’re looking forward to an exciting year ahead!