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  • Stay in Touch!

    Prospective Parents: If your child will be entering Kindergarten through 4th grade for the 2016-17 school year, please register below to receive more information regarding your neighborhood Success Academies.

  • Register

    Prospective Parents: Register below to be notified when the application for the 2017-18 school year becomes available and to receive more information about Success Academy Charter Schools.

Start stronger. Go further.

From the moment scholars join Success Academy in elementary school, we are committed to their success in college and in life.  Our schools function as one system, and as scholars advance, teachers and school leaders collaborate on each child’s academic and social-emotional welfare to ensure scholars transition smoothly.  We tailor our engaging and rigorous approach across each school level to teach core knowledge and critical thinking and then develop the independence and self-advocacy skills scholars will need to excel.

Middle School

Our engaging middle school curriculum uses internationally benchmarked college-ready standards, which focuses on inquiry-based learning, critical thinking, deep subject mastery, and excellent teaching. Because pre-adolescence is a transitional period from concrete thinking to abstract thinking, when active learning matters most, in middle school we offer a number of electives to serve as a critical outlet for creativity, self-awareness, independence, and experiential learning: debate, chess, dance, musical theater, visual arts, photography, robotics, entrepreneurship, and sports.

DAY IN THE LIFE

  • Good Morning, Scholars

    Scholars participating in competitive sports report early for soccer, cross-country, volleyball, basketball, double-Dutch, or track practice. Everyone else arrives by 8:00am.

  • Electives

    Robotics, theater, Math Olympiad, speech and debate, journalism, painting: Scholars engage in a morning electives block and an afternoon one, and they are required to choose courses in more than one category, striving for breadth along with depth.

  • Math

    Our middle school students approach mathematics as an endeavor in problem solving. Starting in fifth grade, problems become more complex, require multiple steps to solve, and are increasingly contextual. By the end of eighth grade, students have formed a solid groundwork of concepts in algebra and geometry.

  • Language Arts & Literature

    Scholars learn by doing, bolstering knowledge of grammar, style, and vocabulary through creative and informative writing endeavors. They read a wide variety of high-quality books, examining the craft and structure of novels, poetry, and nonfiction, never forgetting that reading is a lifelong source of joy and inspiration.

  • Lunch and Recess

    Scholars relax and chat in the cafeteria and then enjoy some fresh air.

  • Computer Science

    Through experimentation, exploration, and some serious fun, scholars progress through increasingly more sophisticated studies of technology, from constructing interactive graphics to programming in various languages.

  • History

    The world opens up for fifth-graders when they are given an overview of global history. Big themes introduce scholars to chronology, archaeology, data analysis, and other tools that historians use.

  • Science

    In science, scholars approach knowledge with objectivity, detachment, and openness. Our inquiry-based, hands-on program leads them through earth science, physical science, life science, and later a mix of life and earth science.

  • Independent Reading

    Core to our literacy curriculum, independent reading allows students to develop reading preferences and an enjoyment of literature.

  • Advisory/Dismissal

    Our afternoon advisory wraps up the day, and then classes are dismissed. Many scholars stay for after-school activities, including play rehearsals, literary magazine production, extra studying, and various club meetings.

APPROACH TO LEARNING

Our engaging middle school curriculum uses internationally benchmarked college-ready standards, which focuses on inquiry-based learning, critical thinking, deep subject mastery, and excellent teaching. Because pre-adolescence is a transitional period from concrete thinking to abstract thinking, when active learning matters most, in middle school we offer a number of electives to serve as a critical outlet for creativity, self-awareness, independence, and experiential learning: debate, chess, dance, musical theater, visual arts, photography, robotics, entrepreneurship, and sports.

  • Math
  • Science
  • History
  • Electives
  • Sports
  • Language
    Arts
  • Chess
  • Computer
    Science
  • Math

    Our mathematics curriculum delicately balances conceptual understanding with the strengthening of foundational skills that are necessary for building and maintaining a strong sense of numeracy. Scholars delve into basic algebraic concepts, geometry, proportional reasoning, and pre-algebra.

  • Science

    Embedded in inquiry and observation, our science curriculum gives students hands-on practice in questioning, defining, observing, classifying, generalizing, and verifying. Through reading, activities, and experiments, students gain a deep understanding of earth science, physical science, and life science, always with an emphasis on process and refinement.

  • History

    Our history program aims to provide scholars with a common body of cultural and historical knowledge, always reminding them that history is the story of humankind. The curriculum emphasizes connections between underlying historical causes and their present-day effects, with considerations of political discord, economic injustice, racism, and sexism. To help spark those connections, we introduce scholars to historical thinking and methods of historical analysis.

