The Administration recommends that the Board of Education ratify and authorize the execution and performance of an amendment of a contract by The School District of Philadelphia, through the Superintendent or his designee, subject to funding, as follows:

With:  CORA Services, Inc. 

Purpose: To redeploy six vacated PHLPreK service slots to another high-quality pre-k site as approved by the City of Philadelphia's Office of Children and Families (OCF) in order to maximize program enrollment

Original Start Date: 7/1/2021

Original End Date:  6/30/2022

Amended End Date: Not Applicable

Currently Authorized Compensation not to exceed: $1,050,000

Additional Compensation not to exceed: $52,500

New Total Compensation not to exceed: $1,102,500

Location: CORA Services, Inc. - Early Years Huntingdon Mills, 2137 E. Huntingdon St., 19125

Description: The District is the single largest provider of quality pre-k programming for three- and four-year-olds in the City of Philadelphia, currently serving over 10,700 children through internally-operated programs in District buildings and partner operated programs in high-quality, community-based centers. In April 2021, the Board of Education authorized the District to contract with a variety of partner-operated programs to provide pre-k programming to a specific number of children for the 2021-22 school year. In September 2021, the City of Philadelphia approved the District's plan to redeploy several recently vacated pre-k seats to another high-quality site with available space and family demand. This action item is to ratify the District’s proposed reallocation of vacated pre-k seats to be effective as of July 1, 2021, in order to align with the statutory period of grant funding availability, upon which the existing contractual terms of the recipient partner agency have been based. Decades of research have provided clear evidence that children who attend high-quality pre-k programs do better in school, are less likely to repeat a grade or require remediation services, and have better social-emotional skills and behaviors than their nonparticipating peers. Local data replicate the national findings: children who participate in District-managed pre-k programs enter Kindergarten better prepared academically and socially than their non-participating peers, positively contributing to the District's overall academic goals. Performance metrics for all of the District's pre-k programs are collected across a variety of domains, from student academic and health outcomes to programmatic and fiscal compliance, and are reviewed and analyzed annually to assess results as well as inform future programming and support needs.

Goals & Guardrails Supported:  Every student reads on or above grade level.

Related resolution(s)/approval(s):  

April 22, 2021; No. 27

Funding Source(s):  PHLPreK Grant (Source 4003)