This North Philly elementary is on the rise. Here’s how Robert Morris Elementary improved outcomes.

The usual suspects collected prizes recently at the Accelerate Philly awards — the Philadelphia School District’s in-house honors for best and most-improved schools.

Meredith won multiple prizes. So did Penn Alexander, Masterman, and Central.

And then there was Robert Morris, a North Philadelphia K-8 that surprised nearly everyone. It won honors for most-improved reading scores and most-improved scores for third-grade math and reading scores.

Don’t underestimate Morris, at 26th and West Thompson Streets, said its principal, Tameron Dancy.

Morris is tiny, with just 215 students, all of whom are considered economically-disadvantaged. Its student population is fairly transient; one in five Morris students is experiencing homelessness. The school has struggled with academic achievement.

Though its students often have complicated lives outside the school’s walls, they posted impressive gains in the 2023-24 school year. The percentage of Morris students in all grades who met state standards in reading jumped to 30% from 16% — an 88% increase.

And the school’s third graders soared — 48% were proficient or advanced in reading and 59% in math, compared to 7% in reading and 14% in math the previous year.

There is no silver bullet in education. When Dancy took over at Morris as a brand new principal in the 2020-21 school year, she charged her staff with focusing on the basics.

Yes, classroom management is important.

“But we don’t want to live in that lane,” Dancy said. “We want to focus on instruction — that’s my mantra.”

That can be tough where students come and go throughout the school year. But Morris teachers, Dancy said, are consistent, collaborative, and open to feedback.

Dancy put her veteran teachers in key grades, and it showed, she said. They were intentional about including lessons that would help students confidently answer questions that required open-ended responses, and made learning relatable.

For instance, one teacher, Brendan Yuhas, taught his third graders a math lesson by making cookies. He dressed up as a chef, wielded a whisk, shared the products of their lesson with the students.

“It made the learning sticky,” Dancy said. “It applied in the real world.”

Classes try for intentionality around achievement, Dancy said.

“The students set their own goals, or the teachers set them with students — did you meet your goal for the Star benchmark, or did you meet your goal around writing?” she said.

Strong relationships are a significant part of the progress, said three veteran Morris teachers.

“It feels daunting, but we build community,” said Maria Gifford, who teaches sixth grade. “I try to check in with my kids in the morning, and tell them, ‘If you see somebody’s having a bad day, let’s support them.’ They feel safe, and they communicate.”

Last year’s third graders — now in fourth — were a particularly strong and cohesive group, said Yuhas and follow teacher Heather Greco.

“We had 28 kids, and even the new kids, they came right into class and worked hard,” Greco said. “They loved to learn.”

Yuhas thinks it may have been the strongest group he’s taught in 33 years.

“With the new [English language arts] curriculum last year, they slid right into it,” he said. “They were great at sharing and working as teams.”

To successfully teach at Morris, educators acknowledge but don’t dwell on the things going on outside the classroom.

“If we have to meet a student’s needs in a different way, we do that. If they come in late and need breakfast, we get it for them. We can’t always solve the problems, but we can make students feel like they were able to share, and move through their day, to learn. We want to meet their needs so they can learn,” Greco said.

Many students come to Morris with learning gaps, and the team works to make the curriculum accessible to them and fill those holes so they can move forward, the teachers said. Morris, like many schools in high-poverty areas, often struggles with teacher turnover, but there’s a core of about six veterans with decades of experience, and that helps, the three said.

While the percentage of students experiencing homelessness at Morris has surged, there’s no stigma — kids come welcomed, accepted, and expected to shine in whatever form that takes, Yuhas said.

“We have high expectations for our students, we have high expectations for ourselves,” he said. “I teach my students as I would teach my son.”

School staff knew that their scores were much-improved, but the Accelerate Philly awards were a bit of a shock, Dancy said.

“We didn’t win anything last year,” the principal said. “I said to myself, ‘I really hope one day, we can win something.’ And it was so nice to be acknowledged.”