  • Electives

    Middle school electives are designed to give scholars more choice and responsibility for their education program. Scholars are provided with the opportunity to select two electives per trimester. At our middle schools, these classes are not considered “extras”— they’re a vital part of the curriculum, offering students an opportunity to discover their owns skills, proclivities, and passions, broadening their experience of the world, and providing avenues for self-expression.

     

    Choices allow scholars to pursue personal interests. Electives include drama, dance, chorus, painting and drawing, chess, computer science, debate and speech, journalism, robotics, Math Olympiad, or entrepreneurship.

  • Sports

    We believe that the life of the mind is enhanced by physical wellbeing and an understanding of personal health. Our sports and fitness program, which consists of competitive sports and core courses, emphasizes the development of skills, attitudes, and strategies that enable scholars to make healthy life choices.

     

    Our fitness courses don’t just promote physical wellbeing and academic development; they also embrace discussion of social issues like substance abuse, family living, and human sexuality. Scholars learn that wellness is not just about the body, but about the mental and social balance required to be one’s best self.

  • Language
    Arts

    When it comes to reading and writing, we believe that scholars learn by doing. From their earliest school days, they read voraciously; this level of engagement with books continues and intensifies in middle school. Scholars learn to read not only for story or information, but also for deeper meanings of history and culture. Language Arts instruction emphasizes writing skills, and knowledge of grammar, style, vocabulary, and rhetoric is strengthened through frequent writing.

     

    We believe that children become voracious and critical readers through exposure to a wide variety of high quality books. They learn to thoughtfully examine the craft and structure of books, poetry and nonfiction and understand that books open doors figuratively and literally to other worlds.

     

    At the middle school level, we channel children’s natural development and desire to express themselves into writing creative and informative pieces that are clear, precise, and authentic.

  • Chess

    Chess is a central part of the culture in our middle schools—especially for fifth and sixth graders, where chess is taught as a part of the core curriculum. Scholars will have the opportunity to take chess twice a week as part of their core program. Classes focus on basic strategies and positional ideas. Scholars interested in competitive play have the opportunity to sign up for chess elective where they will learn various openings and endgame techniques as well as develop their ability to calculate and visualize. Chess classes are offered Tuesday through Saturday.

     

    Success Academy scholars have frequently ranked among the top competitors at the state championships in Saratoga Springs, and have gone on to compete in the national competition. More than 100 scholars participate in Saturday tournament play throughout the fall and spring.

  • Computer
    Science

    Required in seventh and eighth grades, computer science emphasizes analytical and design thinking and programming for scholars who want to know how computers work and how to write software. Technical expertise is not required, only an open mind and a willingness to experiment, explore, and have some serious fun. Computer science courses become progressively more sophisticated by focusing on the fundamentals of programming through projects involving interactive graphics and games and learning how to program in JavaScript and Python. Fifth and sixth graders can take computer science as an elective.

Virtual School

Learn about our revolutionary middle school design.

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PARENT INVOLVEMENT

We Promise To:
  • Instill in scholars not just the curiosity and work ethic required to enrich their minds, but the independence and agency needed to succeed in college and beyond.
  • Ensure a balanced community, one that matches the ambitious goals of our curriculum with a small-school feel.
  • Provide a culture of high standards and personal responsibility that complements the deep, rigorous learning present in our classrooms.
  • Never compromise our mission to deliver an education that endures. Our philosophy isn’t about the short-term or the easy way — it’s about the difficult and necessary steps to achieving daily mastery and self-motivated inquiry.
We Expect Parents And Guardians To:
  • Encourage the hard work, discipline, and focus young people need to fully reap the rewards of their education.
  • Engage with the community. Strong school culture is a touchstone of our program, and parent involvement is critical in making co-curricular and community service events exceed expectations.
  • Support scholars’ interests and ambitions. We equip scholars with the tools to realize their own goals, not just the ones dictated by our curriculum.
  • Understand the process. The Success Academy program emphasizes how to learn as much as the learning itself, and therefore stresses mindset and attitude as much as preparation and practice. We want our scholars to see education as not a chore but a responsibility.

  • Stay in Touch!

    Prospective Parents: If your child will be entering Kindergarten through 4th grade for the 2016-17 school year, please register below to receive more information regarding your neighborhood Success Academies.

  • Register

    Prospective Parents: Register below to be notified when the application for the 2017-18 school year becomes available and to receive more information about Success Academy Charter Schools.