An hour before students arrived at Manual High School, eight teachers huddled in a classroom to discuss the students they advise through the wild weeds of life at an urban high school.
Teachers focused on student test scores, attendance problems and life issues. One was failing science, another was chronically absent and another was reeling from a family member’s death in a gang shooting.
Manual High, which reopened in August 2007 after being shuttered for chronic failure, has borrowed practices of successful charter schools in an attempt to improve — including giving each student an adult advocate.
“Our teachers are all social workers, and they are all data wonks,” said principal Rob Stein, who helped propel Manual into a tie for the fourth-best traditional high school on Denver’s new performance framework.
“The teachers care about us,” said sophomore Ashley Martinez. “They want us to do something with our lives. I love this school.”
The story of Manual High grabbed national attention two years ago when Superintendent Michael Bennet and Denver’s school board closed the low-performing school.
It reopened with a freshman class of 163 and adds a new class yearly through 2010.
Most of the new students come to school several grade levels behind, and 82 percent qualify for federal meal benefits — a measure of poverty.
Stein, a 1978 graduate of Manual when it was integrated through busing, resigned as head of the private Graland Country Day School to rebuild his alma mater.
His goal is to create a school with a strong culture of academic rigor and compassionate concern.
Students wear uniforms, have 90-minute class blocks in English and math, and their parents sign contracts agreeing to certain expectations that school officials say will lead to success.
The school has “autonomy” from many district and union rules, allowing Stein flexibility on hiring, teacher work rules, setting the calendar and contracting for services.
Students also get extra help in after- school programs and summer school.
All students meet three times a week with their advisory teams, while Stein meets monthly with leaders of Denver’s best charters to share ideas.
“My advice has been culture is everything,” said Bill Kurtz, head of the Denver School of Science and Technology. “If the culture is not right, the teaching and learning will erode quickly.”
Friday, Stein began an all-school meeting in the school’s foyer with sobering results from 2008’s Colorado Student Assessment Program.
“First the bad,” Stein said, showing the students a graph that compared the state averages with Manual. The room of 300 students fell silent.
Almost 30 percent of Manual’s freshmen were proficient in reading compared with 66 percent of the state. Five percent were proficient in math compared with the state’s 38 percent.
“I wanted to give them encouragement but they also need to know,” Stein said.
He then showed how far Manual had come — comparing last year’s ninth-graders with the 2006 Manual class.
Reading and writing scores had doubled. And among DPS high schools with high numbers of poor students, Manual led the pack.
Stein pulled out a wad of cash and began handing out $5 bills to 30 students who had beaten the odds — climbing a whole proficiency level on the 2008 test.
“You want to hit it out of the park,” Stein said. “You want every kid succeeding. What we’re seeing is more steady growth, and that ain’t bad. ”
Next week, students with perfect attendance will be entered into a raffle for a free iPod.
“He’s really personalizing it,” said Joe Sandoval, instructional superintendent who oversees Stein and Manual. “He knows every kid in that building, what their strengths are and what skills need to be improved. The relationships are key. You see that the minute you walk into the building.”
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com
