This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
It’s a steamy summer morning in early August. Scott Gordon, CEO of the Mastery charter school network, strides up and down the aisle of a packed school cafeteria in Germantown. About 250 teachers stare back at him from long laminate tables. Each of these teachers started with Mastery about 10 minutes ago. It’s been an intense 10 minutes.
“About one in 10 kids who enter kindergarten will actually go on and get a bachelor’s degree,” Gordon says, pointing to a slide stuffed with grim statistics about the educational landscape in Philadelphia.
He pauses. Silence envelops the room, interrupted only by the the squeak of Gordon’s leather shoes as he paces.
“ONE in 10.”
For 15 years, Gordon has delivered a version of this talk. It’s the first thing new hires hear when they arrive at Philadelphia’s largest charter chain. And it’s more sermon than welcome – complete with brimstone, and fire.
“So for Mastery, the house is on fire,” Gordon says, about 15 minutes into his talk. Behind him, a projector screen bears the image of a home consumed by flames.
“We have a generation of young people who are fundamentally not getting what they need.”
Now if you have strong opinions about public education, you’re probably either pumping your first right now or rolling your eyes. But set those emotions aside for a second, and imagine that this is just any company. And the head of this company is telling all of his new employees that the world they’ve just inherited is in crisis. And now ask yourself: Why?
“Mastery was founded with a purpose, to address a problem that public education is not working for all kids,” Gordon says later in an an interview. “So starting out day one that we have a problem, that young people are not getting what they need and we’re here to address that problem – that’s the most important thing.”
Among Mastery employees, that house-fire metaphor in particular has become part of the company’s internal shorthand.
“They refer to themselves as the firefighters,” says Courtney Collins-Shapiro, Mastery’s chief innovation officer. “Like my job is to put on the gear and get in here and make a difference for kids.”
Gordon’s speech kicks off a five-day orientation that Mastery holds every year for new teachers. Mastery prides itself on introspection and evolution, but new teacher orientation is among a handful of yearly rituals that Gordon considers “non-negotiable.” In 2016, Mastery’s new teacher orientation cost the organization about $310,000 – most of that tied up in teacher salaries.
“I think we look at great organizations –school districts, hospitals. They start with the fundamental why are we here,” Gordon says.