Bethune is next in line for the new partnership network that will share resources between the university and SDP schools.

When David Cohen (Cohort 7, 2022) became the principal of the Dr. Tanner G. Duckrey School in 2014, he was adamant about building a partnership between his new school and Temple University, with which Duckrey shares a campus. Over the past 12 years, Cohen has made good on that mission, working with Temple to share resources and create a sense of community between the two schools. This year, that partnership reached new heights as Duckrey was named the flagship school of the new Temple Partnership Schools Network (TPSN), a sweeping collaboration between Temple University and the School District of Philadelphia.

“When I first arrived at Duckrey, I saw the Temple flag everywhere — we are literally on Temple’s ground — and I knew it was essential that our students and families feel a personal connection to the university. I didn’t like the idea of our community feeling like it was pushing up against another community that had nothing to do with us.”

Duckrey found an eager partner in Temple, quickly establishing a relationship that provided new resources and opportunities for both schools. It started small. Temple donated computers to Duckrey in 2014, and the university began offering families tickets to sporting events. Then student teachers began working in Duckrey’s classrooms. Temple athletic teams came out to volunteer, chaperoning student trips and building relationships with kids who saw them as role models rather than distant college students passing through.

Eventually, Cohen brought a bigger vision to Monika Williams Shealey, dean of Temple’s College of Education and Human Development. Cohen pitched a lab-school model, where Temple would use Duckrey, “much like mechanics use a car engine to learn their trade,” Cohen said, bringing the full weight of the university’s resources into the building to strengthen academics while giving Temple’s own students real-world opportunities to develop their craft.

“The earlier you can bring college students who are interested in teaching into a classroom, the  better they’re going to understand the work, and that’s an approach that can be replicated in every department,” Cohen said.

That vision became official this year. Approved by the Board of Education this spring, TPSN embeds Temple students and faculty from teacher education, school psychology, counseling, nursing and beyond into ongoing roles within Duckrey, rather than rotating them briefly through schools across the city. This year alone, more than 75 Temple students and faculty are working in the building, including 8 student teachers, 18 school psychology students and 14 nursing students, with Temple’s math department set to join the effort soon.

Cohen said his vision for a large-scale partnership between Duckrey and Temple largely came into focus with the help of former Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School principal and PASL Senior Fellow Dr. Aliya Catanch-Bradley (Cohort 5, 2019).

“Aliyah and I were always sort of burning the midnight oil on this one,” Cohen said. “She was instrumental in turning this idea into something concrete.”

Like Duckrey, Bethune is also situated within the Temple community, located near Temple Hospital on Old York Road. That school is slated to be Temple’s next partner after Duckrey is fully launched.

The resources TPSN is bringing to Duckrey, Bethune, end eventually more SDP schools across the city, reach well beyond the classroom. Parents are already attending training sessions and “parent academies” held inside the school building, with plans to expand into financial literacy and other subjects families have asked for. Cohen said he hopes to bring in Temple’s health, medical and law schools as well, so students can have access to on-site medical care.

Every resource and activation TPSN provides will be tracked and measured, providing Temple and its partners insight into the effectiveness of their work together.

“Everything we’re doing needs to be tied to something measurable,” Cohen said. “We owe that to our funders and our partners, but more than that, we owe it to our students and their families.” The team plans to track outcomes like reading and math proficiency, attendance and student incidents, and to follow Duckrey students’ progress as they move into 9th, 10th and 11th grade to see whether the partnership’s impact holds over time.

Principals Cohen and Catanch-Bradley embody what PASL hopes to grow in every Fellow: leaders who build lasting, community-rooted change well beyond their own school walls. We’re proud to count them both among our Senior Fellows, and thrilled to see Duckrey and Bethune stepping into this next chapter together. Congratulations, David and Aliya!