Mastery Charter Schools, Phila. district get U.S. aid for reforms

September 29, 2010|By Martha Woodall, Inquirer Staff Writer
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  • Iyanna Clark and her first-grade classmates wait to be checked in to Katie Harbaugh's class at Harrity, taken over by Mastery Charter Schools.
Iyanna Clark and her first-grade classmates wait to be checked in to Katie Harbaugh's…
  • Iyanna Clark and her first-grade classmates wait to be checked in to Katie Harbaugh's class at Harrity, taken over by Mastery Charter Schools.
  • Fast friends and classmates are second graders Nicole Hurt (left) and Aliya Holmes on the first day of school at William F. Harrity Elementary School, 5601 Christian St. Harrity is one of three failing schools taken over by Mastery Charter Schools this school year.
  • Cheering Mastery's $1 million grant are staffers (center row, from left) Catherine Brand, Kim Crandall, April Thomas, Sharif El-Maki, and Krissy Kim. The group gathered at a Chili's to watch the broadcast.
  • Scott Gordon, Mastery's chief executive, watches the broadcast. "It was a thrill to be a part of this," he said. The grant will aid efforts in Philadelphia.
  • Oprah Winfrey during the live broadcast of her talk show Friday, Sept. 17, 2010, at Harpo Studios in Chicago. Winfrey is honoring Mastery for outstanding work educating Philadelphia students during today's show.
  • Mastery guidance counselor Angela Smith (left) asks chief executive Scott Gordon (second from right) if the $1 million grant is for real. The staffers were celebrating at the Bala Cynwyd Chili's.
  • Mastery Charter Schools CEO Scott Gordon (left) is on hand on the first day of school at Harrity Elementary to help check in students, including kindergartner Martin Bell Jr., who was accompanied by his father.

Mastery Charter Schools has been selected to receive a further $5.1 million in federal funds to expand, and the Philadelphia School District has been awarded a $3.8 million grant to create small learning communities inside five large, neighborhood high schools.

The U.S. Department of Education grants were announced Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), who said the Obama administration continues to provide federal aid to expand school reform in Philadelphia.

The two-year grant to the school district will be used to create more personalized learning communities for students at Overbrook, Lincoln, Frankford, Bartram, and Martin Luther King High Schools.

Story continues below.

The U.S. Department of Education said it expected funding for the program would continue for at least three years beyond 2012.

Officials at Mastery, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit charter network, said they would use the latest federal grant to underwrite plans to expand to 15 new schools in Philadelphia and Camden in the next five years.

In awarding the grant, the U.S. Department of Education praised Mastery as "a national model for school turnarounds."

The latest allocation comes on top of a five-year, $7.4 million grant from the department and $1 million from Oprah Winfrey's Angel Network. Both those awards were announced last week.

Mastery, which began operating a college-prep charter school in Center City in 2001, has won national accolades for its success converting three formerly troubled middle schools in Philadelphia into college-prep charter schools.

The school day and year are longer at Mastery than in regular district schools. Tutoring and Saturday sessions are required for those who struggle. All students must show "mastery" by earning a grade of at least 76 percent before advancing.

And, as its first venture outside Philadelphia, Mastery has received approval to open a charter school in Camden in 2011.

 

Contact staff writer Martha Woodall at 215-854-2789 or martha.woodall@phillynews.com.

 

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