A Town Meeting about Parental Involvement

Children do better in school when their parents are actively engaged in their education. But what does “active engagement” mean? Come learn about the many ways Philadelphia parents are getting involved in their children’s education – at home, in school and in the community. Hear what new research says. Learn what the School District of Philadelphia, and other public and private schools, are doing. Share what works for you and your child.

This event will be held on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM at the new headquarters of the School District of Philadelphia (440 North Broad Street). Paul Vallas, CEO, School District of Philadelphia, will be presenting along with other educators and parentsDinner provided will be provided as well as childcare (for children 3 years and older, must pre-register). Please RSVP by January 12: Phone 215-851-1718 or email event@gpuac.org

This event is sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia. Supported by a grant from the Knight Foundation Fund at The Philadelphia Foundation. Additional support was provided by PECO (an Exelon Company), and Lincoln Benefits Group.

Next East Falls School Committee Meeting - January 4th at 7:00 PM

The East Falls School Committee's next meeting is on Wednesday, January 4th at 7:00 PM at the Presbyterian Church at the corner of Vaux and Midvale Streets in EastFalls. We have a lot to talk about; we had a meeting last week with Paul Vallas, the construction project has begun, International Baccalaureate program implementation is about to commence, much more to discuss and work on.

Mifflin Happenings – By Terry Jann

The school year has been off to a busy start at the Mifflin School. The School District has initiated new K-5 science and social studies curricula. Teachers and students have been busy academically with the new as well as the old core curriculum materials. Yet we still have time for many other interesting and enriching activities.

Students have had opportunities to experience many interesting activities beyond the school building. In September student representatives attended the National Constitution Day Celebration at Independence Mall. After all, Thomas Mifflin was not only the first Governor of Pennsylvania but also a signer of the Constitution. Through our partnership with Drexel University, students went to Drexel’s Dream Day where they attended a basketball game. Through the generosity of Cynthia Kishinchand and the East Falls Tree Tenders, students from grades second to fifth went to McMichael Park where they did tree-related activities with a representative from Bartram Gardens. In December, several classes went to the Philadelphia Zoo and even thought the weather was cold, they had a great time and tours, compliments of the zoo docents.

Verizon Reads very generously provided books and tee-shirts to our second grade students. Representative Jewell Williams very kindly provided 50 book bags filled with school supplies. Drexel medical students visit classes on a weekly basis to provide health-related lessons. Students from Penn work with Mifflin’s older students. All of these programs provide opportunities for our students to interact with excellent role models.

A wonderful holiday concert will take place with musical entertainment provide by our very talented students grades k-8 under the direction of Ms. Highsmith, choral and bells, and Mr. Webb instrumental. This is always a wonderful treat for all who attend.

When the bell rings at 3:24, it doesn’t necessarily mean the day is over for everyone. There are several different after school programs at Mifflin. Drexel University’s Center for Violence Prevention has provided a grant for academic and enrichment programs for students. In addition, there is the School District’s Power Hour Academic Program for literacy and math and the Hunting Park City Stars after school program.

We are very proud that Mifflin made Adequate Yearly Progress as determined by the No Child Left Behind Act for two consecutive years. The school was recognized at a reception hosted by the school district. We will endeavor to make it three years by working hard this year to surpass our previous achievements. We were also one of only forty-two schools recognized as a best practices school. This recognition happened at a second reception hosted by the school district. We are proud of our students and staff for all their hard work.

Finally, after many meetings and much discussion, the renovations have begun. First has come the demolition of the library to make way for the new gym. While the new gym will be wonderful and we will have a new library it was still a little sad to see the old one torn down. Much learning and many happy events happened there and many memories were made.

Mifflin is Honored by the School District of Philadelphia

The Mifflin School is a “Best Practices School”, meaning that it met Pennsylvania No Child Left Behind achievement standards and realized significant academic improvement over a three-year period. Mifflin made “Adequate Yearly Progress” during school years 2002-2003 through 2004-2005. Mifflin also realized significant three-year achievement growth relative to other District schools serving students/communities with similar characteristics (see press release).

Mifflin School Holiday Concert

Principal Schmitt has invited the broader East Falls community to the 31st annual Mifflin School holiday concert. All are welcome! Come out and see the audible results of Mifflin's excellent music program. The concert is Wednesday, December 21st at 9:30 AM in the auditorium of the Mifflin School.

Mifflin's Multi-Million Dollar Capital Project Begins

When completed, there's going to be a new gym and countless interior improvements that will enhance learning for the students and provide staff with a more pleasant workplace environment. After two years and millions of dollars, the Mifflin School will be reborn. These shots are from the exterior of the building and depict debris from where the library used to stand in addition to the administrative "offices" of the project overseers, some of the heavy equipment getting the job done, and a few other "perspective" photos. When cleared away, a new gym will rise. The library is being relocated to more spacious and high tech quarters in the part of the building that fronts Conrad Street, over the main entrance.

