Parkway Program Philadelphia

Make Your City Into a Schoolhouse

This is an old idea but it is also a young idea because it is lively, mobile, flexible and fresh.

A schoolhouse does not equal a classroom. This is a confining equation. It is limiting and it certainly is expensive.

Instead, begin to imagine a group of students with learning dimensions that extend outside the restriction of a specific lab, studio, building or campus.

Draw three concentric circles.
EDUCATION is at the center.
STUDENT-PARENT-TEACHER-ADVISOR is the next ring.
Outside curve reads COMMUNITY.

All have equal access to each other.

Once upon a time Philadelphia City Schools were over-crowded.
They had exhausted physical space but their civic minds were energetic.
Thinking and problem-solving carried on even in the face of scarce resources.

Philadelphia created something that became known as The Parkway Program.
Parkway had:
School buildings and classrooms outside the traditional arrangement.
High School courses offered all around the city.
Students consulted in the hiring and evaluating of staff.
Students participated in curriculum planning.
Students and Staff directed the program using “Management Groups”.
Business and Industry contributed instructors, sites and in-kind resources.
Tuition-paying students attracted by the innovative spirit.


Parkway created classes that did not bear the designation of 10th grade, junior or advanced placement.

The formal IQ of participants ranged from 74 all the way to 150.

Alfred North Whitehead once wrote, “There is only one subject matter for education and that is LIFE.”
The Parkway Program engaged itself in the study of life. To create curriculum it asked, “What is useful to us in life? What do we need to know and investigate to make the best urban life for others and ourselves?”

Tutorial Groups were established from the onset. These student-staff units worked on basic academic skills, computerized learning, remedial studies as needed, social skills – all of this leading to a diploma.

Not everyone fit the Parkway Profile. It was not a universal solution for all.
City-based studies were often 4-day units entitled along these lines:
“The Urban Environment”
Class Schedule looked like this:
8:00 – 9:00 Physical Fitness Class
9:00 – 11:00 Out in city at business/corporate sites, cultural centers or in
city-based classrooms.
11:00 – 1:00 Management Groups met. Lunch. Check-ins with Advisors.
1:00 – 3:00 Academic Tutorials – Personal dialogue and exchange of ideas between students and faculty.
These may have involved an independent study project or a review of research underway.
Learning how to take criticism and stand up for ideas was emphasized.
3:00 – 5:00 “Pedagogical Mile” Two hour unit of city resource-based research
and learning.

Wednesdays from 11 AM to 5 PM were specially arranged activities and/or individual study.

The city’s public transit system was used by students to travel the city on study
AND the city’s transit system became a civic and economic curriculum unit. Who funds it? Who uses it? How is it administered? How does it operate as a business? What are its finances? Where are its routes? What are its special services?
Law Enforcement is an example of an Elective that was offered.
Math class was taught at the famous Franklin Institute. Literature class was conducted at the city library.
Art Appreciation was taught at the Art Institute.
Physical Education was held at the YMCA.
Zoology was conducted at the Zoo.

Students always attended the Friday Faculty Meetings.
Typical days were 9:00 – 5:00 and included Saturday classes.
Students considered Parkway and referred to Parkway as a “School for Kids”

The Parkway faculty profile was that of a teacher who was experienced in experimental and/or innovative approaches to excellence and education.

There were volunteer interns from co-op program at Antioch, Reed, Oberlin and Goddard College.

Weekly Town Meetings were held for the entire learning community and that included parents.