When Success Academy 10th graders Ebrahim Jaiteh and Kiera Toussaint first arrived at the Loomis Chaffee boarding school campus, they were slightly shocked by the sound of silence — and the number of trees. The setting, so unlike the noisy bustling streets of where they grew up, would be the first of many differences that […]

The arrangement of a Success Academy classroom requires thoughtfulness, strategy, and — most importantly — creative joy. With every change, no matter how small, the teachers of SA Fort Greene were enacting a vision of the learning environment they wanted their scholars to experience.

Brittany Giovinazzi, SA Operations Chief of Staff, knows all about the logistics behind the learning at SA schools. She’s been working in operations at Success since 2012, starting out as an Operations Manager at SA Harlem 3. This is Brittany’s seventh summer of school renovations, so we caught up with her to learn more about the management behind the magic.

At Success Academy, we’re obsessed with the special “lightbulb” moments that come from reading excellent books. Our kindergartners pore over picture-books, our parents and teachers spend all summer reading, and our executive leaders swap title recommendations. Everyone at SA is in love with the transformational power of books!

What do track and field runners at Duke, Stanford, and Georgetown have in common? They are all members of some of the most competitive collegiate teams in the nation — and they all have to balance intense training with rigorous academic workloads. Success Academy coach Ozzie Henderson thinks he has the next big star for top collegiate programs like these — someone who thrives both on the track and in the classroom: sophomore Ronn’e Bailey.

If you do the math, factoring in what the WNYC data showed about attrition for elementary, middle, and high school grades, a hypothetical group of 72 first-graders at a typical district school serving kids through Grade 12 would be expected to have about 11 students remaining by the time they were ready to graduate. Compare that to the Success total: 23 students remaining, 16 of them graduating seniors.

Yesterday, Success Academy 8th graders celebrated their graduation from middle school. Speakers from each of the seven graduating classes reflected on their middle school experiences and shared their hopes and ambitions for high school. Here are excerpts from their speeches. Nia Hardaway, SA Harlem Central Middle School June 14th has finally arrived! It seems like […]

On Thursday, June 7, our very first class of high school seniors graduated at the stunning Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, 100% of them college-bound, many with full scholarships.

On Monday, families, scholars, and teachers gathered at the 2018 Visual Arts Showcase, held at the Agora Gallery in Chelsea, to view and celebrate selected pieces from across the network.

One hundred and six students from 14 Success Academy schools traveled to Nashville this past weekend, joining thousands of players from across the country to duke it out in what is considered the Super Bowl of scholastic chess: the National Elementary School Championships.

This year, Success Academy honors 140 faculty and staff from across all our elementary and middle schools for their extraordinary achievements, dedication, and commitment to scholars. We recognize educators in the three categories below: Academic Achievement The Academic Achievement Award recognizes the teachers who have inspired their scholars to perform at the highest academic level […]

At the 15th Annual All-Girls National Chess Championships, Success Academy scholars knocked it out of the park! Twenty-seven scholars from seven schools travelled to Chicago to compete this past weekend, and they dominated the tournament.

Sixteen Success Academy scholars took on some of the nation’s toughest chess competition at the Junior High Championships in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this month. They tested their skills and stayed focused over seven rounds. Sean O’Hanlon, SA senior manager of chess, noted that our scholars demonstrated high levels of effort and fortitude — even under […]

When Nolan McDaniel and Malik Sahabi first unveiled their poem — a thought-provoking spoken-word piece that they coauthored — it was in front of an auditorium packed with scholars, teachers, and families. They electrified their listeners, who snapped their fingers and cheered with enthusiasm at what turned out to be one of the highlights of the Success Academy Harlem Central Poetry Slam. Since then, the entire school has been talking about “Black Boy, White Man”.

This week, our trailblazing high school seniors were featured in the first of a two-part Wall Street Journal article examining our high school model (which you can learn more about by taking the high school virtual tour!).

During this year’s New York State Chess Championships, spectators likely saw a sea of Success Academy blue and orange: about one in eight competitors at the event was an SA scholar, with 135 participants representing 14 Success Academy schools.

The Performing Arts Showcase featured 11 acts — from musical theater performances and energetic dance routines, to upbeat choir songs and African drumming. Every group auditioned for the chance to represent their school at the showcase. Throughout the Showcase, scholars fused their passions for dance, song, and theater, with strong social messages about racial equality. We know you’ll be inspired as we were by their talent.

In August 2015, Angela Moyer joined the faculty of Success Academy Fort Greene as an elementary school psychologist. Now she works directly with scholars, teachers, school leadership, and families to develop strategies for scholars to grow and learn not just academically, but also socially, emotionally, and behaviorally. We recently spent a day with Angela to learn what it takes to to help children achieve the highest degree of success — inside and outside the classroom.

A group of scholars from Success Academy Bronx 2 Middle School made history last Tuesday, February 6, when they became the first-ever team from the SA network to qualify for the annual MATHCOUNTS state tournament in Albany.

Her son’s experience at Success Academy lead Janelle McCoy to join dozens of other New York City charter school families in Albany last week for a Day of Action. There, families met with elected officials and staff, told their stories, and rallied in the State Capitol building. Step inside Janelle’s trip to Albany and learn what it takes to advocate for children.

Last month, Success Academy Bronx 2 Middle School families watched their school transform into a museum during an exploration of science and humanities that featured the most attentive and knowledgeable docents in New York City — SA scholars!

This past weekend, Success Academy Myrtle Middle School scholars (above, with Coach Alex Beltre) became New York City chess champions in the Under 1100 division!

During the four-week stretch between Thanksgiving and Winter Recess, science classrooms across Success Academy middle schools are transformed into laboratories, middle school scholars into scientists, and teachers into research directors. The Science Exploratorium, a showcase of self-driven, inquiry-based projects, empowers scholars to put science and engineering into action.

Last week, 35 scholars from across the Success Academy network traveled to Orlando, Florida for some sunshine — and chess! Competing in the prestigious National K-12 Grade Championships, Success Academy improved from last year’s already stellar performance at both the individual and the team levels.