Success Academy Reports Stunning State Exam Scores While Rapidly Scaling From Harlem To Hollis

For the eighth consecutive year, Success Academy schools were among the highest-performing across all of New York State in math and English Language Arts.

The network achieved these results while rapidly scaling in order to meet demand from parents across the five boroughs. More than 4,200 students in grades 3-8 sat for the exams, an increase of nearly 40% compared to last year and 175% compared to 2013. The results reaffirm what is possible in public education: closing the achievement gap that has long separated kids of color and those from low-income households from their peers. They also highlight the deep urgency of Success Academy’s goal of operating 100 world-class schools in New York City and changing the futures of children who would otherwise be trapped in a failing system.   

“I am incredibly proud of Success Academy’s hard-working and talented educators, our scholars who have pushed themselves to new heights of understanding, and our parents who make sure they never give up,” said Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy. “But we must continue our work with even greater urgency. There are almost 17,000 students on the Success wait list and our city’s immense educational suffering is fundamentally unjust.”

Across the network, 94% of students passed the math exam (with 73% scoring at the highest level) and 82% passed English. If Success Academy were a single school, it would rank in the top 1% of all 3,500 schools statewide in math and the top 1.55% of all schools in English.

Other highlights of the results from Success Academy include:

Performing at the Top of the State and City

• In math, the top five schools in New York State are all Success Academy schools: SA Fort Greene, SA Crown Heights, SA Hell’s Kitchen, SA Bed-Stuy 1, and SA Bronx 1.

• In English, two of the top five schools in New York State are Success Academy schools: SA Crown Heights and SA Bed-Stuy 1.

• At SA Crown Heights and SA Bed-Stuy 1, more students passed math and English than at any of the five citywide gifted and talented programs.

• The network outperformed the affluent suburbs of Scarsdale and Bronxville in both subjects.

• There were 11 classes that achieved a 100% pass rate in math: the third graders at SA Bed-Stuy 2, SA Crown Heights, SA Fort Greene, SA Harlem 4, and SA Hell’s Kitchen; the fourth graders at SA Bed-Stuy 1, SA Bronx 1, SA Harlem 2, and SA Williamsburg; and the fifth graders at SA Bed-Stuy 1 and SA Bronx 1.

Solving Educational Inequality

• 93% of black students and 95% of Hispanic students at Success Academy passed the math exam, compared to 20% of black students and 24% of Hispanic students citywide.

• 81% of black students and 80% of Hispanic students at Success Academy passed the English exam, compared to 27% of black and Hispanic students citywide.

Reversing the Achievement Gap

• 93% of black students and 95% of Hispanic students at Success Academy passed the math exam, compared to 68% of Asian students and 58% of white students citywide.

• 81% of black students and 80% of Hispanic students at Success Academy passed the English exam, compared to 59% of Asian and white students citywide.

Helping Children Overcome Challenges

• English Language Learners at Success Academy were seven times more likely to pass math and 15 times more likely to pass English than their peers citywide.

• Students with disabilities at Success Academy were seven times more likely to pass math and six times more likely to pass English than their peers citywide.

For more information about Success Academy, go to successaccademies.org and virtualtour.successacademies.org.