What Works

What the signs are telling us....

While Erie County is reasonably strong in early childhood and elementary education, the county is slipping below state and national averages relative to high school performance and graduation rates. Erie County has made no progress in graduating more students from high school over the past four years and lags state and national averages by 5%. Truth be told, a high-performing educational system that works at all levels must invest in strategies for student engagement, leadership development both within and outside the classroom, and the activation of all available funding channels to support student achievement. While studies have pointed to crucial areas in the Pre-K – 12 spectrum that must be strong in order to ensure positive educational outcomes, it is critical to exhibit strength at every grade level and in every facet of education to meet the stiff challenges that faces Erie County and communities across the nation.

What Works: Traffic Patterns, Promising Practices, and Pilots

From a national scan of programs led by nonprofits that are making a difference in other communities, we see hope in:

School-Nonprofit Partnerships

Examples of nonprofits with engaging, effective, program designs who have developed strong partnerships with local school systems to boost student achievement through compelling after-school sessions, vital enrichment programming, tutoring and mentoring projects, and dynamic road-to-college programs are spread throughout the country and offer beacons of hope to communities that are looking for ways to ignite critical pockets of student achievement. See:

Citizen Schools
Bell Foundation
Posse Foundation
College Summit
The Mind Trust

Collaborative Summer Programs

Communities across the country are also finding ways to counter the academic and social regression that takes place during the summer months by designing and implementing compelling, collaborative summer programs that combine hands-on, experiential education with the arts, recreation, and community exploration in a creative package that keeps students engaged in learning while also being social, mobile, and relaxed. For more on these ground-breaking approaches to building educational momentum during the critical summer months, see:

Summer Advantage
Parks and People Foundation
SPIRIT Program

Service Learning

High quality service learning programs that unite academic learning goals with community service experience, expanding the traditional classroom while connecting with the world outside the school, have a natural place in the array of programs that build student engagement, establish social connection, build student empathy, and engage students in producing authentic products in the community. Learn and Serve America’s National Service Learning Clearinghouse is available at www.servicelearning.org

Third Grade Achievers

For years, focused educational leaders have been inspired by the goal of producing high-performing, “world-class” third graders. As one of the traditional benchmarks of early educational achievement, levels of high performance in third grade have often correlated with achievement down the line. Conversely, prison planners count the beds they will need ten years hence based on the numbers of failing third graders. There are several key components that weave together to produce success at age 8: high quality early learning environments that given students a solid start in school, attention to the development of strong age-appropriate social and emotional skills, the capacity to be creative, and literacy skills that demonstrate competence in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. See more on the factors that combine to produce world-class third graders.

See also: Jumpstart, the early childhood school readiness initiative, and
The Children’s Literacy Initiative

Educational Leadership

Leadership is a critical element in educational reform, and programs that build and strengthen leadership skills amongst teachers, principals, and superintendents are important pieces in the school improvement puzzle. For more on research and programs that build the leadership skills local schools need, see the research and resources maintained by the Wallace Foundation.

Governance is a critical factor as well. The high turnover rate of urban superintendents in the United States is a function of school boards. Stability and professionalism in governance have often been linked with municipal control in cities across the country. Whether elected or appointed, there is a strong need for governance training for school boards throughout the country.

Nonprofit Educational Foundations

Finally, all signs are pointing to the need for school districts to tap all available channels for funding to maintain acceptable classroom ratios, sustain teaching and other school personnel, continue to upgrade infrastructure, and maintain access to needed enrichment programs and support services for students. Many districts faced with these challenges are finding needed answers in starting or reviving their district educational foundations, the 501c3 nonprofits within school districts that can be magnets for funds that are not often attracted by or available to school districts. For more, see the Pennsylvania resources available through Potter Development Services.

Philanthropic On-Ramps

Modest, strategic investments that can get Pre-K – 12 Education in Erie moving in the fast lane:

• Robust, best-practice inspired partnerships between community-based nonprofits and school districts that focus needed resources on high-quality out-of-school time programming, mentoring and tutoring, family involvement in the schools, and programs that increase the high school graduation rate and move more students into higher education.

• High-quality, collaborative summer programming that combines multiple learning modalities in an engaging hands-on learning orientation that promotes continuing academic development in the summer months.

• Best-practice early childhood education, enrichment, and social development strategies that ensure that children enter school ready to learn and that their primary grades learning experiences in grades Pre-K – 3 achieve the developmental milestones that correlate with high degrees of academic and social competence by the end of third grade.

• Leadership development programs and strategies for teachers, principals, superintendents, and school boards.

• Capacity-building support to promote the development of 501c3 educational foundations within local school districts that can help to maximize revenue from all public and private sources for all district educational initiatives.