Legislation to hold hearings on educational best practices on a global basis to determine how they may be implemented to establish world class public education in Philadelphia.
Sponsors: Councilmember Oh, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Goode, Council President Clarke, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Kenney
RESOLUTION
Authorizing a joint hearing between Council’s Committees on Education and Global
Opportunities and the Creative/Innovative Economy to hold hearings to examine best
practices in education on a global basis to determine how they may be implemented to
establish world class public education in Philadelphia.
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia School District is the ninth largest school system in
America with 249 public schools and 80 Charter Schools serving roughly 192,000
students; and
WHEREAS, Among the 35 most economically advanced nations, the United States ranks
17th in academic performance, despite spending the highest annual amount per student;
and
WHEREAS, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ranks 22nd nationally in education and
Philadelphia ranks 477th out of 545 school districts throughout the Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, The top ten public school systems in the world are found in Finland, South
Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom, Netherlands, New Zealand,
Switzerland and Canada; and
WHEREAS, The best public school systems in the world for vocational training using
state of the art equipment include Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway,
and Switzerland; and
WHEREAS, Students in Latvia, Chile and Brazil make academic gains at three times the
rate of American students and students in Portugal, Germany, Poland, Liechtenstein,
Slovenia, Colombia and Lithuania make academic gains at twice the rate of American
students; and
WHEREAS, The School District of Philadelphia has not attempted to implement “best
practices” in education on a global basis; and
WHEREAS, The future of public education is at stake and the need has never been
greater to identify and adopt best practices that increase competitiveness, academic
outcomes and equality for all children and families in Philadelphia; therefore,
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby
authorizes a joint hearing between Council’s Committees on Education and Global
Opportunities and the Creative/Innovative Economy to hold hearings to examine best
practices in education on a global basis to determine how they may be implemented to
establish world class public education in Philadelphia.