Temple, district plan college-track high school in N. Phila.

Aiming to attract more college-ready students from Philadelphia, Temple University is looking to open a high school in partnership with the city school district.

Following the "early-college high school" model that is growing around the country, the school would serve 300 to 500 students, many from Temple's neighborhood.

The high school would open in fall 2011 on or near Temple's North Philadelphia campus, with easy access to college classes and immersion in college-going culture. Students would earn college credits.

If successful, the high school would be the first in the district to be run in partnership with a university; the University of Pennsylvania oversees several elementary schools, including Penn Alexander near campus. And Eastern University opened a charter high school in East Falls in September.

The proposal fits in with a goal of the Temple academic plan recently adopted under president Ann Weaver Hart: "Proactively increase the number of college-ready graduates of Philadelphia high schools."

The plan also could attract more district graduates to Temple when its undergraduate African American population has dropped to just over 16 percent, from 24.5 percent in 2000.

More than 70 Temple faculty members have helped plan the school, from curriculum to counseling. Temple and the district are circulating a "draft memorandum of understanding" among officials.

"Neither the district nor Temple has committed to going forward, but we're excited about the possibilities," said Michael W. Smith, chair of curriculum, instruction, and technology in Temple's College of Education. "Our mission is to have students feel they belong in college and can succeed in it."

In development for less than two years, the project is farther along than high schools proposed by Penn and Drexel University, officials said.

Penn in 2005 said it wanted a school in its neighborhood focusing on international language and cultures, while Drexel floated an engineering and technology school.

While Penn officials have met with Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, it's not likely the school would develop before renovations are finished at University City High - probably about five years, said James Lytle, a former district administrator and now a Penn education professor.

Ackerman said she was optimistic about prospects for the school at a renovated University City if it largely served neighborhood students.

"I'm really protective of the children who live in that neighborhood, that they not be pushed out, and they've agreed to that," she said of her talks with Penn.

Ackerman said she had not had talks with Drexel since president Constantine Papadakis died in April.

It's likely two other small high schools would occupy University City as well, she said. One could be a district-run academy for students interested in teaching, the other a Drexel-run school or possibly a biotech academy.

Temple and Penn were among groups chosen in 2002 to run some district elementary schools under a sweeping reform plan. Temple withdrew from that arrangement last year, while Penn continues to help two schools in addition to Penn Alexander, to which it contributes $1,000 per pupil a year.

Temple last year received a $400,000 planning grant from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation in Princeton, which has helped 17 of the 200 early-college high schools nationally get their start since 2002. The foundation gets some of its funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has provided $167 million for early-college high schools nationally.

Gates was interested in Temple's proposal in part because of the school's new general education curriculum, said Rob Baird, Woodrow Wilson's vice president for school-university partnerships. The curriculum emphasizes interactive learning related to the city, its history, and its institutions, a teaching style that may suit high school students better than traditional college lectures.

No location has been set for the Temple school, officials said. It could be an academy within a school or on its own.

It would be similar to the district's Science Leadership Academy, on North 22d Street, and select its staff and have more freedom in curriculum, Smith said.

Temple educators from across disciplines would help out in the school, which also could serve as an internship base for college students.

Dual enrollment would allow students to earn college credits. While there is some state aid for college tuition for high school students, the district and Temple must work out how the rest of the tuition and other costs would be covered, Smith said.

Students would be encouraged to take up to 20 credits - equivalent to a semester and a half of college and considered the "tipping point" for degree completion to follow, he said.

The school may become an urban-education academy for aspiring teachers, which could help the district develop its own educators. But it wouldn't exclude others.

It largely would serve students from the Temple neighborhood, although some may be drawn citywide.

"The idea is not to skim the cream from the Philadelphia student body, like a magnet, but rather have it open to students who have the potential to succeed in college but perhaps whose potential hasn't been manifested so far," Smith said.

The school could become a model if successful: "We want it to be easily exportable to other schools," he said.

Eastern University began a quest for an early-college high school in the district in 2003, considering the conversion of Lamberton High. When negotiations failed, Eastern pursued a charter, using a $300,000 planning grant from Woodrow Wilson.

The university wanted more autonomy in staff selection and curriculum than the district would allow, Eastern officials said. The charter has that autonomy.

In a brightly colored building at Falls Center off Henry Avenue, Eastern University Academy Charter School serves 124 seventh, eighth, and ninth graders and eventually will go up to 12th grade.

The school has several features: It operates year-round, with breaks in December, April, and August. Upperclassmen will spend two days a week on internships in a field of interest, and younger ones in community service. All are expected to leave the country several times during high school for global learning, principal Omar Barlow said.

Students at no cost can earn up to 60 college credits - half a bachelor's degree - by taking Eastern classes. They can get the credits in courses on Eastern's main campus in St. Davids, through independent study, or in classes taught by Eastern professors at the high school.

Enrollment is open citywide; selection is by lottery.

Students like the design.

"In my old school, we just sat in class all day, looking at textbooks, writing notes, and listening to our teacher go on and on about some boring subject," said Breahna Harris, 14, an aspiring artist and teacher who is doing her internship in an art class at Project Learn. "I like this because we can go out and do what interests us."

Aaron Holland, 15, is focusing her internship studies on culinary arts and the sport of wrestling, interests of her late father.

"The kid comes first, not the curriculum," Barlow said. "If students are interested, they'll begin to learn."