District, Mastery reach agreement on serving disabled students at Clymer Elementary

June 12, 2012, 6:52 pm

≫ Next: SRC renews five charters, adds 1,600 seats

Updated, 7:55 p.m.

by Benjamin Herold
for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks

The School District of Philadelphia and its largest charter school turnaround operator have agreed on the outlines of a deal that will prevent the relocation of 12 severely disabled children from one of the city’s Renaissance charters.

The deal avoids a potentially traumatic move for students in two Multiple Disabilities Support (MDS) classrooms at Mastery Charter Clymer Elementary in North Philadelphia. It also allays, at least for now, the concerns of disabilities rights advocates that the District had established a precedent for exempting charters from their responsibility to educate some of the city’s most vulnerable – and expensive to serve – students.

“I think we came up with a really positive solution,” said Courtney Collins-Shapiro, deputy chief innovation officer at Mastery Charter Schools.

“I think this is a good sign of the District and charters partnering.”

Listen to Benjamin Herold's report for NewsWorks Tonight

Featured Title:

Disability rights advocates criticized plans to move program

Image:

Image Caption:

At Mastery Charter Clymer Elementary in North Philadelphia, two classrooms for students with multiple disabilities will remain.

Photo Credits:

Benjamin Herold

↧

SRC renews five charters, adds 1,600 seats

June 22, 2012, 6:29 pm

≫ Next: Great Schools Compact asks Gates Foundation for $2.5 million

≪ Previous: District, Mastery reach agreement on serving disabled students at Clymer Elementary

by Benjamin Herold
for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks

Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission renewed all five charters up for consideration Friday, but not before a sometimes brusque debate among the commissioners about the growing cost to the District of expanding charter enrollment.

Friday’s renewals and modifications added more than 1,600 charter seats to the District at a projected cost of $40 million over five years. District officials were not immediately able to provide an overview of the total number of charter seats added during this year’s renewal and modification process or how much those new seats are projected to cost.

High-profile charters including Mastery-Pickett, KIPP West Philadelphia, and Boys' Latin were among those renewed on Friday.

Featured Title:

Boys Latin, First Philadelphia, Mastery-Pickett to grow

↧

Great Schools Compact asks Gates Foundation for $2.5 million

August 1, 2012, 4:47 pm

≫ Next: Mastery poised to expand its influence around teacher coaching

≪ Previous: SRC renews five charters, adds 1,600 seats

By Benjamin Herold for the Notebook and WHYY/NewsWorks

Seeking to create a “pipeline” of principals and teachers who are better equipped to deal with the real-world challenges found in Philadelphia’s toughest schools, city education leaders submitted a three-year, $2.5 million grant proposal this week to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Featured Title:

Mastery would play a big role in teacher training

Image:

Image Caption:

City Chief Education Officer Lori Shorr chairs the Great Schools Compact committee.

Photo Credits:

Benjamin Herold

↧

Mastery poised to expand its influence around teacher coaching

August 10, 2012, 10:25 am

≫ Next: Partnership has raised more than $50 million to give to 'great' schools

≪ Previous: Great Schools Compact asks Gates Foundation for $2.5 million

Mastery Charter and its methods for training and supporting teachers may soon exert greater influence in schools all over the city, a development that promises to cement the organization’s influence on educational practice well beyond its own schools.

The Philadelphia Great Schools Compact is asking the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for $2.5 million, some $650,000 of which would pay for Mastery to train teacher coaches to work in District and Catholic schools and other charters.

Featured Title:

Charter organization looks to develop 'Teacher Effectiveness 2.0'

↧

Partnership has raised more than $50 million to give to 'great' schools

August 23, 2012, 7:45 pm

≫ Next: This year, it’s Philly charter schools’ turn to wrestle with budget cuts

≪ Previous: Mastery poised to expand its influence around teacher coaching

The two-year-old Philadelphia School Partnership, at the center of the city's strategy to support "great" schools regardless of who runs them, announced Thursday that it was more than halfway to its goal of raising $100 million from area foundations, corporations and individuals.

