1924: Andrew Jackson school was built. At that point, it was called Federal Street School. The building was designed by William T. Catharine, the architect of numerous Philadelphia schools. Today, the building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
1994: Jackson was noted for its success. 42% of its students were reading at or above the national level, compared to 20% at schools with comparable poverty levels. The poverty rate (as it was referred to at the time) of Jackson students was 54%. 69% of the student body was black, 20 % white, 8% Asian, and 3% Hispanic.
2006: It was reported that Andrew Jackson would be coming off the "failing" list--failing in reference to not meeting benchmarks set by No Child Left Behind.
what does this sparse history tell us?
We know that Jackson has been a fixture in the community for over 90 years now. The first news mention we could find (from 1994) highlighted Jackson's success--but it is important to note the demographic differences between 1994 and now. Currently, a much higher percentage of Jackson students are English Language Learners and are economically disadvantaged. The next time Jackson made the news, in 2006, it was reported that they were coming off the failing list. Clearly, we are missing some information about what transpired between 1994 and 2006, but we can make some educated guesses: demographic shifts, as well as changing standards (NCLB), could have had an impact on Jackson's performance.
Knowing Jackson's complicated history--a school that has been around for years, sometimes held up as an exemplar of success, other times considered failing--helps us understand its more recent history. The next section will cover Jackson since 2010.
Knowing Jackson's complicated history--a school that has been around for years, sometimes held up as an exemplar of success, other times considered failing--helps us understand its more recent history. The next section will cover Jackson since 2010.
[Information on this page courtesy of: http://bit.ly/1KiqzUY and http://bit.ly/1P7SZox and phillyhistory.org]