1. Neuroscience Pipeline is the oldest and most developed component.  Each year, 45 Penn undergraduates and 12 1st and 4th year medical students design and implement neuroscience curriculum at Sayre High School and on University of Pennsylvania’s campus. In the fall, 30 undergraduate students teach basic anatomy and brain function once a week for 12 weeks in each of the five 10th grade Sayre Biology classes.  This enables the core science curriculum to have hands-on, inquiry-based and small group learning. In the spring semester, a cohort of 25 Biology students are selected to travel to Penn's School of Medicine to continue their exploration of neuroscience through direct work in university classrooms and labs.  The program culminates with a team-based student presentation of their academic and personal learning to their peers and family members.
   
2. Cardiology Pipeline was established in the spring of 2008.  Modeled after the Neuroscience Pipeline, all four sections of 11th grade Chemistry students participate in an eight-week intensive introduction to Cardiology implemented by Penn Nursing, Medical and Arts & Sciences students and culminates with a final presentation. In the spring of 2009, 100 Chemistry students were engaged in the Cardiology Pipeline at Sayre High School.  A cohort of 25 were selected to work with eight Medical and graduate Nursing students for six weeks at the University of Pennsylvania.
   
3. Infectious Disease Pipeline began in January of 2009 to provide Sayre 9th grade students taking Physical Science with the opportunity to participate in the educational pipeline. Ten 9th grade students worked for seven weeks with a renowned Medical School Faculty member and three Medical students.

1. School Day Nutrition Education: The primary focus is on increasing the nutrition knowledge of Sayre students while incorporating hands-on components, such as monthly healthy food tastings.
2. Increasing Access to Healthy Foods: AUNI engages young people in organizing better choices for their communities through school and community based efforts.  Sayre youth work to improve lunchroom choices and operate after-school fruit stands as well as help neighborhood food stores create convenient healthy food stations and to operate community farmers’ markets.
3. Increasing Opportunities for Participation in Regular Physical Activity: AUNI works with PE teachers and school coordinators to improve exercise opportunities during PE class and recess time as well as promote family-oriented exercise classes through Family Fitness Nights.
4. School Gardens: Working with Sayre and Penn students, AUNI built and now maintains a school garden in the Sayre courtyard.  Working in the garden increases familiarity with healthy foods and provide a food systems link to the science curriculum.
5. Youth-Led organizing, Peer Education and Internships: In addition to school day peer education, AUNI coordinates job-training and youth leadership programs for high school students. The AUNI internship program engages teens in organizing better food choices in their communities by working after school and during the summer.  Sayre nterns combine direct service approaches, which include teaching healthy cooking classes to all ages and growing healthy foods in school gardens for sale at farmers’ markets, with advocating for broader systems change.

• Academic work done at the high school;
• Classes taken at the Community College of Philadelphia;
  
• Work experience in the Health System; and
• Academic/college/career supports from Penn.

• Internships: Students are provided with a paid internship at various locations: their high school (community school programming), the U. of Pennsylvania Health System, the Penn campus, or local businesses. Internships provide students with opportunities for critical thinking, service learning, and problem solving. Ideally, students progress overtime from peer education and community revitalization positions to leadership and advocacy and professional worksite positions. The following are two examples of school-based internships:

Nutrition’s Most Wanted is a group of nine active Sayre students, hired through Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN) to serve as peer nutrition educators. NMW educators organize in-reaches at Sayre and outreaches at other schools, community events, and other organizations. NMW students also teach Healthy Cooking every Monday evening at the Beacon’s Family Fitness Nights. This group meets Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursday from 3:15 to 7:15 pm.

Carpentry Program is designed for students who desire to build and learn the skills of carpentry.  Six students this year participated three times per week to participate in garden construction, community service and built fruit stands, tables, chairs, and other valuable projects throughout the year

• College and Career Pathways Sessions: These sessions run weekly after school and engage students in real world discussions, hands-on workshops, and academic support.  This includes:

Life Skills: Choices and Decisions (9th & 10th grade). Students are provided with a platform to constructively discuss issues in their school, local communities, and society at large.
College Access: Thinking About College and Getting There (11th & 12th grade). 11th grade students participate in college culture and environment sessions. 12th graders are paired with a Penn undergraduate to receive assistance with the college search, application, and decision processes.
Job Readiness: Becoming Career Bound and Professional Development (10th– 12th grades). Students are required to participate in a number of professional development sessions that focus on conflict resolution, workplace etiquette, time management, interview skills, and becoming organized. In addition, students participate in resume and cover letter workshops. 12th grade students who choose not to attend college are paired with a Penn undergraduate to receive assistance with applying for skilled jobs after high school.
Academic Support: Attaining High Academic Achievement (9th-12th grades). Students are provided with tutoring opportunities instructed by high school teachers, and Penn undergraduates and graduates.  Homework help is also available through peer assistance, community school staff, and Penn students. All students are required to complete an Academic Growth Plan (AGP) to map out their academic goals and meet regularly with an academic advisor who monitors their progress.
Portfolio Project: Producing Tangible, Measurable Outcomes (9th-12th grades). Students are required to complete a portfolio that reflects their progress in this program over the course of their high school career.  The portfolio will include but is not limited to: resume, cover letter, school and professional references, personal mission statement, goal planning sheet, budget sheet, open bank account and additional pieces specific to College or Career Bound students.

