Getting into Masterman
Want to get your child into Masterman? Try one of these schools.
Getting into Masterman
Miriam Hill
For many parents, getting a child into Masterman is a dream. The high school is considered among the best in the country and, because it's a public school, it's free.
Admission is largely based on test scores, and to get into the high school, children generally need to get into Masterman's 5th grade first. Last year, only a handful of Masterman’s 110 9th grade seats went to students who were not already enrolled in the middle-school program, according to this article by Benjamin Herold in The Philadelphia Public School Notebook.
Even if your child gets into 5th grade, admission to the high school is far from guaranteed.
So how do you get your child into Masterman? It helps to go to Meredith Elementary, Penn Alexander or Independence Charter School, the Notebook says. Those names are no surprises, one reason it's virtually impossible to get into them if you don't live within the boundaries for those schools or nab a lottery spot at Independence.
But who would have expected to find Solis-Cohen Elementary on the list? Maybe that's well-known, but I, at least, had never heard of that school, which sent 15 children to Masterman from 2009 through 2011. You can find the list of the 12 elementaries most likely to send graduates to Masterman in the Notebook article.
Of course, teasing out cause and effect is impossible in a situation like this. Are the schools that The Notebook identified as "Masterman feeder schools" really better, or do they tend to have more children from upper-income families, a big factor in predicting test scores?
Doesn't the PFT teach at masterman? I am pretty sure, it doesnt stack up to the private schools in the area....— stevejones- Steve, you really need to read the article first, then make a comment that is relevent. For the money you would pay to send a child to any Philadelphia area private school, they would receive an equal, or in most cases, better education at Masterman. The PFT has great teachers as well, you are just opposed to public school education. — lalaw9833
- I am an alumnus of Masterman. My daughter is very bright. She has almost perfect grades and very high PSSA scores. She didn't get into Masterman, but she also doesn't go to the schools listed above. My dreams are shattered.
But only one topic has become a passion: the pleasures and challenges of raising a young child in the city.
Not too long after her son was born four years ago, she started hunting around for day care, which triggered her ongoing search for a good primary school. Public, private or charter? Stay in the city or move to the suburbs?
And then there are the more mundane questions, such as how many games can you play while sitting on a stoop?
Please join her in the conversation about raising children in Philadelphia and about making this city better for kids. She is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, but her only personal obsession is not football, but Bruce Springsteen. As he might have said, it’s hard to be a parent in the city.
You can also follow Miriam on Twitter here.
