About PFL

Residential Summer Institutes

PFL offers three, five-week residential summer institutes for participants over three summers, beginning at the end of fifth grade and continuing through the end of seventh grade.  Students attend institutes by year of entry at host colleges and universities, including:  Bryn Mawr College, Messiah College and Millersville University.  Students do not leave the program for home visits while the institutes are in session, minimizing outside distractions and eliminating absenteeism.     

The core summer curriculum is offered over three years in mathematics (prep for pre-algebra, algebra 1, algebra 2 and geometry), language arts, sciences (inquiry based study in biology, chemistry and physics), and Latin.  The core is augmented by workshops in computer education, creative expressions, debate and current issues, and P.R.I.D.E., a structured personal growth course.  Typically, students take two field trips weekly to places of significant cultural and social interest or to recreational outlets.

Saturday Tutoring and Enrichment Program (STEP) 

PFL offers a locally based, twenty-four weekend program during the regular school years for its sixth, seventh and eighth participants.  This program consists of enrichment extended from the summer institutes, tutoring support of in-school subjects, academic workshops, field trips and community service projects.  Students must attend a specified number of these sessions based on their length of participation in PFL:  1st year students--14 sessions; 2nd year students--12 sessions; and 3rd year students--10 sessions.   Mandatory participation in tutoring is required of students who fall below a B average in the prior marking period.  

In-School Impact Strategy

This entails strategically selecting a critical mass of students from a school or district to ensure their success and that their participation will positively impact the culture of their home schools and districts. (We project a minimum of ten students per school or 5%-15% of a district’s fifth grade population.)

1.  Student Selection Process: Students in fifth grade are eligible for application via referral from school personnel, parents or social agencies.  PFL makes the actual selections utilizing volunteers as admissions teams, including voluntary school district personnel.  Interviews are required of all applicants and their parents/guardians. Performance and behavioral criteria are relied upon when selecting students; a grade point average of 2.75 or higher is required for admittance. 

2.  Partner and Successor Programs:  PFL has targeted and works closely with a number of educational organizations to supplement our offerings and to place students in successor programs:  They include:  A Better Chance, John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, Corporate Alliance for Drug Education, Governor’s Schools for Excellence, College Access, Philadelphia Futures, White-Williams Scholarship, Gear-Up, Upward Bound, and school-district based accelerated programs (e.g., gifted, magnet and AP programs).

Center for Master Teachers 

This PFL center is used to train PFL teachers, emphasizing attention to detail, organization, differences in learning styles, and familiarization with cutting edge practices.  It is also open to teachers of participating school districts, prospective teachers and other educators interested in inner city and disadvantaged students.  Component programs include:

     A.  Teacher Fellows Program:  In conjunction with participating school districts, PFL plans to select teachers to be a part of its Fellows Cohort.  This cohort will:       

1. Participate in PFL’s Summer Institutes as practitioners and for professional development.

2. Participate in videotaped studies of their own teaching and others.

3. Participate in practitioner research.

4. Participate in teaching and curriculum development and other activities related to implementing the goals of the Accelerated Achievement Alliance at their schools.

5. Conduct a seminar on practices learned in the Teacher Fellows Program.

6. Be paid a stipend for their summer and/or school year participation.

7. Receive up to 6-9 Act 48 credits for participation in the program subject to school district cooperation and approval.

B.  School Year Support Programs:  Through this component PFL will extend support to participating teachers and schools during the school year tailored to their specific needs.  Such support shall include but not be limited to: curriculum development; tutorial support for all students enrolled in accelerated classes; model lesson plans for accelerated course offerings and other materials; demonstration lessons; coaching and feedback; and personnel support for pilot programs.

C.  Educational Retreats:  Up to three retreats are conducted each spring. These retreats provide a forum for candid dialogue about appropriate accelerated standards for teaching inner city and disadvantaged student achievement, the development of well defined and articulated course descriptions and lesson plans, and the review of effective pedagogical practices for inner city and disadvantaged students.  These are also opportunities for conscientious, yet often beleaguered teachers to become rejuvenated through their interaction and networking with others who are passionate in their commitment to effectuate higher student achievement.

D.  Practitioner Research Projects: Guides teachers in the formal examination and publication of their own pedagogical techniques for self-improvement and the benefit of others.

E.  Course Syllabi and Lesson Plan Feedback: Includes a process of review (both peer and supervisor) and revision before implementation that pays close attention to detail and organization of goals, activities, expected outcomes and assessment.

F.  Clinical Observations Program: Conducted to enable teachers to develop and test strategies that work best for the target student population.

G.  Educational Consultants: Utilized to inform and in-service teachers on current best practices in their discipline, and to serve as resources to teachers during the summer and into the school year.

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