• College and Career Pathways Summer Institute (rising seniors only): Over the summer, rising seniors are prepared to apply for college during an intensive six-week session. They are paired with college students and prepare a sample college application, FAFSA form, three personal essays, a sample recommendation, and three scholarship applications. Students are also taken on college trips and are exposed to working professionals in the greater Philadelphia community.

• Parent Outreach: Parents and legal guardians are actively recruited to participate in all college visits, social, educational, and cultural outings, and are required to attend parent and legal guardian meetings.

• Mural Corps: Sponsored by the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Mural Corps engages young people in arts education through the mural-making process. Since 2005, Mural Corps has collaborated with the University of Pennsylvania and Sayre High School to offer weekly classes to Sayre and other West Philadelphia students.  In the summer of 2008, students installed an extensive glass mosaic in the Sayre High School Garden.  During the 2008-2009 school year, six students designed, presented and are currently in the process of installing a large mural near the back entrance the High School.\\

• Garden Club: The Sayre Garden club, now under the umbrella of AUNI, meets three times a week in the Sayre garden to work and learn more about food systems and agriculture.  Five students during the school year and up to 12 in the summer are involved in all steps of the growing process from garden design, to planting, fertilizing, and harvesting with a focus on nutrition and food systems education.  In 2008-2009 the Sayre garden was transformed into an educational and production space as harvested produce was sold at a local farmers market.  Next steps include working with Sayre Science teachers and community members to co-develop school day food system curriculum.
  

• Let’s Get Ready is a nationally-replicated model proven to increase student SAT scores by at least 100 points, as based on pre- and post-course diagnostics. 2009 spring term we had 50 students (20 from Sayre and the rest from across Philadelphia) participating in our LGR course, which was coordinated by two Penn students, and staffed by Penn student volunteer “coaches.”

• After School Academic Enrichment  is provided for students in addition to the above programs.  These activities are provided in partnership with Sayre administration and faculty, and Sayre’s extracurricular (EC) program, in order to make explicit connections to students’ individual school day needs, such as the Academic Growth Plans (described above), all students participate in weekly tutoring.  The main activities and number of Sayre students involved include:
  •    Youth Activist Network (community service): 8
  •    Youth Council: 8
  •    After school basketball: 30
  •    Saturday basketball: 60
  •    Drill Team: 10
  •    National Student Partnerships: 3
  
  

Line Dancing allows parents and community adults to learn and rehearse the latest dance steps in sequences to R&B music.

Computer Literacy allows adults to learn basic computer skills and surf the Internet. This class is facilitated by volunteers from National Student Partnerships, who also provide free assistance to parents with filing their income tax returns. 
 
Fitness & Nutrition provides a mixture of fitness tips and workouts, along with healthy eating programs to assist parents and other community adults in daily living.

Arts & Crafts is designed for our younger students, currently working with 10 students, 7-12 years old, who learn how to work together on art projects and well as arts skills such as painting, drawing, and poster making.
 
Karate is designed for both students and adults. Currently one half dozen individuals are learning the art of karate and practicing karate movements and disciplines.

Animation engages students in the finer points of graphic arts, computer graphics and how it relates to the business world.  Currently five students are enrolled.

    SAYRE-PENN PARTNERSHIP NUMBERS AT A GLANCE (2008-09)

Sayre students in school day programming:                650
After School students (K-12):                                       500
K-8 students in summer programming:                        150
Sayre students in summer programming:                    200
Sayre Parents & Adults involved:                                 250
Sayre Teacher Partners:                                                 18
Additional School Staff Partners                                       8
Community & Organizational Partners:                          12
Netter Center full-time staff at Sayre:                               9
Netter Center staff working part-time at Sayre:                7
Other part-time after school instructors:                         30
Penn student volunteers and work-study:                    350
Penn professors with ABCS courses at Sayre:              12

