Sixth grader Taliah Hayes describes her new West Philadelphia school in one word: "breathtaking."

The $19 million elementary school building, built in a partnership between the Philadelphia School District and the University of Pennsylvania, offers state-of-the-art technology, modern classrooms with "porches" for small-group instruction, and an atrium at its core with a view three stories up.

But the school, which opened in its new home last month, also includes features that educators and students in most Philadelphia public schools can only dream about:

Class sizes capped at 17 in kindergarten and 23 in other grades. The district's cap is 30 students in the primary grades and 33 in upper grades.

Spanish instruction from kindergarten. In the district, languages usually are not offered at the elementary level.

Art and music aplenty, including instruction on an instrument of choice. A recent report by Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth and the Alliance Organizing Project showed that about one-third of the city's public schools do not have full-time music and art teachers.

Much of the sophisticated program is possible because Penn pumps in an extra $1,000 per student annually.

Named after a Penn graduate who also was the first African American woman to practice law in Pennsylvania, the school is formally known as the Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander University of Pennsylvania Partnership School. Most just call it Penn Alexander School.

The school last year was temporarily housed in a wing of a former divinity school on the Penn campus and served only kindergarten and first grade. This year, in its permanent home at 42d and Spruce Streets, it expanded to second, fifth and sixth grades, enrolling 225 students. A school official said they wanted to get some of the upper grades started so residents could take advantage of the school. Next year, they will add third and seventh grades. By 2004, it will span prekindergarten through eighth grade.

It is all part of a project the university undertook in 1993 to revitalize its West Philadelphia neighborhood, with the creation of a desirable public school a "critical component," according to Penn president Judith Rodin.

Under a 10-year agreement between the university and the district, Penn has agreed to the $1,000 extra per pupil and to lend the expertise of its faculty.

For its part, the university wins a major selling point in persuading its faculty and staff to live in the neighborhood: a well-supported free public education. About 20 percent of last year's students were offspring of Penn staff members, school officials estimate. The percentage this year was not available.

The student body, officials point out, is diverse: 57 percent African American, 19 percent white, 18 percent Asian, and 6 percent Hispanic. Poverty figures were not available.

All students must live in the school's geographic boundaries, which were developed by city school-district leaders after months of sometimes contentious debate. Surrounding neighborhoods wanted to be included for both the educational advantages and potential property-value increases, which already have begun.

The upper-grade students came in from a variety of schools: public schools, Catholic schools, and even prestigious private institutions, such as William Penn Charter.

Taliah transferred to Penn Alexander from a 40-year-old public school. "It looked like mud compared to this school," she said.

Her mother, LaShawn Bailey, a business analyst at Independence Blue Cross, is equally impressed with Penn Alexander. Before hearing about the school in March, she considered putting Taliah and her younger daughter in a private school, but said she would have been hard-pressed because she is a single parent.

"I'm grateful I could get them into a school so good just by being in the neighborhood," Bailey said. "It's more like a private school than a public school."

She is pleased that Taliah will learn to play an instrument. She has chosen the trumpet.

For Joseph Jiggetts, it will be the trombone.

His mother, Yvette Jiggetts, said she transferred her son because the Catholic school that Joseph attended was not empathetic enough about her son's medical background. He has juvenile diabetes and needs an aware staff to watch and care for him.

"Now I know that when I send him to school, he's safe," said Jiggetts, an administrative assistant.

Megan Radcliffe, Joseph and Taliah's teacher, also is happy with the school. Last year, she taught in the Chester Upland School District, which was under its first year of management by the for-profit company Edison Schools Inc.

She was among 160 applicants for six new positions this year at Penn Alexander, which, unlike most other district schools, selects its own faculty.

In Chester Upland, she taught 35 students; here, she has 17.

In addition, student discipline and school organization are better, she said. "I feel I'm part of a community of educators here. It was more survival in Chester," said Radcliffe, who has a master's degree in education from Penn.

Her classroom is separated by a retractable wall from that of fellow sixth-grade teacher Kim Lewis-Wilson. They frequently pull back the partition to collaborate and team-teach lessons, as do other teachers.

Penn educators helped pick the curriculum, and they guide and advise the teaching staff. Teachers meet after school once a week to discuss readings and strategies. They are encouraged to use hands-on lessons that integrate learning across subjects and incorporate writing throughout the curriculum.

"What's really important to us is that learning be interactive, that it engages kids' minds as well as their little hands and bodies," said Nancy Streim, associate dean of Penn's Graduate School of Education.

Each classroom has six computers and a television on which lessons can be broadcast throughout the school.

At the helm of the school is Sheila Sydnor, a veteran district principal, West Philadelphia native and Penn graduate, who was selected from among 60 applicants to be principal.

Various Penn departments are involved with the school. Student athletes tutor. University police serve as buddies. The dental school does screenings, and the School of Social Work provides two interns.

Penn educators hope that if student achievement is strong, as they expect, the school will become a model.

"Given that this is a neighborhood school with a range of kids, it then says you can organize a school for success no matter the excuses that you hear," Streim said.