M. Hall Stanton Elementary

M. Hall Stanton Elementary is in just about the toughest urban environment there is: North Philadelphia. Poverty and despair seem to hang around the neighborhood like a cloud, and that was once true of the school as well – in 1993 it was the subject of an Academy Award-winning documentary (“I Am a Promise”) about how even a dedicated and hardworking principal had little effect on the achievement of the students.

           They recite poetry, they draw, they measure, calculate, and sing – but most of all students read and write.
            As a result, Stanton has gone from being one of the worst-performing – and most neglected – schools in Philadelphia to one of the better performing schools in the state – in just two years. In those two years it has gone from being a school in reconstitution to what Adderley calls “just a regular school.”

To read a longer story about Stanton and how it achieved its results, click here.