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Education

Philly magnet school gets PSP grant for middle-school expansion

The $200,000 will help Carver High School of Engineering and Science add two grades in September.

    by SOLOMON LEACH
    Published 

GEORGE WASHINGTON Carver High School of Engineering and Science, one of the city's top magnet schools, has received a $200,000 grant to aid its middle-school expansion in September.

Officials said yesterday that the grant, courtesy of the Philadelphia School Partnership, will enable the school to enroll 120 students in grades 7 and 8.

Specifically, the school will purchase 120 Google Chromebooks for a one-to-one student-laptop ratio, engineering kits and other materials. The money will also pay for professional development.

"I just think, as we think about what it means to ramp up a really strong middle school, the resources being provided through this grant are going to allow us to do that," principal Ted Domers said.

Students in 7th and 8th grades will focus on computer science and engineering to give them a strong foundation for the transition to 9th grade, Domers said.

Engineering and Science, consistently ranked among the top schools in the city, was listed No. 1 in the Philadelphia School District's School Progress Report in April. With about 750 students, 60 percent of whom are economically disadvantaged, the school's graduation rate is consistently at or above 90 percent.

"Carver serves predominantly low-income students in Philadelphia who often don't have enough opportunities to explore the sciences, so we are thrilled to give more students access to this opportunity at an earlier age," Jessica Pena, director of the PSP's Great Schools Fund, said in a news release.

The school, near Temple University in North Philadelphia, also received a $147,000 planning grant from the PSP last September. It partnered with four K-8 schools in the city - Arthur, Southwark, Blaine and William D. Kelley - to develop its middle-school curriculum and help those schools align to the rigor of Engineering and Science.

Since 2011, the PSP has invested more than $35 million in Philadelphia schools, including $20.6 million in public charter schools, $11.9 million in district schools and $3 million in private schools.