Davis’ pioneering school opened in September 2011 through a unique partnership among the IBM Corporation, City University of New York – City Tech, and the New York City Department of Education. By leveraging the school’s unique, groundbreaking partnerships, a diverse group of students are able to enter into a highly competitive field by completing an education that is a combination of high school and college, or “hollege” (high school and two years of college).
President Obama visited P-TECH in 2013, and it rapidly became a widely recognized premier Career Technical Education (CTE) high school. The president championed P-TECH as a model of excellence for student standards and achievement.
The highly touted P-TECH model has now been broadly recognized and replicated, growing from one school and one industry partner in 2011 to 550 industry partners and 77 college partners in 110 schools in New York, Illinois, Connecticut, Maryland, Colorado, Rhode Island, Texas, and Louisiana, plus Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Ireland, Italy, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Students at P-TECH schools earn a high school diploma, an industry-recognized associate degree, and gain relevant work experience.
Davis himself is firmly committed to the philosophy that “the P-TECH model is not just about being successful, it’s about being significant. Our children deserve nothing less.” With the support of the partnership, 72% of the Brooklyn school’s original 2011 cohort earned a diploma in four years; 8% of that group also earned a two-year college degree.
Davis was able to successfully open P-TECH after 15 years of experience in New York City public schools as a teacher, instructional leader, assistant principal, and principal of Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy (BETA). Under his leadership, BETA rose to #143 on the Newsweek list of 1,500 Top American High Schools, and was featured in U.S. News and World Report and TIME, as well as on Good Morning America and CNN. As a result of these impressive career successes, Davis was recognized with the GSE’s 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award.
