After landmark partnership deal, Penn and Lea School look to the future

Following the formalization of a five-year, $4.1 million deal between Penn and Henry C. Lea Elementary School many throughout the city are wondering how the extra support will transform the school over the coming years.

As detailed in a Philadelphia Inquirer article, Penn’s relationship with Lea goes back more than half-century and has strengthened over the past decade as Penn has provided targeted support — including teacher training, family and community engagement assistance, student programming, and tutoring — at the request of Lea leadership. The additional support from the deal will allow Lea to pursue its focus on project-based learning as well as other initiatives and programs chosen by the community and Lea School administrators.

“We are working together to expand again the opportunities for young people, to provide support around instructional vision and what could be,” Penn GSE Dean Pam Grossman told the Inquirer. “It could be a model for, ‘what does that look like at other schools?’”

Read the Philadelphia Inquirer article.