The Administration recommends that the Board of Education authorize The School District of Philadelphia, through the Superintendent or his designee, to execute and perform an amendment to extend a Grant Agreement, as follows:

With:   The Fund for The School District of Philadelphia or its affiliates

Purpose:   To support early literacy through training of pre-K teachers to implement “read-alouds” to students

Grant Start Date:   7/1/2019

Current End Date:   3/31/2021

New End Date:   3/31/2022

Current Amount Granted:   $102,770

Additional Amount Granted:   Unchanged

Location:   District-funded pre-K centers citywide; centralized/regionalized training sites

Description:   Due to delays caused by the pandemic, the Fund for The School District of Philadelphia has approved an extension to its current grant to allow key teacher training to continue through spring 2022, which itself has been made possible by generous, on-going support from The Vanguard Group, Inc., as part of its Strong Start for Kids Program.  The more pre-K teachers with access to high-quality classroom libraries that are able to incorporate them into developmentally appropriate instructional practices, the more young children that will have their individual early literacy needs satisfied, which will have a long-term positive impact on academic outcomes as those students transition to School District Kindergarten classrooms and beyond.  The grant includes some funding to track the progress and measure the impact of the project, and a final report will be due to the Fund for The School District of Philadelphia by June 30, 2022.

Goals and Guardrails:   Reading Goal -- Every student reads on or above grade level.

Related resolutions(s)/approval(s):   

 June 27, 2019; No. 12