SUCCESS ACADEMY PIVOTS TO REMOTE LEARNING IN FACE OF SUSPENDED SUBWAY SERVICE

SUCCESS ACADEMY PIVOTS TO REMOTE LEARNING IN FACE OF SUSPENDED SUBWAY SERVICE  

20,000-Plus Students Fully Able to Learn Uninterrupted

New York, NY — The majority of Success Academy students have been back on campus for a month, but today the entire network of 20,000-plus students across 47 campuses transitioned to fully remote learning within hours after Mayor de Blasio declared a state of emergency in New York City due to massive subway service suspensions from torrential rainstorms.

At 9:00 a.m. some 20,000 students logged into Zoom from their SA-supplied laptops and resumed learning undeterred by the devastating flooding and state of emergency that had been unleashed by Hurricane Ida. Kindergarten teachers continued their dramatic readings of Caps for Sale, Little Red Hen, and emergent storybooks, with their scholars chiming in with varied character voices and gestures accompanying different parts of the story. Third and fourth graders resumed their exploration of place value in math, while sixth graders pressed on to refine a procedure to purify a dirty water sample based on their observations about the mixture’s physical properties. Ninth graders applied their understanding of arithmetic and geometric series to understand the dangers of financial pyramid schemes in algebra, and seniors studied AP Calculus and worked with their college counselors to fill out FAFSA forms.

Average attendance today across all 47 schools was 95%.

Families and students received text messages and emails by 6:20 a.m., before high schoolers in the Bronx and Brooklyn attempted their normal morning commutes, with instructions to stay at home and log in.

“I’m so grateful to Success Academy principals, teachers, and operations staff for so quickly pivoting to remote learning this morning,” said Eva Moskowitz, Success Academy founder and CEO. “Having the technology — and a contingency plan in place —  saved a full day, possibly more, of learning.”

Success Academy opened all 47 schools on August 2 with 90% of students on campus; about 10% of students opted to learn remotely until October 8.
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ABOUT SUCCESS ACADEMY  
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 47 schools across Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens, Success Academy enrolls 23,000 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. In 2021, 100% of SA’s fourth and largest class of 129 graduating seniors were accepted to college, with 22% accepted to highly selective and 47% to selective institutions, with robust financial aid packages; 82% of the class will be the first in their families to attend college.

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