President Obama singled out the city's Mastery Charter Schools in a speech to the National Urban League on Thursday. In outlining his Race to the Top initiative and his program to turn around the 5,000 lowest performing schools, Obama cited Mastery's work and Philadelphia Democrat, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah. Here's what he said, from the White House transcript:
"Now, in some cases, that’s going to mean restarting the school under different management as a charter school -– as an independent public school formed by parents, teachers, and civic leaders who’ve got broad leeway to innovate. And some people don’t like charter schools. They say, well, that’s going to take away money from other public schools that also need support. Charter schools aren’t a magic bullet, but I want to give states and school districts the chance to try new things. If a charter school works, then let’s apply those lessons elsewhere. And if a charter school doesn’t work, we’ll hold it accountable; we’ll shut it down.
So, no, I don’t support all charter schools, but I do support good charter schools. I’ll give you an example. There’s a charter school called Mastery in Philadelphia. And in just two years, three of the schools that Mastery has taken over have seen reading and math levels nearly double –- in some cases, triple. Chaka Fattah is here, so he knows what I’m talking about. One school called Pickett went from just 14 percent of students being proficient in math to almost 70 percent. (Applause.) Now -- and here’s the kicker -- at the same time academic performance improved, violence dropped by 80 percent -– 80 percent. And that’s no coincidence. (Applause.)
Now, if a school like Mastery can do it, if Pickett can do it, every troubled school can do it. But that means we’re going to have to shake some things up. Setting high standards, common standards, empowering students to meet them; partnering with our teachers to achieve excellence in the classroom; educating our children -- all of them -- to graduate ready for college, ready for a career, ready to make most of their lives -- none of this should be controversial. There should be a fuss if we weren’t doing these things. There should be a fuss if Arne Duncan wasn’t trying to shake things up. (Applause.)"
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Obama is terribly mistaken. Every year, I get a dozen or so students from Mastery who were kicked out for 1) low performance or 2) behavior/fighting issues in January--well after Mastery has collected their share of funding for the student. Test scores rise when the weakest are pushed out. Violence decreases, when the most troublesome kids are kicked out. If I get even 10 students, how many students get pushed out every single year? What message does that send to my students, who see the most needy students dumped in January--interfering with the function of our classroom. Please take a closer look!— radicaleducator- Reading comments like the one above saddens me as it merely perpetuates this ridiculous tension between charter and public schools. As a former Mastery teacher and current SDP teacher who has stayed involved with the Mastery organization, I can say with certainty that Mastery does NOT kick out students for low-performace; that claim is absolutely unethical, almost as much as the "radical" who feels it appropriate to make such a claim without working in the organization. I wish this passion could be directed at your his/her own school instead of towards others, creating a rift and disconnect. I left Mastery to work back in the SDP system, have seen both sides, and understand that they both have the strengths and weaknesses. But making an exaggerated claim such as the one above is unprofessional and irresponsible to the charter schools you are undermining as well as the public schools you are representing.— teacher123
- teacher123; It's called Cherry picking!— freedomrider
- we all know the union drones post on here, they hate that mastery is teaching children. parents have voted against them and they don't like it. they prefer us to have poorly educated schools so they keep their jobs,— dreinterests
- Freedomrider, I completely understand your concern. I was merely commenting on the false claim that Mastery kicks out students who are not achieving as well as the amount of students who leave- it is impossible for one teacher in SDP to have "a dozen or so" students every year who were kicked out of Mastery. Based on the small amount of students enrolled in Mastery, and therefore the smaller amount who leave, 12+ students all assigned to one classroom is obnoxiously exaggerated, and until discourse can be honest and open, we will get nowhere! Let's get all of our facts straight before we start the blame game.— teacher123
teacher123, I agree that the facts should be straight however, freedomrider is correct in that the students in Mastery are cherry picked. Mastery's enrollment flyer states: "Mastery does not screen students based on academic or any other factor. All students are welcome. Existing regulations regarding Charter School enrollment limit our available seats, so students are selected by lottery." Yet, parents must attend an information session (I'm sure to qualify for the lottery). This here is the difference, it's usually parents that are caring and involved in their child's education (a key indicator of success) that will attend; whereas the public school teachers are lucky enough to get a half dozen parents for report card conferences. Although I agree that Mastery is likely doing a great job educating children, it's unfair for anyone to compare it to, or expect public schools to do the same when the playing field isn't equal and public schools are required to accept anyone that walks through the door. If all public schools could require parental involvement in their child's education, holding them accountable for behavior, attendance, grades, homework, etc. then the majority of student underperformance would be resolved in this nation. Charter schools are willing to go there, but public schools won't - it's sad.— MacMaven
Comment removed.
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