At Mastery, same students transformed

Ninth graders at Mastery Charter Schools' Shoemaker campus in West Philadelphia returned to classrooms this fall brimming with excitement, knowing they had beaten the odds.

They helped transform the violence-plagued and low-performing Shoemaker Middle School into a model charter school. Violence has all but disappeared. The school has met every standard of the federal No Child Left Behind Act with dramatically higher test scores.

And it happened in one year.

"It was surprising because most of us were here when it was Shoemaker," said Sadonna Taylor, 14, a member of Shoemaker's first ninth-grade class. "But when Mastery came, [the scores] went up."

Classmate Antoine Robinson, 14, added: "They showed us respect as people, and we showed respect back. And we did what we had to do."

Based on Mastery's winning track record with a charter high school it opened in Center City in 2001, the district asked Mastery to turn Shoemaker into a charter school.

Mastery already had converted Thomas Middle School in South Philadelphia into a charter in 2005. It's doing the same at Pickett Middle School in Germantown this fall.

A $2.65 million grant from the NewSchools Venture Fund in 2005 has helped Mastery expand. And the success at Shoemaker has prompted an anonymous donor to give $1 million toward the start-up costs at Pickett, which are projected to be from $2 million to $2.5 million for everything from new books, desks and computers to administrators.

The buildings remain district property but undergo makeovers, including new windows and systems and Mastery's trademark bright hallways, colorful linoleum and commons areas.

It's all part of the Mastery effort to reshape the educational experience.

Unlike most charters, which draw students citywide, Mastery's campuses enroll the neighborhood students who had attended the district schools.

The Shoemaker campus opened a year ago with 208 seventh and eighth graders and eventually will expand to 714 students in seventh through 12th grade.

Administrators knew Shoemaker presented special problems. In addition to low scores, Shoemaker had a history of violence. Its assault rate of 8.1 per 100 students in 2005-06 placed it among the most violent schools in the district.

Instead of metal detectors and security guards, Mastery set about creating a positive climate where rules were strictly enforced and students were held accountable for their behavior.

By the time eighth graders celebrated their promotion during an exuberant ceremony in June, the school knew that its violence problem was a thing of the past.

Gone were the days when student fights were common and Shoemaker's administrators were pelted with food in the lunchroom.

In 2005-06, Shoemaker recorded a dozen assaults on students, four on teachers, and one on a school police officer. Last year, Mastery reported four student fights - mostly shoving and pushing. No one was hurt, but the eight students involved had to leave for violating their no-violence pledges.

The only remaining question: Had academic achievement improved?

Standardized test scores that the state Department of Education released a few weeks ago settled that.

The number of eighth graders scoring proficient or advanced on the state math exams had more than doubled from 30.6 percent in 2005-06 to 62.8 percent in 2006-07. Eighth-grade reading scores had climbed from 42.8 percent to 58.1 percent.

And 82.8 percent of eighth graders scored proficient or advanced in writing - better than the state average of 71.8 percent.

How the seventh graders of 2005-06 performed as eighth graders was even more startling. The 62.8 percent scoring proficient or advanced in math was up from 16 percent, and the 58.1 percent in reading was up from 20 percent.

"I was surprised at the huge jump in the eighth grade," said Robert Lewis, principal of Mastery at Shoemaker. "I expected great. I didn't expect awesome."

He added: "These kids have gone from one of the lowest to one of the elites. They have every reason to be proud."

Scott Gordon, the businessman-turned-educator who founded Mastery, said administrators had decided at the outset to focus on last year's eighth graders and add administrators and counselors.

"The eighth grade had previously been at Shoemaker," he said. "We were concerned they would have the most difficulty adjusting to the new culture."

Gordon said that the extra administrators would result in a $400,000 deficit that fund-raising would have to cover, but that he knew it would pay off by producing a cadre of students who could help other students adapt.

The approach worked so well the Shoemaker campus won over its students.

"I couldn't wait until the summer was over," said Keira Johnson, 14, a ninth grader. "I wanted to come back to school."

Eighth grader Samir Martin, 14, credited Mastery's teachers with helping students improve.

"They really cared about us doing better," he said. "They have high expectations."

Mastery students also have a longer school day and a longer school year, and struggling students must attend tutoring and Saturday sessions. All students must show "mastery" by earning a grade of at least 76 percent before advancing to the next level.

Lewis said the students, parents and community played essential roles in Shoemaker's success.

"We had a plan; we had supports. But none of it works if the families of these children did not support us," Lewis said. "I can honestly say they did everything I asked them to do. . . . Hats off to this neighborhood."

Former Philadelphia schools chief Paul Vallas was a Mastery fan. Now that he's gone, it's not clear whether Mastery will be called on to convert more struggling schools.

Tom Brady, interim chief executive, said the School Reform Commission wanted to improve the 60 lowest-performing schools and may be seeking proposals. He said Mastery would be welcome to apply.

"They have seemed to have an excellent record of academic achievement so far," he said, "but I don't think I would boost them over anybody else."

Gordon said he and the Mastery board were interested in nurturing more growth and perhaps trying their model at an elementary school.

At Shoemaker, "I think what we've demonstrated is that with a radical change, you can break that pattern and create a very successful school . . . where kids will achieve . . . and will graduate with the skills they need to do whatever they want to do in life," Gordon said.

"There are a lot of schools that could use that intervention."

Chairman Jeremy Nowak, president, the Reinvestment Fund, Philadelphia.

Treasurer Edward Baumstein, president, SolomonEdwardsGroup L.L.C., Wayne.

Secretary Ron Biscardi, managing director, Context Capital Partners, Bala Cynwyd.

Ian J. Berg, managing director, Eastern Technology Fund, Cherry Hill.

Eric Brooks, founder, Rembrandt Foundation, Bryn Mawr.

Stephen Cohn, president, Sage Financials, West Conshohocken.

Angela Duckworth, National Science Foundation graduate fellow, University of Pennsylvania.

Graham Finney, independent consultant, Philadelphia.

Brook Lenfest, president, Brooks Capital Group, L.L.C., Bala Cynwyd.

Jordan Meranus, partner, NewSchools Venture Fund East Coast office, Boston.

Moshe Porat, dean, Fox School of Business, Temple University.

David van Adelsberg, managing director, Context Capital Partners, Bala Cynwyd.

Judith Tschirgi, Gladwyne.

Thomas Webster, chief operating officer, the Gabriel Institute, Philadelphia.

Eric Stewart Sr., Parent Association at Shoemaker.

Velma Shaw, Parent Association at Shoemaker.

All but Stewart and Shaw are on the boards of all four Mastery Charter Schools.

SOURCE: Mastery Charter SchoolsEndText

View a video of the campus' eighth-grade graduation, past articles, and photos at http://go.philly.com/shoemakerEndText