Build a great school. Repeat.
That’s been the formula of success for billionaire financier Carl Icahn’s charter schools in The Bronx — among the highest-achieving network of schools in the state.
The group’s flagship facility — the Carl C. Icahn Charter School, which opened in 2001 — saw 99 percent of its third- through eighth-graders ace this year’s state math exams and 94 percent of kids do so in reading.
Three clones of the school, where 90 percent of kids’ families are considered low-income, have since been opened in The Bronx, and three more are on the way.
But if the state cap of 200 charter schools isn’t lifted this school year, it could halt the network’s plans to expand.
“This is part of the answer to a better education for children, so why limit it only to a 200 cap in a large state like this?” said Principal Daniel Garcia, who has worked in the Department of Education for more than 35 years.
He said the school’s formula for success was simple: class sizes that are capped at 18 students and an enriched curriculum known as Core Knowledge.
As far as copying the formula, so far, so good.
The only other Icahn school whose kids have taken the state tests saw 100 percent of its third-graders meeting or surpassing the benchmarks.
“It’s a joy for me to hear kids in second grade talking about why the South seceded from the North and about abolitionists,” said Garcia. “It’s no wonder by the time they get to the eighth grade, they’re superstars.”
Among the students who could merit the moniker is Danialis Abreu, 13, who is one of a half-dozen kids who will be taking the algebra Regents exam.
She plans to apply to Bronx HS of Science as a first step toward becoming a math professor.
“I think [Icahn’s] the best school in the whole district — actually, in New York,” said Abreu.
Her teachers, she said, have “changed” her. “I’ve grown smarter each year,” she said.