Propel McKeesport is top charter school
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Jonathan Williams sports his "No Excuses" T-shirt in his math/science class at the Propel School in McKeesport. -
Sixth-grader Bruce Arnold goes about his business while he works on synonyms and antonyms with his class at the Propel School in McKeesport. -
A clssroom setting for the sixth grade at the Propel School in McKeesport.
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There are no excuses.
It's a philosophy that permeates the hallways of Propel McKeesport charter school and is embraced by its 385 students along with teachers, aides, administrators, custodians and cafeteria workers.
On the walls hang black and white signs resembling speed limit signs with "excuse limit" printed over a large zero. Some students walk the halls with T-shirts emblazoned with "no excuses."
Sixth-grader Christina Wright, who was wearing one of those T-shirts, described her school this way:
"At this school, everyone is real disciplined and they get their work done."
Even field trips must be earned through good grades and behavior and the performance of a classroom job.
The zero tolerance for excuses appears to be part of the recipe for success at Propel McKeesport, which was chosen last week as the top charter school in a national competition sponsored by the Effective Practice Incentive Community initiative.
The school received the initiative's "gold gain" award for having the greatest gains in achievement on tests scores among 89 elementary charter schools. It was the only elementary charter school to receive the award.
Last year, the school received a "silver gain" award, but this year's test scores elevated it to the gold category, according to Allison Jack, EPIC charter school grant director.
The award brings with it much prestige, along with $100,000 in cash to be divided among the staff. It also provides Propel with an opportunity to share some of its best practices with other schools.
The success may start with the "no excuses" philosophy, but there's much more put into producing the impressive results the school has shown on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests.
Last year, 100 percent of the students in grades five and six scored proficient or advanced in math, and in grades three through seven, 94 percent scored proficient or above in math and 77 percent in reading.
This despite the fact that 85 percent of its students in kindergarten through eighth grade qualify for federal free or reduced lunches, 73 percent are minorities and 13 percent are in special education.
First Published March 25, 2010 12:00 am