At a press conference attended by Mayor Nutter and School Reform Commission Chairman Pedro Ramos, PSP executive director Michael Gleason said that his group has commitments for $51.9 million.

↧

This year, it’s Philly charter schools’ turn to wrestle with budget cuts

August 30, 2012, 5:48 am

≫ Next: 'Persistently dangerous' schools down in District; Mastery touts Gratz progress

≪ Previous: Partnership has raised more than $50 million to give to 'great' schools

By Benjamin Herold
for NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner

Like a hurricane predictably making its way up the coast, the financial storm that battered the Philadelphia School District last year is now taking its toll on the city’s 80 charter schools.

Some charter leaders are now speaking out about the damage.

Featured Title:

Mastery's Gordon: "We are going to fight" for equitable funding

Image:

Image Caption:

Dean of students Dean Seger addresses 5th graders at Mastery-Mann Charter Elementary School in Wynnefield

Photo Credits:

Benjamin Herold

↧

'Persistently dangerous' schools down in District; Mastery touts Gratz progress

September 5, 2012, 12:39 pm

≫ Next: Renaissance Schools get thorough airing at SRC

≪ Previous: This year, it’s Philly charter schools’ turn to wrestle with budget cuts

Briana Jackson said her life changed when Mastery Charter took over Gratz High School a year ago.

The self-described former troublemaker, now a senior, said that the transformation isn't yet complete; she still gets detentions now and then. But the person who was regularly suspended has turned into a serious student, athlete and student-government member with her sights set on attending Howard University and becoming a nurse.

↧

Renaissance Schools get thorough airing at SRC

September 25, 2012, 8:03 am

≫ Next: Charter boom continues, with 35 high school options

≪ Previous: 'Persistently dangerous' schools down in District; Mastery touts Gratz progress

The School Reform Commission held one of its in-the-round monthly strategy meetings Monday evening, looking at District academic performance and Renaissance Schools. It was the first such meeting for new Superintendent William Hite, who praised the format.

The Accountability Review Council (ARC), which has tracked student performance in District and charter schools since the state takeover and creation of the SRC in 2002, reported on its findings for the year.

↧

Charter boom continues, with 35 high school options

September 27, 2012, 9:37 am

≫ Next: Where charters run the neighborhood schools

≪ Previous: Renaissance Schools get thorough airing at SRC

Sub Title:

But a draft District study found “significant barriers to entry” at numerous charters.

Author:

by Connie Langland

Author Bio:

Connie Langland writes about education issues in the Philadelphia region and is a freelance contributor to the Notebook.

In Philadelphia, gaining admission to a charter high school sometimes involves a scramble to gather burdensome paperwork – not to mention the luck of the draw.

But obstacles or not, thousands of students pursue the charter option. Notebook data show the city’s 35 charter high schools this year expected to enroll more than 15,000 students in grades 9-12.

Image:

Image Caption:

Three of the city's longstanding neighborhood high schools - Audenried, Gratz and Olney - have been converted to charters. Gratz, on Hunting Park Avenue, is now run by Mastery Charter Schools.

Photo Credits:

Benjamin Herold

Sidebars:

For more information on charters

↧

Where charters run the neighborhood schools

October 17, 2012, 8:00 am

≫ Next: Renaissance charters meet neighborhood enrollment targets except for Universal

≪ Previous: Charter boom continues, with 35 high school options

Author:

by Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner

Author Bio:

Contact WHYY education reporter Benjamin Herold at bherold@whyy.org.

As part of its Renaissance Schools turnaround initiative, the School District of Philadelphia has outsourced management of 17 struggling public schools over the past three years.

The result is a transformed educational landscape in which a patchwork of seven independent charter school management organizations has replaced the traditional school system in large sections of the city, as shown in this graphic by NewsWorks, the Notebook, and geospace analysis firm Azavea.

