Making the grade

Surrounded by a neighborhood full of crime, poverty and broken families, Beverly Mathis is building a sanctuary in West Las Vegas.

Quietly, for the past five years, Mathis has nurtured it, watching it become a place where parents and the community want to get involved and children want to learn.

"People should have never told me it can't be done," she said.

Mathis, principal of Kermit R. Booker Sr. Elementary School on Martin Luther King Boulevard, could find plenty of excuses for her school to fail, if she wanted to.

But she refused to.

When fourth grade Terra Nova test scores improved enough this year to knock Booker Elementary off of the Nevada Department of Education's inadequate schools list, eyebrows were raised. Then the Clark County School District ordered the test be re-done, just to be sure.

"When we were re-tested, all it did was validate what had been done," Mathis said. "We just had to show them for the second time. It was OK. We did it once and we did it again."

"Heroic," that's how Judy Costa, the district's director of testing and evaluation, describes Booker's rise from below average to average test scores on the Terra Nova exam.

Grades are up at Booker and so is attendance, standing at an all-time high of 95 percent.

"I don't think what they have done is very common," Costa said. "It really requires more effort than most people can sustain."

Improvements at Booker, a predominately black school, fly in the face of cliches and long-standing education theories tying student success to positive social and economic factors.

As part of an intensive reading program called "Success For All," evaluations are done every eight weeks. The results show that progress is being made.

During the last school year, when "Success For All" was started, about 115 students were placed in the "roots" or first division of the program. This year, there are 182 in "wings," the next level up, said Jeannie Scurlock, who oversees the program at Booker.

And improvements are being made despite the fact that nearly all students are from low-income, minority families, despite a 50 percent student turnover rate during the school year, despite a single-parent home environment for 75 percent of the students and despite a 48-year-old school building, one of the district's oldest.

"No one person could have done this," Mathis said. "I have one of the best staffs. They give 110 percent. Everyone does."

Outside the school yard, drug deals are openly transacted in a dirt field, even in broad daylight. Homeless people are found lying propped up and passed out against the school yard's metal fence. Walking to school one day, a cadre of 6-year-olds had to pass a man who committed suicide by hanging himself in a tree, said David Ferris, the school counselor.

"Usually, I'm doing one of these," Ferris said, holding up a bright blue book with the words, 'Grief by Homicide' on the cover.

Too many students have had their lives touched by violence, he said.

Now the tables are turned, as Ferris is counseling a little girl whose father is charged with murder.

"It never ends," he said.

Six years ago, Ferris was counseling about 90 children a year who were suffering from various forms of abuse. The number has now dwindled to about 50, a development school staffers say they played a role in.

Booker isn't perfect, but it oozes a positive atmosphere. Inside every classroom, there are strikingly well-groomed and polite students. Support from the neighborhood, churches, parents and others makes it all possible, Mathis said.

Sitting on her desk, two black angel figurines flank a water globe filled with black children at their school desks. Next to them is a copy of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's book, "It Takes An Entire Village To Raise A Child."

At Booker, those are words to live by. Clothes are donated by charities and the books children take home are provided by other schools and various groups.

Virtually all of the 430 students are eligible for federally funded free and reduced breakfasts and lunches served at the school. For some, those two meals are the only food they will receive all day, Ferris said.

Against almost impossible odds, Booker is thriving.

"I talk fast and I walk fast," said Mathis, with her two-way radio in hand, high heels clicking on the school's cement walkway and her beige trench coat flaring behind her like a cape. Dozens of children come up to her to get a hug as the day begins.

She continues her rapid pace, then stops after spotting a child walking slowly and looking down.

"What is this day going to bring, Mr. Washington?" Mathis asks. The boy walks over and gives her a hug and then clings to her. Finally, he looks up.

"A good day," he whispers, smiling.

Every day starts with an outdoor Pledge of Allegiance near the playground, followed by hand-clapping and singing of the school song, "Can't Hide That Booker Pride."

Constantly and tirelessly throughout the day, Mathis reminds students to "be kind and work hard."

"Everything we do has to fall under those two things," she said.

Positive reinforcement also is used to boost attendance.

Those who have perfect attendance -- students, entire classes, even teachers -- are lavished with announcements over the school intercom and pizza parties. Others are hounded.

"Yes, I've gone out and picked them up myself and brought them to school," Mathis said. "Children need to be in school."

And they are coming, starting with pre-kindergarten.

"Our children need as much early development as they can get," Mathis said. "It's not that our children have concerns learning. It's that they have concerns getting along, just staying focused."

The program also serves as an in-road for parental contact.

"Parents have to sign their child in," Mathis said. "When they come in, we have a chance to say, 'Don't forget to come in for the parent meeting.' "

The pre-kindergarten, "Success For All" and an after-school reading program all are credited with pulling most students up to grade level, Mathis said. Math also is emphasized in the classroom.

A group of volunteers, including professionals from throughout the city, help out by reading to students after school. That helps ensure all children are meeting Booker's requirement of being read to at least 20 minutes a day outside of regular classes.

"The biggest factor we have to overcome is how to fill in the gap with what is not happening at home," said assistant principal Emmell Beech.

"Success For All," which is used by school districts throughout the country, provides a uniform teaching method for reading, Mathis said, noting that all of the lessons are planned in advance.

In the classroom, students sound out letters, read aloud while pointing to each word in their books and use catchy sing-song phrases to remember letters of the alphabet.

"We chose the 'Success For All' because of its stability and because it has been proven to work," Mathis said. "It's 90 minutes of uninterrupted reading. And it provides opportunities for children to interact with their peers and express themselves."

Most of all, the eight-week evaluations let students know exactly where they stand.

"If you're in fifth grade and you're working on a third grade level, then you know you have a lot of work to do," Mathis said. "It's not a secret to anyone. We can actually say whether we have a student working on grade level. And our objective is to have every student on grade level. The only way we can do it is to know where they are now. We can just go right into it with everybody's eyes open."

That blunt approach has been criticized.

"People have asked, 'How does that make a child feel if they know they are below grade level,' " Mathis said. "They need to come here and see. They work hard. My big thing is come here and see us. See that we're about educating children. See that we're about business."

Mathis sees another victory in teachers and staff who want to transfer into -- not out of -- her school.

Second grade teacher Charles DeLasalle said Mathis is one reason he transferred to Booker.

"What is happening here is because of her," he said.

Booker has its own handful of academic stars; fifth graders Jessica Rogers, Taren Charles and Jamila Morgan are some of them.

The trio tutor their peers and have started their own in-school businesses -- soda pop and greeting card sales -- to raise money for a trip to the San Diego Zoo.

Make no mistake, it's all about business.

"If someone is acting up or not doing their part, they get 'fired,' " said Rogers of other students helping out in the project. "Or, they get suspended until they show they can get on task and do their job."

Mathis, 47, taught for two years in Tennessee, and was a teacher in Clark County for 17 years before becoming an assistant principal for three years. She's now in her fifth year at Booker.

Despite all of the triumphs, she said, Booker's fight is far from over.

Then again, Mathis, who fought and won a battle with breast cancer at age 35, is used to fighting.

"We can't let the momentum drop," she said. "We're not going to."

Mathis, who is married and has two daughters, plans to keep on tending to her extended family at Booker, seeing beyond the odds.

And she likes what she sees.

"The children are advancing," Mathis said. "That's what we're living for."

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