"What happens when you miss school?" Nadirah Sulayman asked the eighth graders sitting in a circle in her classroom. "How does it affect you? How does it affect your classmates, teachers?"

She had told her students at Mastery Charter's Shoemaker Campus that a Philadelphia study had found that eighth graders who miss a lot of school are more likely to drop out. Now it was their turn to think a bit, write their responses, and share their thoughts.

"When you miss school, you're losing money," said David Cherry, 14. "They say high school graduates make $1 million more than dropouts. I think when you cut, you're losing money in the future."

Mastery's makeover of the troubled Shoemaker school in West Philadelphia into a charter is about more than raising test scores. It's about making kids want to be in school, want to go to college, and believe they can succeed.

And giving students chances to talk, to feel a part of a school community, and to take responsibility for their behavior are key to Mastery's strategy.

"It's not just academic skills that are going to determine whether a student is successful," said Scott Gordon, a businessman-turned-educator who is Mastery's chief executive. "It's really their abilty to work effectively with other people, manage projects, handle conflicts, things like that."

Mastery's impressive five-year record with a Center City charter high school prompted the district to hire the nonprofit to transform Shoemaker, a middle school plagued by low scores and violence.

Mastery's Shoemaker Campus opened at 5301 Media St. in September with a new staff and 208 seventh and eighth graders from the neighorhood. Eventually, the school will enroll 714 students from seventh to 12th grade. Shoemaker students could transfer if they did not want to participate in Mastery's focused, college-prep program. Only a handful left.

In 2005, Mastery took over Thomas Middle School in South Philadelphia and operates it as a charter. And Mastery is negotiating with the district to take over Pickett Middle School in Germantown next year.

Mastery has students take classes in social emotional learning. Community meetings and weekly circles help create a culture of self-discipline and support that foster learning.

"If a culture conducive for learning is not created, children can't move forward," said Robert Lewis, Shoemaker's principal. "If they're afraid they are going to be in a fight, children can't move forward."

Mastery students pledge not to engage in violence. Parents and the school sign contracts to do "whatever is necessary" to help students succeed. Students memorize the school's code of conduct and Mastery's mission.

Each student wears a lanyard with an ID and a card for staff to record good deeds as well as demerits. Students move from one class to the next with their group - Mastery calls it their "cohort." Teachers rate the group's behavior.

Students say the aproach has helped bring order to a school that had one of the highest assault rates in the district in 2005-06.

"One way it's different is that everybody is in a cohort," said Avron Holland III, an eighth grader who attended Shoemaker last school year. "We don't have people running down the halls and using profanity. It's nice."

Mastery staffers and students say the circles and the classes in social emotional learning help students develop empathy, understanding and respect for one another.

"They are not used to lifting each other up. They're used to being competitive, making fun of the haves and have-nots," said Kahlila Ames, associate principal of school culture. "We actually thought it was going to take longer for them to bond as a community. They are doing an excellent job."

A former assistant principal and teacher in the school district, Ames said it was important to create a positive culture.

"I know that our children need this," she said. "The academic piece is wonderful. We want to get test scores up . . . but a lot of our children are coming from nontraditional homes, and they need support. They need a time to vent, a time to discuss, a time to bond."