Our Impact

The Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP) became a National Writing Project site at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education in Philadelphia in 1986. With a network of over 700 educators in the Greater Philadelphia region, the Philadelphia Writing Project affects the lives of thousands of young people.

PhilWP has only one primary service area--the city and county of Philadelphia. Our professional development efforts are focused on the public, private, religious, and charter school communities that make up this large, urban, and highly diverse city. Most of PhilWP’s work, however, has been in traditional public schools of the School District of Philadelphia.

About the School District of Philadelphia

The School District of Philadelphia is the eighth largest school district in the nation by enrollment (according to figures updated on June 2009) with 163,064 students plus an additional 32,348 in 63 charter schools. The School District of Philadelphia serves a population that includes 61.2% African American students, 6.2% Asian students, 17.6% Hispanic students, 13.3% white students, 0.2% Native American students, and 1.6% of the students listed as "other" in its 284 public schools. The districts includes 176 elementary schools, 29 middle schools, 27 neighborhood high schools, 31 magnet or special admit high schools, and 19 schools that are primarily disciplinary programs. The school district serves over 13,500 ELL students, who speak more than 70 languages. 

PhilWP and Philadelphia Schools

In the 2009-2010 school year, 950 educators participated in PhilWP professional development programs, resulting in over 15,000 contact hours with teachers.  PhilWP also hosted 3 one-week summer writing camps for students entering grades 7-12. Teachers who benefited from connections with the Philadelphia Writing Project impacted over 57,000 students in 2009-2010.

For the 2009-2010 fiscal year, PhilWP received $66,000 dollars in federal funding and garnered an additional $223,000 in grants and professional development contracts.

In the past five years, PhilWP has had over 126,000 contact hours with 4,250 educators (some educators may have participated in more than one year) across the greater Philadelphia region.  These educators have taken what they have learned and practiced with PhilWP back into the classrooms and schools, reaching over 255,300 students over the course of five years. 

Find out more about the programs PhilWP sponsors for:

• Teachers
• PhilWP Teacher Consultants
• School Leaders
• Students
• Families

2010-2011 Programs and Professional Development

The Philadelphia Writing Project continues to work toward educational equity through a diverse set of programs and professional development sessions.

• Advanced Summer Institute II (summer sessions, Penn Ethnography Forum presentations)
• Afterschool Matters rountables and professional development
• Anniversay Celebration Planning
• Celebration of Writing and Literacy
• Getting Ready for the Common Core Standards professional development
• Invitational Summer Institute (Recruitment, selections, summer sessions, pre- and post-summer sessions)
• Lea School professional development
• Lea School afterschool writing program
• Leadership Inquiry Seminar
• Leadership Team (Site Development team meetings and annual Leadership Retreat)
• Literature Circle
• Marci Resnick Teacher Fund awards
• Marci Resnick Memorial Lending Library for Teachers
• Math and Science Upward Bound curriculum planning
• National Writing Project Annual Meeting presentations
• National Writing Project Spring Meeting presentations
• Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Health and Wellness Fair writing workshop
• PhilWP Journal
• PhilWP Scholar
• PhilWP Update newsletter
• Project Make
• Project Write
• Scholastic Art and Writing Awards (Judging sessions, kickoff event, awards ceremony)
• Struggles and Strategies
• Teach For America Summer Bridge Course
• Teach For America advanced elementary math professional development
• Teach For America elementary science professional development
• Teach For America special education and ELL consulting
• University City professional development
• Urban Sites Network Conference presentations
• Wilson School literacy program
• Writers Support Group
• Youth and Family workshops at the Kelly School