Philadelphia Schools Celebrate Successful Scores (PA)

August 23, 2010

On paper, Roosevelt Middle School nev er should have made it.

Situated in the heart of Germantown, the school has enormous challenges – 85 percent of its 500 students live in poverty. Twenty-three percent need special-education services. Many of its students – seventh and eighth graders – are mothers and fathers. Based on the rate of violent incidents there, it was named a "persistently dangerous" school by the state.

"But if you think miracles can’t happen, look at us," said Stefanie Ressler, who’s been principal for three years.

Roosevelt was singled out as one of the Philadelphia School District’s top performers Friday – a school that has jumped 46 points in reading scores and 52 points in math scores on state exams in the last four years.

Along with 157 other schools that made "adequate yearly progress" under the federal No Child Left Behind law, Roosevelt was celebrated at a district event Friday. Gov. Rendell and other luminaries lauded principals at a jubilant ceremony at Lincoln High.

More than half of district schools made the mark, and for the first time since Pennsylvania has been keeping tabs under No Child Left Behind, more than half of city students met state standards in reading and math.

But it’s not actually a miracle at Roosevelt. It’s the result of years of hard work, officials said.

Ressler, whose school met state benchmarks for the second year in a row, insists that every student – not just special-education pupils – have an "individualized education plan."

"This is the key – personalizing instruction," Ressler said. "We know our kids inside and out ."

Large classes have been broken up into smaller "learning academies," with the same group of students staying together for classes. Rather than just mete out punishment, adults reward positive behavior, encouraging students to be "responsible, respectful peacekeepers and leaders."

"Every day on the P.A., we mention students who have demonstrated that," Ressler said.

There is data-driven teacher training. Guidance staffers are out of their offices frequently, greeting students at the beginning of the day and monitoring lunch periods.

Ressler, who calls Superintendent Arlene Ackerman "a visionary," said the schools chief’s Empowerment School initiative targeting the lowest-performing schools had helped a great deal.

Empowerment Schools get more central-office scrutiny, but they also get more social supports – an extra counselor, a full-time nurse, a social worker, a student adviser.

"It’s with these things that the barriers begin to go away," Ressler said.

Challenges remain. Of Roosevelt’s incoming seventh graders, 64 percent are in the lowest category for test scores – below basic. And although Roosevelt has made strides, 14 percent of students don’t make the grade in reading and 17 percent don’t make the grade in math.

"We have a lot of work to do," Ressler said.

Still, officials urged Ressler and the other principals to celebrate their accomplishments.

Rendell said the schools proved everyone – many of his colleagues in Harrisburg included – wrong.

"What you have achieved is remarkable," he said. "It is, in the vernacular of the kids today, awesome. It’s mind-boggling."

The governor wasn’t the only one offering congratulations. After an emotional ceremony recognizing those schools that met state standards and those that met district goals – some principals wept, threw their arms around Ackerman, did victory dances across the stage – the superintendent excused herself to field a phone call.

It was Arne Duncan, U.S. secretary of education.

"He was calling to congratulate us," Ackerman said afterward. "He was calling to say, ‘What else can we do to help?’ "

The superintendent said she told Duncan to talk up Philadelphia’s story.

"I don’t think people in the Philadelphia region know what it took for us to do this," she said.

Principals Evelyn Cortez of Cayuga Elementary and Deanda Logan of Cramp Elementary said it took a lot.

"You have to have everyone in that mindset," said Cortez, whose Hunting Park school met state standards for the second year in a row. "I ask the kids, ‘Are you going to ace it?’ "

Though 94 percent of its students live in poverty, Cayuga is considered a district Vanguard School – so accomplished that it gets some freedom in curriculum and budgeting.

It’s not about drilling to pass a test, said Logan, formerly an assistant principal at Cayuga. It’s about giving students art and music and after-school activities and social supports.

"There’s a sense of urgency in the district," said Logan, whose new school, an Empowerment School in Fairhill, met state goals for the third year in a row. "Second-best is not good enough."