In too many inner-city neighborhoods, schools are dead-ends. Instead of equipping poor children with the skills they need to escape poverty, bad schools lower their expectations and sink their hopes.
Schools can be lifelines out of poverty, but they can also be lifeless houses of detention.
There is a myth in this country that poverty and race are overwhelming barriers to a child’s ability to learn. This is simply not the case.
At Success Academy, our scholars have proven that they can overcome these disadvantages. They not only can catch up, but in many instances overtake their more affluent peers.
Success Academies are free, K-12 public schools, open to all children. In a few weeks we’ll open 10 new schools (making 32 in all) and welcome 9,000 scholars from all across New York City. Anyone in New York can apply; students are admitted by lottery.
Three out of four of our scholars live at or below the poverty level; 94 percent are minorities, 14 percent have disabilities and 8 percent are English-language learners.
This reflects the neighborhoods where we open schools, yet the disadvantages our children face don’t hold them back.
Success Academy schools are at the top of all public schools in the state.
For the past five years, our scholars have consistently ranked in the top 10 percent of all the state’s schools. On last year’s test, our scholars outscored New York City students by 52 percentage points in math and 32 points in English Language Arts, or ELA.
Nearly all the SA scholars tested are children of color, and they dramatically outperformed their peers across the state: 82 percent passed math and 58 percent passed ELA exams.
Statewide, just 15 percent of African-American students and 18 percent of Hispanic students passed the math test; 16 percent of African-American students and 17 percent of Hispanic students passed the ELA exam.
Achieving proficiency in math and English is essential, but not enough. When we opened Success Academy in 2006, we designed our curriculum to include science five days a week, beginning in kindergarten.
In the first year, our kids perform more than 100 experiments. In middle school, they take two years of computer science.
By high school, they can choose a STEM-track program, with courses in applied science, engineering and advanced math, culminating in a related internship and senior thesis.
We also believe that great schools must make parents their partners in the success of their children.
We never ask our parents to hold bake sales or school fund-raisers, but we do ask them to read to their scholars every night and to participate in family events that celebrate their child’s accomplishments.
Our schools have an open-door policy allowing parents to visit the classroom at any time, and parents are given the cell phone number and e-mail address of every adult in the building.
In 2002, there was not one school in Harlem, The Bronx or Central Brooklyn where kids scored in the top 10 percent of New York City schools. Today, 11 schools in these areas rank in the top 10 percent — 10 of those are charter schools, nine are Success Academies.
Parent demand for high-quality schools is overwhelming.
Last year, Success Academy received more than 16,200 unique applications for fewer than 2,900 open places — about five applications for every open seat.
Across the city, almost 50,000 families are on charter-school wait lists; nationwide, more than 1 million children.
Many of our Success Academy families face incredible challenges. Some work two jobs, others don’t have a job. About 6 percent of our families are homeless.
We have single parents, parents who struggle with difficult economic realities, parents who commute from Staten Island to Harlem — they had to move from Manhattan, but they refused to give up on their child’s education.
These parents will tell you they didn’t have anything close to the education their children are getting, and they’re united in their commitment to our schools and to their children’s futures.
We as a nation can’t fix poverty unless we fix education, and we can’t fix education if we keep telling ourselves our schools are “good enough.”
If we sell low-income, minority children short, because we believe their poverty prevents them from learning, then indeed, they won’t learn.
If we want to help our children of color to rise out of poverty, we must give them schools on par with what their more affluent peers have.
We don’t have an achievement gap in America — we have an opportunity gap. With access to great schools, African-American students — indeed, all students — can and do achieve tremendous academic success.
If we give all children a fair start, then the race is theirs to win.
We don’t need so much to “lift” children from poverty as to equip them with the skills and self-confidence to achieve their dreams. We must choose to make schools incubators of opportunity, not poverty traps.
Eva Moskowitz is the founder & CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools. Excerpted from her testimony Tuesday before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.