An influx of unprepared students, admitted by a new lottery system, is destroying Philadelphia’s top-ranked school, charges a report by parents at Masterman, a middle and high school.
The selective school is being “systematically dismantled,” charges the Masterman Home and School Association. “The long history of rigor and enriched curriculum is fading. The identity of the school and its purpose and mission are in disarray, leaving a fractured community.”
The new admissions system gives preferences to students from previously underrepresented zip codes, writes Kristen A. Graham in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Students coming from Masterman’s very challenging middle school no longer are guaranteed admission to the high school.
Masterman lacks the staff and resources to support students entering at the “basic” and “below basic” level, the report states.