Breakthrough Collaborative trains teachers, aids students in Philadelphia’s underrepresented communities

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Kayla Banks graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C. as an education major in the spring. Last week, she started her first teaching job. The transition into teaching at the James G. Blaine School was smooth, Banks said, thanks to her time as a teaching fellow at Breakthrough Collaborative in Philadelphia.

The nationwide program was founded more than 45 years ago in San Francisco. It aims to support students in underrepresented communities, and to give aspiring teachers the opportunity to get hands-on experience.

Philadelphia’s branch of Breakthrough has been running for 30 years and helped over 2,000 students and aspiring teachers, officials said. In 2021, the school officially became part of the Germantown Friends School, which has taken over some of the backend responsibilities such as  IT and maintenance, allowing the program to raise money more effectively for the program.

The program also recently added a college preparatory program, aiming to help students navigate the world of college admissions and tests, officials said.

Michelle Palmer, executive director of Breakthrough Greater Philadelphia, said the city branch got its start after Julie Friedberg, a Germantown Friends School alumni, went to study in California. She brought the program back with her.

That was 30 years ago and, since then, the program has served over 1,600 students and 500 teaching fellows. Overall, Philadelphia’s branch of Breakthrough is “much more structured now and very much more of an academic enrichment program,” Palmer said.

“We were always academic enrichment, but it was not as structured. And I think over the years, we’ve come to really come up with a good product,” she said.

The summer program for students is straightforward.

“For six weeks, we provide academics, enrichment in math, science, literature and writing, and then they also have the opportunity to take an elective course, which is designed by our teaching fellows,” Palmer said.

On Fridays, the cohort of students take field trips, something Palmer said is in an effort to make sure they’re also having fun.

The summer program currently serves rising fifth through ninth graders in the Philadelphia area, with this year’s fifth grade cohort being the first. Breakthrough also provides opportunities for students from fifth through 12th grade during the year.

The programming during the school year also includes “career conversations,” Palmer said. “Where students can hear from different professionals in different varied backgrounds to just know that there’s so many different career paths out here.”

Teaching fellows, such as Banks, receive two weeks of intense training from teachers at Germantown Friends School, then spend the rest of the time teaching the Breakthrough students and getting feedback from teachers in the Philadelphia area.

“For me, the feedback throughout the summer was just super important,” Banks said.

Banks also liked the freedom she had in designing her own electives, such as “Let’s Talk Money,” which was about financial literacy, and “Who’s Got Talent,” which was designed to help students gain confidence in areas they had talent.

This freedom is what separated Banks’ time as a teaching fellow from the traditional college teaching experience.

“You have control of how the classroom is managed, so how the students act, what expectations you want,” Banks said. At “Howard, it’s kind of like we have a mentor teacher, so yes, it’s their classroom and we’re kind of just following along with what they’re doing while putting our twists or spin on it as well.”

Banks was a teaching fellow for three years until she got hired by the School District of Philadelphia recently.

According to the organization, 85% of the eight-grade students at Philadelphia’s branch of Breakthrough got accepted to one of their top-two high school choices. Nationally, the program has had three out of four teaching fellows stay in the field after completing the program.

More teachers are a good thing, said Gianeen Anyika, the principal at James G. Blaine School.

“The city and the entire state is in search of teachers. And it’s another pipeline,” Anyika said.

Anyika said she was impressed by Banks’ training.

“She knew exactly what to do, what to say to the children, how they should be moving throughout the classroom,” she said. “Even her communication to the parents in our messaging monitoring how she’s messaging and making sure she’s informing our parents of the you know expectations and what they can look forward to overall she’s been doing an amazing job.”