Philadelphia schools to get $2.5 million from Gates Foundation

This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.

Philadelphia will receive $2.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to promote greater collaboration between District and charter schools.

The Gates Foundation, one of the country’s largest philanthropies for education, announced today that seven cities will be awarded grants totaling $25 million.

In Philadelphia, the grant money will go toward three intiatives of the Philadelphia Great Schools Compact, according to a statement from the mayor’s office. The Compact, formed a year ago, is a partnership between city and state entities committed to expanding the city’s number of strong schools and replacing the weakest ones. The grant will be managed by Philadelphia School Partnership, a local nonprofit.

The three Compact initiatives that will be supported are:

  • The creation of the Urban Leadership Academy, a principal pipeline development program that will help 40-50 aspiring principals to obtain administrator certification annually;
  • The expansion of the “Train the Trainer” Teacher Effectiveness Program of Mastery Charter Schools’ program to develop teachers in District, charter, private and Archdiocese schools; and
  • The construction of benchmark assessments aligned to national Common Core State Standards in math and English language arts.