An Open House for Prospective Parents on December 8th

If you're considering public school options, please come to the Mifflin School open house on December 8th to learn more about the high-quality public education at the Mifflin School.

What's happening at the Mifflin School?

* An energetic and visionary new principal
* $8 million refurbishment project
* Rising and competitive test scores
* Working towards International Baccalaureate accreditation
* The new Bright Futures program for all 3 and 4-year-old children
* A vibrant music program and after-school offerings
* A low teacher to student ratio
* Highly qualified and certified teaching staff
* Placement of students to District magnet schools such as Masterman and Central

Open House Details

December 8th at the Mifflin School in East Falls - 3624 Conrad Street
9:00 am - 9:30 am - "Coffee with the Principal"
9:30 am - 10:30 am – Tour of the Mifflin School

Please RSVP to the Mifflin School at (215) 951-4007 or the East Falls School Committee at efschoolcommittee@mac.com

Philadelphia Cares Day at Mifflin a Success

On Saturday, October 22nd community volunteers spent the day at Mifflin painting fun murals in the bathrooms, and cleaning and freshening up the school's interior and exterior while having a great time. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped make Philadelphia Cares Day at Mifflin a big success!

Allyssa Schmitt: East Falls and the Mifflin School get a Wonderful New Principal

East Falls heartily welcomes Ms. Allyssa Schmitt as the new principal of the Mifflin School. Prior to beginning her tenure at Mifflin, Principal Schmitt was a teacher in the Pittsburgh Public School System for fourteen years. Principal Schmitt has had a multitude of urban teaching and administrative experiences in Pittsburgh and is thrilled to be collaborating with the East Falls community. Ms. Schmitt has an undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh and received her Master of Public Management from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Ms. Schmitt sees being a principal in a large urban school district as one of the most challenging yet rewarding jobs possible. Principal Schmitt sees the principal as the school’s Chief Executive Officer, responsible for managing day-to-day operations, leading and motivating the instruction and professional growth of staff, and enforcing rules, rewards, and consequences to shape student behavior. She believes that all community and school stakeholders must work together to develop a culture conducive to learning and it is the principal’s primary role to create the environment in which this can occur. In working with her over the last few months, the East Falls School Committee has found Principal Schmitt to be hard-working, flexible, dedicated, and extremely responsive and communicative. The East Falls School Committee looks forward to a long and productive relationship between Principal Schmitt, her leadership team, and the broader East Falls community as we work to make Mifflin the best grammar school in the City.

Eighth graders and parents to check out choices at High School Expo

The Philadelphia School District is sponsoring an "extravaganza" of high school choice on October 30 (Saturday) at its High School Expo. The event, will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, halls A and B, 12th and Arch Streets. It's a great way for current eighth graders in public, private, parochial and charter schools to find out about the broad range of high schools and high school programs in the Philadelphia public schools. The expo is especially important because current eighth graders who plan to attend a District high school in September must submit a High School Admissions Form to the District by November 19.

October 5th Meeting

The East Falls School Committee will reconvene on October 5th at 7:00 PM. We'll be meeting at our usual location at the Presbyterian Church at the corner of Vaux and Midvale in East Falls. We'll be talking about goal setting for the 2005-2006 school year, how to advance International Baccalaureate certification, and other exciting developments for the Mifflin School. Please come and join us; the more support we have, the more we'll accomplish.

EFSC in the Business Journal

An excerpt from a Philadelphia Business Journal article about East Falls:

"Another vital item East Falls has sought is a public school where parents actually want to send their kids. "The issue for young married couples is can they use the public school," Gillespie said. The East Falls School Committee hopes to change this, too. With a new principal and an $8 million infusion for capital refurbishment, the future looks bright, especially since Mifflin School was recently selected to work toward International Baccalaureate feeder school accreditation. If accomplished, it would transform Mifflin into a neighborhood institution with magnet school academic quality."

Terry Jann Begins Her 36th Year at Thomas Mifflin School

Republished with permission from the Fallser:

No one knows Thomas Mifflin School better than Terry Jann. An alumna of Ethan Allen School, Lincoln High School, Community College, and Pennsylvania State University, she has entered many a classroom as a student, a teacher, and, currently, a School Based Teacher Leader. Living in Center City during her first teaching assignment in North Philadelphia, she craved greenery. “I came to Mifflin because there were trees,” she recently noted.

In the 1970s Ms. Jann taught first, second and fourth grades, putting her Bachelor of Education degree to immediate good use. As programs changed, so did Ms. Jann. She moved from being a fulltime classroom teacher to a woman wearing many hats. “I learned to be flexible,” she quipped. New programs, Title I funding, standardized testing, “No Child Left Behind,” and five different principals in the past 35 years, mean her institutional memory and an ability to juggle old and new tasks help keep Mifflin humming along.

