Program Summary

The CCPP has provided a unique educational experience for under served children and children at-risk of court adjudication, delivered on the campus of John Carroll University and grounded in the philosophies of “gifted education” and “service learning.” The mid-year report presented to the Cleveland Foundation in June of 2004 explained the strengths and weaknesses of the CCPP model as it existed for the past four years. The 03/04 evaluation from the National Research Center for Gifted Education at the University of Virginia, completed in November of 2004 noted statistically significant gains in writing achievement for students involved in CCPP.

The mission of the Carroll Cleveland Philosophers’ Program (CCPP) is to provide for under-served children from the Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD) an alternative educational curriculum that will, through unique and enriching learning experiences, engage the mind and the imagination in the love of learning, promote academic excellence, and enable giftedness. The target population, sophomores, juniors and seniors attending four CMSD High Schools, suffer from numerous environmental risk factors potentially inhibiting academic advancement, such as poverty, exposure to pervasive violence and lack of sustained family support. We believe that the level of academic development of under served children from CMSD could be increased with more extensive intervention in the form of a motivational educational experience including philosophy discussion, and service learning/enrichment delivered utilizing strategies associated with gifted education.

Taught cooperatively by JCU students and faculty, CMSD faculty, and teachers with expertise and experience teaching in gifted education programs, the new CCPP supports instruction in Language Arts and Social Studies as required by state standards by implementing a unique enrichment curriculum including weekly philosophy classes at JCU, service learning trips throughout the community and art, math, music and drama experiences. It will be evaluated by a team of JCU academics and disseminated in national and local academic arenas.

In the 2004-2005 academic year, the CCPP served 45 sophomores, juniors and seniors from CMSD’s Academy of Human Services at East High School, Margaret Ireland High School, Jesse Owens Academy and Cleveland School of the Arts. In the spring term, South High School students will take the place of those from East High for the remainder of the school year. CCPP students now attend philosophy classes at John Carroll weekly and engage in weekly service and/or enrichment activities as part of their involvement in CCPP. It is expected that this program will lead to enhanced academic achievement for the students involved as outlined in the CMSD strategic plan and supported by the JCU mission of service to the community.

CCPP has been funded with the combined resources of The Cleveland Foundation, The Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, John Carroll University and the CMSD Ohio Challenge Grant. JCU has allocated faculty time, office space and classroom space to support the program.