Today we announced that the Great Schools Fund will invest another $350,000 to plan for the turnaround and expansion of 3 Philadelphia schools. Read about the investments in today’s Inquirer.

• $275,000 will support turnaround planning at St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Helena-Incarnation, two Pre K-8 Catholic schools serving predominantly low-income and minority students. Both schools are part of the Independence Mission Schools (IMS) network. (Read more about IMS in Monday’s Inquirer) Similar to turnaround grants we’ve made to struggling public schools, these investments are in part intended to transform the schools’ academic results.
• $68,600 will support planning for the growth of Independence Charter School, one of the highest-quality K-8 public schools in the city. More than 900 families are on the waitlist at ICS and they are developing a plan to meet parent demand.

To improve education across the city, we continue to invest in innovation and transformation while scaling what’s working in all three sectors – district, charter and private. If you’re interested in getting involved, please contact us.

P.S. – Did you see our partners at the Workshop School get a great shout-out from President Obama last week? Watch the video here.