Lori Shorr, who spent seven years as an administrator at Temple University, said in an interview yesterday that she hoped to have a comprehensive plan by the end of June and was seeking input from area colleges. The plan is likely to include data collection, scholarships, programs to prepare students for college, and other ways that colleges can help city students, she said.

Shorr's planned initiative follows Nutter's stated commitment at his inauguration to double the city's college-degree attainment rate in the next five to 10 years and cut the high school dropout rate in half. About 18 percent of city residents have college degrees, ranking Philadelphia 92d among 100 cities. "Colleges and universities set the educational tone for the region, and we have a lot of them," Shorr said at her office on the first floor of City Hall. "We're not going to be able to meet our goals without the colleges and universities working with us."

An attempt will be made to collect, from each college, data broken down by high school, Shorr said. A high percentage of the city's students attend a college in the region, so it makes sense to assess how well they are faring at those colleges, she said.

Temple has done data analysis on students by high school to determine how many apply, how many are accepted, how many show up, how many require remedial classes, and how many return for a second year, Shorr said. "I'm interested in doing that more widespread. That's the feedback loop the K-12 system needs in terms of understanding what happens to the students after they leave high school and how successful they are," she said.

Philadelphia will also ask colleges to offer scholarships to city students, Shorr said. Nutter was prompted to make the request after Temple announced in March four full scholarships for city district students. The University of Pennsylvania has offered scholarships to district students for years.

Shorr said that she already had met with some college representatives, and that they were interested in helping.

"People want to have a plan and be part of a plan. Right now, it's sort of an ad hoc relationship that universities have with the school district. Everybody would benefit from having some focus."

At Temple, Shorr worked in the provost's office and president's office, where she made sure the college curriculum was aligned with what students had learned through 12th grade. She left Temple three years ago.