Philadelphia Schools Partnership

SCHOOL INVESTMENTS: PSP makes grants to school operators to support the launch of new schools, the expansion of great schools, and the turnaround of low-performing schools. The grants help to offset startup, growth and/or transformation costs; they can be disbursed at once or across several years, but they are generally not intended to cover recurring operating expenditures. The Organization conducts extensive due diligence on grant applicants before approving grants, including examination of quantitative data on academic outcomes, analysis of student attendance, attrition, graduation and matriculation data, financial analysis, review of strategic growth plans, assessment of organizational leadership capacity, interviews with school leaders and board members, and school site visits. PSP also makes talent development grants, which are focused on supporting schools in developing and strengthening the skills of school leaders and teachers; incubation grants, which are smaller grants to support leadership teams and/or partnerships engaged in strategic planning and development for a new school, an expansion or a turnaround, and technical assistance grants, which support grantees in addressing discrete challenges and opportunities.

Great Philly Schools: PSP develops and maintains information and technology-based resources to support families in selecting schools that are a good fit for their children. PSP developed and now maintains a multimedia information resource that helps parents and guardians to learn about schools in Philadelphia. GreatPhillySchools, available online and in print, includes school profiles and performance ratings for more than 2,000 pre-kindergarten and K-12 schools; it also features advice and answers to frequently asked questions on topics such as charter schools, scholarships, how to apply to high schools, interacting with a students teacher, and much more. It is free to use and does not accept advertising. As part of the GreatPhillySchools initiative, PSP also manages information fairs for families in the fall.

Equitable Enrollment Initiatives- PSP endeavors to develop strategies to make the process of applying to schools easier for families, who must contend with a complex assortment of application processes across the citys more than 400 K-12 schools. In 2018, PSP facilitated the launch of an online standard application system that enables families to apply to any of more than 70 Philadelphia public charter schools on a single website. This initiative is called Apply Philly Charter.