The Philadelphia Experiment

Like Edison, Chancellor Beacon has less flexibility in the five schools it operates in Philadelphia than it had in previous projects: it must work with unions, a district bureaucracy and students who weren't specially recruited for its schools. But unlike the other two for-profit companies, Chancellor Beacon has been slow to roll out changes, instead beginning the year by studying the problem through teacher surveys, classroom visits and student test scores. In coming weeks the company plans to convene a parent round table, introduce new math and reading curricula and step up training for teachers. "There are things here that are working and things thataren't, and we're taking time to figure that out,"says Sam Howard, director of school operations forChancellor Beacon.

The hope, of course, is that Chancellor Beacon's efforts will translate into academic gains for Shaliah, a bubbly Bs-and-Cs student, as well as for the Shoemaker pupils performing below grade level, whom Chancellor Beacon plans to target aggressively with personalized assignments and weekly monitoring of classwork and homework. The Denmarks like this cautious approach but also have some immediate concerns. Mom Tanya wants new textbooks; the ones Shaliah has are torn and marked up, and she's stillwaiting for a science book. Denmark would also like to see the discipline code strictly enforced in the sprawling, sometimes rowdy, four-story building. Shaliah says that what is important to her this year is having "teachers who know how to make learning fun. Whatever they do, they've gotta get that right." With state tests looming and a whole country watching, that's a taller order than it sounds.