Image:

↧

Renaissance charters meet neighborhood enrollment targets except for Universal

January 28, 2013, 3:19 pm

≫ Next: At Gratz, Mastery takes on challenges of 9th-grade transition

≪ Previous: Where charters run the neighborhood schools

by Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner

Follow @twitterapi

Philadelphia's independent Renaissance school operators are bringing families back to struggling neighborhood public schools that they have "turned around" -- with one notable exception.

↧

At Gratz, Mastery takes on challenges of 9th-grade transition

April 1, 2013, 12:55 pm

≫ Next: District promises to get tough with new Renaissance charter operators

≪ Previous: Renaissance charters meet neighborhood enrollment targets except for Universal

Sub Title:

In its 2nd year at the school, the charter operator is making adjustments.

Author:

by Dale Mezzacappa

Author Bio:

Contact Notebook contributing editor Dale Mezzacappa at dalem@thenotebook.org.

When Mastery Charter took over Simon Gratz High School in 2011, the organization was getting into territory it had never been in before.

Mastery’s prior experience with 9th graders had been in the school they started – Lenfest – and in schools they had built up from the 7th grade.

But Gratz was different – a 9th-through-12th grade comprehensive high school that had recently hit a low point in its storied history. When converted to a Renaissance charter in 2011, Gratz was listed by the state as “persistently dangerous,” with a graduation rate under 50 percent and student proficiency rates in the teens.

Image:

Image Caption:

Jimik Ligon gets help from a teacher in the blended learning algebra class. Students work at their own pace through a computer-based curriculum under close supervision.

Photo Credits:

Harvey Finkle

↧

District promises to get tough with new Renaissance charter operators

April 2, 2013, 3:24 pm

≫ Next: Mastery charter graduates revel in their college choices

≪ Previous: At Gratz, Mastery takes on challenges of 9th-grade transition

by Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner

The Philadelphia School District is vowing to take a hard line on two issues that have caused confusion when charter operators take over traditional public schools: special education and facilities costs.

Even as the District tries to convert three more of its schools into charters, officials and parents alike are wading through confusion over “exceptions” that past administrations granted to outside managers in previous years of the District’s Renaissance school turnaround initiative.

Featured Title:

Still no deals at Clymer, Audenried, Vare

↧

Mastery charter graduates revel in their college choices

May 21, 2013, 9:17 am

≫ Next: SRC matches Alcorn with Universal, but it's not over yet

≪ Previous: District promises to get tough with new Renaissance charter operators

by Aaron Moselle and Zack Seward for NewsWorks

Cheering fans, cheerleaders, and mascots filled Temple University's Liacouras Center on Monday afternoon.

None of them was there for a game.

Instead, thousands of students, staff members and parents traveled to the North Philadelphia arena for Mastery Charter Schools' first-ever College Signing Day, an event patterned after National Signing Day for high school athletes.

Image:

↧

SRC matches Alcorn with Universal, but it's not over yet

May 31, 2013, 8:47 am

≫ Next: SRC delays Renaissance conversions, renews charters for five schools

≪ Previous: Mastery charter graduates revel in their college choices

by Connie Langland

By a 4-1 vote of the School Reform Commission, Universal Companies last night came one step closer to winning the charter to run Alcorn Elementary School under the District’s Renaissance turnaround program.

But there’s one big "if."

The granting of the charter is still not official, and Deputy Superintendent Paul Kihn emphasized last night that the handover remained contingent on Universal coming to new terms with the District for the use of Audenried High School and Vare Middle School, both in South Philadelphia.

↧

SRC delays Renaissance conversions, renews charters for five schools

June 19, 2013, 9:34 pm

≫ Next: SRC approves Renaissance conversions and grants to expand three District schools

≪ Previous: SRC matches Alcorn with Universal, but it's not over yet

by Connie Langland

Strong-armed into agreeing to enrollment caps, five charter schools won five-year operating renewals in votes Wednesday night by the School Reform Commission, but five others still have not come to terms with District officials determined to contain costs in the midst of its fiscal crisis.

Funding uncertainties also spurred a decision by Superintendent William Hite to delay the conversion of three low-performing elementary schools — Alcorn, Kenderton and Pastorius — into Renaissance charters under the District’s school turnaround initiative. The SRC had been scheduled to approve assignment of Alcorn to Universal Companies, Kenderton to Scholar Academies and Pastorius to Mastery Charter Schools.

