At 7 of 9 Success Academy Middle Schools, 100% of the 8th Graders Pass Living Environment Regents Exam

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, FEBRUARY 5, 2020**

Contact: Ann Powell, 646-894-6407 Ann.Powell@successacademies.org

One of seven Success Academy middle schools where 100% of eighth graders passed the Living Environment Regents exam: SA Bed-Stuy Middle School with Principal Michael Battle, center. 

New York, NY — In August, Success Academy launched its Living Environment science curriculum for the first time for middle schoolers. In January, all 474 Success eighth graders across nine middle schools took this Regents exam, and 99.5% passed. At seven of the nine SA middle schools, 100% of students passed.

Typically, the Living Environment Regents is taken in tenth grade, but a few selective middle schools offer it to their eighth graders. For comparison, only 72 of about 600 NYC middle schools had 100% pass rates on the Living Environment exam in 2019, and at those schools an average of only 33% of eighth graders took the exam. At Success Academy, 100% of the eighth-grade cohort took the exam.

“This achievement is the product of the effort and dedication of our faculty and the students themselves,” said Success Academy Founder and CEO Eva Moskowitz. “It’s so important that our most vulnerable students have access to first-rate STEM education. They are our future engineers, doctors, and computer scientists. We are over-the-top proud of them!”

Mastering this content now sets SA students up for exciting opportunities in STEM courses at Success Academy High School of the Liberal Arts. The high school has a demanding STEM Honors Academy, which progresses through a sequence of four semester-long rotations in environmental engineering, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering in grades 10 and 11. After taking the four survey courses, students choose one of the four engineering fields of study as their senior year concentration course. Other STEM electives include computer science, data science, back-end web development, and AP Statistics.

The four-year core math sequence begins with geometry in grade 9, Algebra II in grade 10, precalculus in grade 11, and AP-level Calculus and/or Statistics in grade 12. Honors Math students take Advanced Algebra and Pre-Calculus in grade 10, AP-level Calculus in grade 11, and a choice of AP-level Statistics, Engineering, and/or Computer Science courses in grade 12. Accelerated grade 12 students may also apply to take math courses at Columbia University.

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ABOUT SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS

Founded in 2006, Success Academy Charter Schools are free public K-12 schools open to all children in the state through a random lottery. With 45 schools across Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, Success Academy enrolls 18,000 students, primarily children of color from low-income households in disadvantaged neighborhoods: 74% receive free or reduced-price lunch, 94% are students of color, 16% have disabilities, and 8% are English language learners. Success Academy schools received more than 17,000 applications for about 4,000 open seats for the 2019-20 academic year.

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