In a trial that has often probed the disparities between schools with different levels of resources, Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite spoke Tuesday and Thursday about the wide academic gap between two high schools that are just three miles apart: Lower Merion High School, located in a mostly affluent suburb bordering Philadelphia, and Overbrook High school, in a neighborhood just inside the city line.
Hite, who is in his 10th year as superintendent in Philadelphia, the state’s largest school district, was called to testify by petitioners in the school funding trial. He talked about how city schools “don’t have enough funds to meet the needs of our students,” though they have seen improved results when able to provide additional resources.
The superintendent weighed in on a question that attorneys for the legislative leaders previously posed in the case: whether 100% proficiency by students on state assessments is an achievable goal.
“I think it’s realistic to aspire to,” Hite said, adding that there are districts like Lower Merion that achieve proficiency rates of 90 percent or more.
Reviewing statistics shown to him by Education Law Center attorney Kristina Moon, Hite said that 95% of Lower Merion High School students test as proficient in English language arts, while at nearby Overbrook in Philadelphia, just 6% score proficient. Among students from economically disadvantaged households at each school, the gap is almost as large: 81% versus 2%. Similarly wide disparities are evident on the math and biology exams.
Hite testified Tuesday that there is no reason that Philadelphia students are not capable of achieving at the same levels as Lower Merion – “other than funding … and making sure that young people have access to the types of resources that Lower Merion has.”
During cross-examination Thursday, Hite was asked by opposing counsel about differences in demographics at the two schools. He agreed there are differences and said most students at Overbrook are Black and economically disadvantaged and then reiterated, “The only difference in what children achieve is the investments that we make. Lower Merion is able to make a much greater investment in young people, so that you see even their economically disadvantaged students do well.”
What kinds of investments? Hite said it would require academic assistance for students in reading and math in the early grades and other support structures throughout, including counselors and academic coaches.
Hite also repeatedly cited the impact of deficiencies of facilities in the school district – where the average building is 70 years old and the estimated price tag of addressing deferred maintenance is $4.5 billion. Those deficiencies include a lack of well-equipped science labs and school libraries (only six of 216 schools have a certified librarian) and substandard technology.
While student outcomes do vary by school, the overall academic performance in Philadelphia lags significantly behind state averages. Philadelphia’s 70% graduation rate ranks 491st among 499 school districts in the state.
Only 22% of Philadelphia students meet college readiness benchmarks based on the SAT and ACT exams. Just 54% of Philadelphia’s graduates enroll in college within a year.
At their most popular destination, the Community College of Philadelphia, 60% of those graduates who enroll have to do remedial coursework in math, writing, or English language arts, Hite said.
The superintendent spoke extensively about the needs of Philadelphia’s student population, starting with the fact that Philadelphia is “the poorest big city in the country, which means that there are lots of individuals who live in deep poverty.”
Philadelphia serves 22,000 students receiving special education services, a population larger than the total enrollment of any other district in the state. The district educates more than 2,000 students who are experiencing homelessness and more than 2,000 students in the foster care system.
What stands out about the School District of Philadelphia besides its overall size, Hite said, is “the numbers of young people we serve who don't have access to early childhood experiences, that are not on grade level, that are experiencing trauma, that are homeless, that are new to the country and that have special needs that you need to actually have additional resources for.”
The district’s limited funding means “you have to make a series of trade-offs,” he said, “and every decision is based on what you may not be able to do for something else.”
Hite talked about how those tradeoffs affect the district’s more than 16,000 English learners. That population has increased from 8% to 13% of the district’s overall enrollment since 2012.
The state sets annual growth targets for each student who is an English learner, Hite said, based on a goal of moving them to proficiency within six years. Only 46% of students in the elementary grades are meeting those growth targets. In grades 6-12, that drops to 15%.
Hite said that the district needs “more individuals who can teach these young people …more bilingual counselor assistants who can work with families to help them navigate the systems that are not in their home language,” and other supports.
Hite emphasized that the district has gotten on a more sound financial footing after a period of massive deficits and extreme budget cuts caused by a slashing of state funding during his first years at the district. During this period from 2012 to 2013, the district laid off 20 percent of its staff, he said. While many cuts have been restored, he said, “we still haven't returned to the staffing -- the levels that we had prior to all of those cuts.”
He cited a few recent initiatives that bring additional resources into specific schools and have resulted in academic improvements. For example, the district has been encouraged by results of city-funded “community schools” and an “Acceleration Network” that offers additional staffing and supports for about 20 of its lowest-performing schools.
But Hite said the district simply doesn’t have the resources to make progress across the board or fast enough for all of its students.
“In many cases they are really meeting a minimum standard because that's all they have access to,” Hite said.
“With additional individuals and teachers who can coach and who can provide structures and services and supports for students … children would fare much better academically,” he said.
Professor Pedro Noguera, dean of the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California, followed Hite on the stand. Noguera, an expert witness for the petitioners, studies how poverty impacts schools, and what educators can do to compensate for the effects of poverty. We will have more to share about his testimony when it concludes.