Hite said that the turnovers were tabled “because of the unpredictability of the budget situation” but that the plan would proceed apace “once we have a clearer picture of our revenue and our funding.”

↧

SRC approves Renaissance conversions and grants to expand three District schools

July 26, 2013, 3:11 pm

≫ Next: District again postpones votes to renew two charters

≪ Previous: SRC delays Renaissance conversions, renews charters for five schools

The School Reform Commission Friday approved the Renaissance charter agreements for three schools, officially turning Pastorius over to Mastery Charter Schools, Kenderton to Scholar Academies, and Alcorn to Universal Companies.

At a tense, four-hour meeting, it also accepted $1.1 million in grant money from the Philadelphia School Partnership to expand three high-performing District schools: converting the experimental Sustainability Workshop into the Workshop School; creating a second campus of Science Leadership Academy, and expanding the middle school Hill-Freedman to include high school grades.

But it did so over the persistent objections of Commissioner Joseph Dworetzky, who did a financial analysis showing that the District will be absorbing considerable extra cost for these schools after this year -- a move he called financially irresponsible given the District's shaky budget picture. Earlier in the meeting, the District had announced it only had enough funding to rehire a few hundred of the 3,800 staff laid off this summer.

↧

District again postpones votes to renew two charters

December 19, 2013, 8:22 pm

≫ Next: New report finds gains at Renaissance schools -- but not across the board

≪ Previous: SRC approves Renaissance conversions and grants to expand three District schools

The School Reform Commission postponed scheduled votes on two charter schools Thursday, pulling one at the last minute for reasons related to an investigation of test cheating.

Philadelphia Electrical & Technology Charter High School was one of three city charters flagged by the state for potential cheating after analyses of test results for 2009, 2010, and 2011 showed statistical irregularities. The charter was directed by the state to conduct an investigation, which resulted in the dismissal of an assistant principal and the imposition of stricter testing protocols.

The renewal vote on PE&T was delayed, officials said, not because of problems with the school's own probe, but because the District is not yet ready to release its investigations into possible cheating at more than a dozen District-run schools.

Image:

Photo Credits:

C. Shonda Woods

↧

New report finds gains at Renaissance schools -- but not across the board

January 2, 2014, 7:29 pm

≫ Next: Mastery Shoemaker principal lends his perspective in federal fellowship program

≪ Previous: District again postpones votes to renew two charters

Schools turned over to charter operators -- and to a lesser extent, District-run Promise Academies -- have shown improvements in academics and climate under the three-year-old Renaissance schools turnaround initiative, a new report has found, although big first- and second-year gains have started to slow down or reverse.

According to the study, conducted by the District's Office of Research and Evaluation, most Renaissance charters continue to have higher proficiency rates than those schools did pre-turnaround, despite the leveling-off of earlier gains.

The reported improvements occurred during a time when overall proficiency rates for District-run schools were declining after years of increases; the downslide began after strict test protocols were put in place in District schools in the wake of a statewide cheating scandal.

↧

Mastery Shoemaker principal lends his perspective in federal fellowship program

February 5, 2014, 10:01 am

≫ Next: SRC approves building sales, ratifies principals' contract

≪ Previous: New report finds gains at Renaissance schools -- but not across the board

by Jeseamy Muentes

Sharif El-Mekki, principal at Mastery Charter School’s Shoemaker campus, has been selected as one of three Principal Ambassador Fellows in the U.S. Department of Education’s first-ever Principal Ambassador Fellowship program.

The program, modeled after the Education Department’s six-year old Teaching Ambassador Fellowship Program, will recognize the important impact that principals have on instructional leadership, staff performance, and the school environment. El-Mekki and the two other fellows were chosen in December from more than 450 applicants from district, charter, and private schools nationwide. One of the other fellows is from a magnet school in Tennessee, and the other is from a Washington, D.C., high school.

Image: