The pursuit of education at William Penn High School is anything but old school.
One part college prep, one part vocational, the new curriculum at what historically has been an academically challenged school embraces both scholarly excellence and partnerships with community businesses. The goal is to engage students by equipping them to succeed in a challenging, competitive world.
In an era when students have more choices than ever, educators must compete, too.
Not long ago, William Penn was hemorrhaging students. Between the 2007-08 and 2010-11 academic years, the rolls of incoming freshmen dropped 11 percent, from 620 students to 457, according to Colonial School District’s Delaware Success Plan, a 94-page blueprint for sweeping change.
A look behind the scenes at one piece of William Penn's new curriculum: the culinary arts program.
A look behind the scenes at one piece of William Penn's new curriculum: the culinary arts program.
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“We were losing kids right and left to other schools, especially vocational schools and charter schools,” says Brian Erskine, supervisor of school reform. “We are one of the highest poverty schools in the state of Delaware and lots of our kids also struggled to graduate.”
One year after restructuring, William Penn’s enrollment is up by 200 students, an increase of more than 10 percent. That’s due, in part, to an aggressive campaign to sell parents on the new curriculum concept. Colonial used money from the Race to the Top federal education grant to organize 11 meetings in every middle school in the district to outline the plan.
In essence, the school tore up its playbook and started fresh. William Penn has adopted terminology from higher education, a message that encourages students to continue on in school after graduation. Areas of academic and vocational emphasis are referred to as degrees. Programs are divided among three colleges: Business, Humanities, and STEM, for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. There are 19 areas of study, ranging from agriculture to visual arts.
And the focus isn’t solely on career training. William Penn also has a renewed emphasis on academics.
“If you want to spend time learning how to design landscapes, you have to do well in math and English,” Erskine says. “You also can take foreign language and Advanced Placement courses you won’t find at a vocational school.”
That’s an important distinction at a school where students lag academically, compared to their peers at other public schools. In the 2011-12 school year, only 65 percent of William Penn’s ninth graders were proficient in math, below the state average of 71.4 percent. William Penn students struggled in reading, as well, with a proficiency rate of 60.2 percent, compared to the state average of 66.5 percent.
Further, the academic achievement of students who opted to attend William Penn has been significantly below that of eighth graders in the district who chose to go elsewhere. In 2010, 69.7 percent of incoming freshman were proficient in English, compared to 77.9 percent of students who chose to attend other schools.
In 2011, one of every five William Penn ninth graders was not promoted to 10th grade. The 189 students enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses took a total of 180 exams. Only 69 received passing grades.
Erskine expects test scores to improve as kids who are already enrolled gain enthusiasm for school and as the new, improved William Penn attracts higher-performing students.
Students who want to get a jumpstart on college can take advantage of the school’s dual enrollment program with Wilmington University and Delaware Technical Community College. Among the 14 AP courses are biology, calculus, chemistry, economics, English, music theory, statistics, studio art and history. Next year, William Penn will add French and Spanish to the AP roster.
The school retired the motto introduced soon after its doors opened in 1921: Where Excellence Is the Norm and the Tradition. The new motto: Every Student College and Career Ready.
Zarif Goldsborough, a 19-year-old senior from Wilmington, is immersed in accounting.
“I like math; I like numbers,” he says. “I get experience here that I would never get in the classroom.”
Goldsborough is in charge of keeping the books for Penn Bistro, the restaurant and catering operation that provides hands-on experience for the school’s red-hot culinary arts program. He records invoices from Sysco, the school’s largest vendor, and keeps track of expenditures for paper and ink for the graphic design program.
“I treat Zarif as if he was 32 years old,” Erskine says. “He is accountable for every penny.”
Designing and printing for local businesses and civic groups helps to defray the $250,000-per-year lease on the school’s massive, professional-grade printer. The Colonial district also is saving money by doing all printing in-house at William Penn instead of contracting the job to an outside vendor.
“We cut the cost of printing the district calendar by about 70 percent,” Erskine says.
Read more:
Culinary arts program’s daily special: Enthusiasm
The school is pumping its savings back into its programs. That has enabled William Penn to hire several new teachers, including two chef-instructors in the culinary arts program.
Half the programs offer some sort of certification. The most popular is health services, which qualifies students to become a certified medical laboratory assistant, a springboard for entry-level positions in fitness and health care.
Chester L. Smith Jr., a senior in the engineering program, worked on maintaining and repairing a tractor, gaining knowledge he will put to use when he starts studying mechanical engineering at Del Tech next year.
He also got a lesson in management and life when he was responsible for supervising other students.
“I learned that it is hard to get people to do things they don’t want to do,” he says.
Penn Tech Design offers architectural and landscape design services, complete with AutoCAD drawings. Penn Construction, the in-school building group, translates those plans into reality. Some projects, such as cabinets, are constructed at school. Students work on site with ABC Contractors of New Castle to build designs in the field.
Students enrolled in the agricultural program work at Historic Penn Farm, located adjacent to the school, as part of an agreement with Delaware Greenways, the nonprofit advocacy group for responsible development. The produce cultivated in the four-acre garden supplies the culinary arts kitchen.
“We want the community coming in— and we want our kids going out into the community,” Erskine says.
Currently, eight students are employed at Delaware Business Systems (DBS) in New Castle, a company that provides point-of-sale software for restaurants. Students earn $9-$10 an hour working in sales, installation and customer support.
Jason Blusk, DBS director of business development, says students make cold calls to prospective customers, collect feedback from existing customers and schedule service calls.
“After graduation, any of them could be hired here,” he says.
The model has proven so successful that DBS approached other schools near its satellite offices in Harrisburg, Pa., and Ocean City, Md. to establish similar programs there.
Starting with the Class of 2015, a senior project is required for graduation. The project must include an internship with a local business.
Kolawole Odeyemi, a 17-year-old senior from New Castle, plans to become a doctor. Even though not directly related to this long term goal, he believes the training he received in the architecture and design program will serve him well.
“It’s an opportunity to explore something I’m interested in without affecting my academics,” he says. “They compliment each other.”