Dear Colleagues,   

Last night, the Board of Education for the School District of Philadelphia approved a memorandum of understanding between Temple University’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) and the school district to establish the Temple Partnership Schools Network (TPSN). Based upon the nationally recognized Professional Development School model, CEHD will now work directly with two schools located near our campus, Tanner G. Duckrey School and Mary McLeod Bethune School, to create a community-embedded, practice-based learning environment that will ultimately strengthen our local schools and the entire North Philadelphia community. 

Last year at this time, we announced the launch of Temple Future Scholars, a scaled pipeline program to support low-income, first-generation-to-college students in Philadelphia public middle schools. TPSN allows us to work more deeply with two of the schools that participate in Temple Future Scholars. This meaningful collaboration with the school district represents just one example of how we better serve the local community and create additional pathways to higher education.  

It is an initiative that also directly aligns with Forward with Purpose: Temple University’s Strategic Plan and our priority of Place-based Impact and foundational principle of partnerships. Through this effort, we are further aligning our pre-college resources to form a seamless continuum of educational programming to create a pathway from grade school to college and career. 

We do not come into this partnership with any preconceived notions. Rather, our job is to first listen and take an asset-based approach that builds off the deep experience and expertise among Duckrey and Bethune teachers and leadership. As the partnership develops, we hope to accomplish five goals. 

• Enhance pre-K–12 student success 
• Advance educator preparation 
• Strengthen learning for school-based professionals 
• Deepen family and community engagement 
• Generate research that impacts practice 

While this program has the potential to greatly benefit our North Philadelphia neighbors, we believe the positive implications will be just as profound for our students and faculty members.  

While TPSN is launching with Tanner G. Duckrey School and Mary McLeod Bethune School, we look at these schools as pilots, and we hope to expand the network in future years. We invite you to learn more about the innovative program in this Temple Now piece. 

Sincerely, 

John Fry 
President   

David Boardman 
Interim Provost 

Valerie Harrison 
Vice President for Community Impact and Civic Engagement

Monika Williams Shealey 
Dean, College of Education and Human Development