While the the City’s traditional public schools are reeling from a shocking report released today that there has been a 25% surge in weapon recoveries from city schools last year, the Success Academy charter school network continues to prove that education in some of the most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods can compete and even better public schools in some of the state’s wealthier neighborhoods.
The latest sign of this success is the charter network announced yesterday they will open three new elementary schools and two middle schools in Brooklyn for the 2016-17 academic year.
The new elementary schools, including two more in Queens, will offer a total of 750 seats for children in kindergarten and first grade starting next August. Like all SA schools, the five new Success Academies will admit scholars by random lottery.
The new Brooklyn schools are:
Success Academy Bed-Stuy 3, 787 Lafayette Avenue in District 16. The school will become the third Success Academy school in Bed-Stuy. SA Bed-Stuy 1 is the No. 1 non-selective school in math in all of New York State, with 99% of scholars passing the state math exam last year and 83% passing English Language Arts. The principal of SA Bed-Stuy 3 will be Rita Deng, a former kindergarten and third grade teacher at SA Bed-Stuy 1 who currently serves as assistant principal at SA Bed-Stuy 2.
Success Academy Flatbush, 5 Snyder Avenue in District 17. This school will be led by Principal Wintanna Abai. A former first- and fifth-grade teacher, Abai served as a model and mentor for her fellow teachers before becoming assistant principal at SA Bronx 1, with responsibility for managing the third- and fourth-grade teams.
Success Academy Bushwick, 139 Menahan Street in District 32. This school will be led by principal Katherine Haves, currently assistant principal at SA Harlem 3. An educator with a background in district and charter schools, she taught second and third grades in both general-education and Integrated Co-Teaching classrooms serving students with special needs.
In addition, Success Academy will open two new middle schools at the networks existing elementary schools. They are : SA Cobble Hill Middle Schoo, 284 Baltic Street and SA Williamsburg Middle School, 183 3rd Street.
“Our child-centered approach to teaching and learning has become increasingly popular with parents in many Brooklyn neighborhoods, who are looking for a safe, joyful and academically engaging school,” said Success Academy Founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz.
This year, the network received more than 20,000 applications for fewer than 2,300 available seats. The Success approach has also proven extremely effective. While fewer than 1 in 4 children across the districts where Success will open new schools next year is on grade level in reading and math, the network’s children of color from low-income households routinely outperform affluent NYC neighborhoods and suburbs such as Scarsdale.
Additionally, English Language Learners and students with disabilities benefit from Success Academy’s highly personalized instruction and make faster academic gains than their peers citywide.
To learn more about Success Academy schools, click here.
