Stay Up To Date With CSFP

This past Saturday, CSFP and our partners at GreatPhillySchools (GPS) teamed up to host the Philly K-8 School Fair. We brought together 1,300 children and family members, 93 diverse schools, and community partners for a day of sharing information at Girard College.   We developed the Philly K-8 School Fair back in 2016 to increase Philadelphia families’ knowledge of their K-8th grade school options in the city and surrounding area. The Greater Philadelphia region hosts hundreds of public, private, and charter schools serving grades K-8, and gaining an understanding of the different applications processes and requirements for these diverse schools...

CSFP’s Parent Ambassador (PA) program focuses on building community. As PAs work with school administrators, CSFP families at their schools, and their own personal networks to increase awareness and understanding of our program, they build valuable connections across the Greater Philadelphia community. And a substantial portion of that community is parents with pre-K aged children. On October 10, Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) hosted CSFP and our PAs for a training session on Keystone STARS, the leading pre-K rating system in Pennsylvania. We learned about updates to the Keystone STARS program, as well as the criteria used to assess pre-K...

Each year, CSFP brings administrators from our network of 170 partner schools together for a Partner School Meeting to network, share best practices, and review CSFP partner school guidelines. This year’s meeting also featured guest speakers on topics relevant to K-8th grade education: Great Philly Schools (GPS) representatives spoke about their rating system, and representatives from AIM Institute presented their literacy teacher training opportunity, AIM Pathways. CSFP also reviewed requirements for private schools that offer pre-K to participate in Pennsylvania’s leading pre-K rating system, Keystone STARS. Administrators from CSFP’s diverse partner schools said they value this engaging meeting, providing feedback...

On Comcast Newsmakers, host Jill Horner and CSFP ED Heather Frattone discusssed two opportunities available for Philadelphia families with K-8th grade children. The Philly K-8 School Fair, on October 27, will host over 100 diverse public district, public charter, and private schools at Girard College. The event is designed to help families across the city learn about their options for elementary and middle school. And applications to CSFP’s random lottery for need-based scholarships are open, with a priority deadline of November 15. 

CSFP officially opened applications to our random scholarship lottery for the 2019-2020 school year on September 22, 2018. The CSFP team and Parent Ambassadors (PAs) traveled to six different recreation centers across the city to meet with Philadelphia families and help them apply to the lottery for 2,000 new scholarships. Hundreds of families joined us in their communities to learn about our scholarship process and ask questions about accessing quality education in Philadelphia. At the Olney Recreation Center, PAs and staff welcomed more than 150 families to celebrate the application launch. Parents met with CSFP ED Heather Weiss Frattone as...