In 2010, the William Monroe Trotter School was labeled “underperforming,” the worst designation in the state. In the space of three years, the administrators and teachers there were able to bring their standing up to Level 1, the highest designation for schools in Massachusetts.
Last week, the school was rewarded for its progress, winning a $100,000 Thomas W. Payzant School on the Move Prize awarded by EdVestors, a business-backed group nonprofit that supports school improvement initiatives. EdVestors awards the Prize, now in its ninth year, in partnership with philanthropic sponsors, as part of the organization’s work accelerating positive change in urban schools.
Two runners-up — Orchard Gardens Pilot K-8 School of Roxbury and Joseph J. Hurley K-8 School in the South End — each received $25,000 prizes.
The awards were presented during a ceremony at Liberty Mutual Insurance’s Boston office featuring Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh presenting his first School on the Move Prize, and Thomas W. Payzant, for whom the award is named.
“I congratulate the William Monroe Trotter Innovation School on being awarded this year’s prestigious School on the Move Prize,” said Walsh. “EdVestors and the sponsoring organizations for the Prize are bringing much-needed recognition to these and other Boston public schools that are working hard to improve the educational experience for students. We all benefit when our city is home to such innovative schools, businesses, organizations, and education leaders and public and private sectors work together to improve our public schools.”
Named for the civil rights activist and publisher of the Boston Guardian, William Monroe Trotter, the school opened its doors in 1969. By the time the school earned its “underperforming” designation in 2010, just 13 percent of the students scored proficient in English and 12 percent in math.
“The Trotter School is a fundamentally different place now than it was five years ago. We have a committed faculty, all of whom desire to teach at the Trotter and who believe that our students can successfully engage in a demanding curriculum,” said Mairead Nolan, principal of the school, now called the William Monroe Trotter Innovation School. “Winning this year’s School on the Move Prize is extremely important to us and will serve as a constant reminder for our staff that the efforts we make matter greatly to our students’ lives and academic success.”
Nolan and Walsh emphasized the importance of teamwork in turning schools around. At the Trotter, teachers meet weekly to discuss strategies for helping individual students.
“The teachers talk about the areas they’d like their colleagues’ help in to better meet the student’s needs,” she said. “It’s really about the teachers working together to meet the student’s need. And underlying that is a belief system in the student’s capacity to learn.”
The Thomas W. Payzant School on the Move Prize is made possible by sponsors including Liberty Mutual Insurance — which increased the prize amounts this year for the runners-up from $10,000 to $25,000 — The Barr Foundation, Cathy and Jim Stone, the Josephine and Louise Crane Foundation, Eastern Bank, Plymouth Rock Assurance Corporation, Schawbel Corporation, Simon Brothers Family Foundation, State Street Bank and Santander Bank.