• The School District of Philadelphia honored the partnership between Sayre and the Netter Center with a Best Practice for Effective Community Partnership Award (May 2008).
• Philadelphia Safe and Sound chose the Sayre site as a model Beacon Community School site and used it as an example of best practices in the unveiling of their Neighborhood Report Cards (Fall 2007). 
• Sayre was honored as one of three school recipients of the Coalition for Community Schools’ National Award for Excellence (June 2007). 
• The Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative (UNI) was recognized as the Best Year-Round Youth Program by Work Ready Philadelphia, a program of the Philadelphia Youth Network (August 2007). AUNI was also awarded third place for their Service-Learning Project by Work Ready Philadelphia (August 2008). Shabazz Ransom, a sophomore at Sayre High School and participant in AUNI’s Nutrition’s Most Wanted, was one of two Philadelphia public high school students selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Commission to Build a Healthier America to feature on their website as a highlight from their summit in Philadelphia.
• Sayre students in a Medical Intake Course presented with Penn Nurse Practitioner students at the National Pediatric Nursing Conference in Dallas, TX and received the Blue Ribbon for Research and Yellow Ribbon for their Poster Presentation (September 2006).  A Penn-Sayre team presented at the 2008 national conference in Las Vegas and again won first prize in the research poster category.  From 2005-08, Sayre and Nurse Practitioner students evaluated a total of 177 after school children: six were identified as having linear growth failure and 40 were identified as at risk for type 2 diabetes.  NP and high school students made proper family and primary care notifications.

• Sayre made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), according to NCLB measures, by meeting 13 out of 13 AYP targets in 2006-07.  This includes attendance rates, test participation, and academic performance on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA).  Sayre is one of only five neighborhood high schools (of a total of over 30 city-wide) that made AYP in 2007, making progress along with many of Philadelphia’s magnet schools.  School leadership has publicly credited the Penn/Community School partnership for this achievement.
• Specifically, student attendance increased from 75% to 85% from the 2005-06 to 2006-07 school year (Sayre’s first year completely transitioned from a middle to a high school).
• In 2006-07, among Sayre’s first graduating class of 80 students, 71 graduated (90%); 40 out of the 71 enrolled in post-secondary education; 2007 graduates also received more than $50,000 in scholarships as a result of the Penn-Sayre partnership (including from the Palmer Foundation; Mural Arts Program; Young Business Leaders; National Youth Leadership Forum).
• In 2007-08, the Netter Center launched its first year of an integrated and comprehensive College and Career Program.  Of the 19 seniors in the Program, 95% graduated on time, 68.4% are enrolled in a two-year or four-year college, and 15.7% secured a full-time job upon graduation.
• Academic Growth Plans (AGPs) are a central component of the College and Career Program, often focused on one or two subjects in which a student most needs to approve.  For the 70 Sayre students participating, from the first to third marking period in 2007-08: 72% increased at least one letter grade in one subject area; 39% increased at least two letter grades in one subject area; 42% increased at least one letter grade in two subject areas.
• According to Sayre teacher surveys, of those College and Career students needing improvement: 70% of students improved their classroom behavior; 68% of students improved their academic performance; 63% of students made improvement in completing satisfactory homework.
  
• In a 2007 survey of 23 Neuroscience Pipeline participants, 73% thought the program increased their motivation to apply to college; 60% felt strongly that the program had increased their ability to recognize serious medical and neurological diseases; 47% felt strongly that they had developed mentor relationships. Following the program, two students each summer (2006-09) have participated in the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine.

• After a successful pilot program with the U. of Pennsylvania Health System, 20 high school interns in 2007-08 worked in hospital units including radiology, cardiology, physical therapy, and maternity.
• Students Run Philly Style matches adult mentors with high school students to focus on goal setting and responsibility through distance running.  In 2006-07, 42 students participated in a 5K, 34 in the Broad Street Run (10 miles), and 12 in the 2007 Philadelphia Marathon. (There’s been significant increase in interest since 2005, when eight students participated in a 5K and one in the Marathon.)
• Penn students, trained through Unite for Sight, provided 200 Sayre students with free vision screenings and 16 were referred for free eye care.  Penn Dental students provided free dental screenings and follow-up for 133 Sayre students.

• The K-8 After School Program serves the same 65 neighborhood youth daily after school.  At least 50% of these youth have been in the program for at least two years (This consistency is among the highest across Philadelphia).  There is now a waiting list of more than 35 families.
• With Penn undergraduates serving as the core tutoring staff, along with several high school student interns, the K-8 after school program provides an adult to student ratio of approximately one to four.
• In a 2008 survey given to K-8 After School students across five university-assisted community school sites:  94% of students feel that there is at least one thing they are really good at; 87% feel that the program has helped them to learn things that help them do better in school; 82% feel that the program has helped them be more active and learn how to live a healthy life; 77% feel safe after school.

• There is approximately a 90% attendance at monthly parent meetings for the K-8 after school program.
• Parents of the K-8 after school program volunteer an average of 6 hours per month.
• On average, Sayre Beacon makes over 4500 service contacts with youth and adults each month.  This is compared to the citywide average for Beacon programs of 1500-1600 contacts per month.
• Over the past few years, Family Fitness Nights have enjoyed 120-150 regular participants.
• In a spring 2008 survey, 95% of Sayre Family Fitness Night participants reported that the program has led them to eat healthier and exercise more.
  
• There is growing parent and community member participation through the Sayre Beacon Council and the Sayre Health Center Board.