MaST – Head of Class – Northeast Times

Earlier this spring, GreatPhillySchools.org, a nonprofit that advocates school reform, ranked more than 400 city schools based on academic performance, student attendance and safety. The project began examining data in 2011 and includes the most current official information on its website.

Across the city, some schools received low scores of 1, while others, such as MaST Community Charter School, scored at the top of the heap.

MaST, at 1800 E. Byberry Road, enrolls 1,250 students, and has another 5,646 youngsters on its waiting list. The daily attendance averages 95.4 percent. There are 1.9 serious disciplinary incidents per 100 students.

Philadelphia magazine last year named the school, which boasts a new library media center, the Top Charter School in the city. In 2007, it was named National Charter School of the Year by the U.S. Department of Education’s Center for Education Reform.

John Swoyer, CEO of MaST, believes his school scored so high on the GreatPhillySchools.org survey because of its focus on STREAM — science, technology, robotics, engineering, arts and math.

“We’re a community school that is making a difference for every child in K-12,” he said. “We accommodate all different levels of education.”