Her current title is School Based Teacher Leader, so she spends time in classrooms assisting with the math curriculum. As testing coordinator, Ms. Jann is responsible for the distrubution, pickup and delivery of tests for the 265 student body. Bench Marks, which are reading and math tests administered to grades 3-8 every 6 weeks, evaluate how students are doing compared to their peers in the School District. Then there is Terra Nova in the spring, a national test for grades 1-8. Finally, as well as the “No Child Left Behind” PSSA, a yardstick for grades 5-8. Throughout the school year Ms. Jann orders materials ranging from texts to pencils to Macintosh computers.

When the School District conducts staff development training, Ms. Jann attends the sessions then does “turn around training” at Mifflin. Since she is also the liaison with local community organizations and institutions such as East Falls Tree Tenders, Medical College of Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia University she links the projects with the faculty. Probably not last, and certainly not least, she writes grants for programs to enrich the curricula.

In looking back over the past 10 years, Ms. Jann finds “the advances in computer technology amazing.” Students can go to the computer lab and immerse themselves in “First in Math” or Study Island. Both are online programs that can be accessed from any computer. Using the MACS the games modes for reading and math help the students improve their skills in these subjects. For the faculty Schoolnet provides detailed testing results which give them the opportunity to track and compare students individually and collectively. Therefore, according to Ms. Jann, they can see the students’ strengths and weaknesses and where they need to improve.

This September Ms. Jann will meet and greet new Principal, Allyssa Schmitt, a new head secretary, the start of the eight million dollar capital refurbishment, International Baccalaureate accreditation, and the raison d’etre for the school, the students. Yes, Ms. Jann is right: “Mifflin, always an adventure.”

Proposed Quantitative Performance Measurement to Gauge School/Community Connectivity

Currently, no quantitiative metric gauges connectivity between a Philadelphia public neighborhood school and its catchment area, the community[ies] in which it sits and ostensibly serves. School/community connectivity is important for a variety of reasons, including a school’s potential to be an educational, social, and recreational community center. Further, connectivity is important in that taxpayers with children are essentially customers (potential or actual) of their local school; these taxpayers/customers are justified in their expectation that the local school will actively seek out their “business” (e.g., sending their children to the school) and work to keep it over the long-term.

One measure of school/community connectivity is to track the percentage of eligible students attending a catchment area’s school. Initial measurements could serve as a baseline against which to gauge future progress/regress. Percentage metrics could be developed for the entire catchment area as well as sub-catchment areas. A more refined sub-catchment measurement would reveal how well a school’s student attraction/retention efforts are working in smaller subsets of a community/catchment area. If the percentage of eligible students from the catchment or sub-catchment area decreases over a period of time, strategies should be developed and implemented to reverse the trend. Relatedly, if sub-catchment areas are lower to being with, strategies to address particular attraction/retention issues could be developed. Creating this metric would be possible using GIS mapping and demographic data.

Note: The responsibility to establish and maintain connectivity (and maintain/increase student attraction/retention percentages) is shared among the School District, the local school’s leadership team, and the broader community. However, the School District – as the entity charged with administering the school system – must be responsible for creating the paradigm and supporting policies to establish school/community connectivity and student attraction from the catchment area as an important component of its mission.

September 7th Meeting

After taking a Summer break during July and August, the East Falls School Committee will reconvene on September 7th at 7:00 PM. We'll be meeting at our usual location at the Presbyterian Church at the corner of Vaux and Midvale in East Falls. This year promises to be our most exciting and productive, as there are so many major initiatives and changes (all positive!) moving forward. There's a new Principal, an $8 million capital refurbishment project about to begin and a march towards academic excellence and International Baccalaureate accreditation. Please come and join us; the more support we have, the more we'll accomplish.

Mifflin School Working Towards International Baccalaureate Accreditation

Thanks to a visionary School District CEO, a School Reform Commission with high standards, the East Falls School Committee's advocacy, the support of other community organizations, and individual efforts by many of us, the Mifflin School in East Falls has been selected to work towards International Baccalaureate feeder school accreditation. Check out the attached press release for more info.

The International Baccalaureate program for middle school aged students is academically rigorous and would transform Mifflin into a neighborhood institution with magnet school academic quality. The IB program stresses a holistic approach to learning through six main themes: who we are; where we are in place and time; how we express ourselves; how the world works; how we organize ourselves; and, sharing the planet. Core subject areas include: languages (including foreign language instruction), mathematics, social studies, science and technology, arts, and personal, social and physical education. For more background, check out the International Baccalaureate Program's website.

New Pre-School Program at Mifflin

The early registration period has ended but there are still a few open positions left in the Mifflin School's new Bright Futures preschool program. The Bright Futures program is free and priority admission is given to all East Falls residents regardless of income. Priority will also be given to four-year-old students (your child must be four by September 1) but is also open to three-year-old children. If you are not an East Falls resident but are interested in applying for the program at Mifflin, you can still fill out the registration form and write on the top that you would like to be considered for Mifflin’s program.

For more information, please call (215) 351-7200. Do not call Mifflin directly as it is not open during the summer months. For more info, please check out this link.

Note: There has been tremendous response to this new offering and the program is now full. However, interested parents should still inquire about openings and put themselves on the program's waiting list.