Archives for category: Harlem Success Academy
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Gary Rubinstein: Cruel and Unusual Punishment of a Student at Success Academy

By dianeravitch
November 14, 2022 //
16

Gary Rubinstein is a high school math teacher and blogger. He has been following Success Academy charter chain, which has been nationally acclaimed for its high test scores. In his latest post, Rubinstein examines the case of a student who thrived at Success Academy until the pandemic, but struggled when the school switched to remote learning. Read the story and answer the question, was she treated fairly by her school?

He begins:

A few months ago I published the first part of this series where parents of current or former Success Academy students can share their stories. As I hoped would happen, another frustrated parent found that post and contacted me with his own disturbing story to tell.

Success Academy is known for its high 3-8 standardized test scores and its extreme rigidity. In a way, the rigidity is part of what causes them to have such high test scores. They demand compliance from their students and from the families of those students. When a student or the family of a student is not conforming to the expectations of the school, that student or family are going to be harassed, humiliated, and punished until they either fall into line or ‘voluntarily’ transfer to another school.

The heartbreaking saga of a girl I will call ‘Carla’ began pleasantly enough eight years ago when she was accepted into Success Academy Springfield Gardens as a kindergartener. From kindergarten through fourth grade, she thrived at the school. Her fourth grade report card grades were mostly the highest or second highest category, except for writing where she was struggling….

In fifth grade, she started having problems academically, though not catastrophically, and then as we all know, the pandemic hit and schools in New York went remote for the next year and a half. For the end part of fifth grade and all of sixth grade, Carla struggled to learn remotely. She had various connection issues and would wait in zoom waiting rooms endlessly. She was really traumatized by the pandemic year and was eager to return to in person classes for her seventh grade year.

But she was still suffering the effects of the 18 months of remote learning. She was having mental health issues and was seeing a therapist about them. At school she was failing several classes. Carla is a very hard working student and someone who really tries her best and her parents work very hard to support her needs and to keep on top of what assignments Carla was missing. Everyone knows that Success Academy has one trick in their playbook which is to make students repeat grades for failing courses. So Carla managed to improve most of her grades but she still failed two subjects, writing and science and was told that she would have to pass those two courses in summer school or she would have to repeat the entire seventh grade.

How Success Academy can make such a threat is incomprehensible to me. For elementary school grades it makes more sense, but in a secondary school setting, why not just retake the courses that you failed? But that wasn’t the threat, it was that she had to pass both courses with a 70 or higher or she would be repeating the entire seventh grade, including all the classes that she had passed.

Please read the rest of the post to learn what happened to Carla? Was it fair? Was it just? What do you think?

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Cruelty, Discipline, Education Industry, Harlem Success Academy

Gary Rubinstein: Success Academy’s Backhanded Backfill Policy

By dianeravitch
September 2, 2022 //
17

Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter chain has won national plaudits for its extraordinarily high test scores. SA is a fundraising dynamo, attracting the support of leading figures on Wall Street and the financial sector. She and her chain were the subject of a hagiographic film called “The Lottery,” made by Madeline Sackler of the infamous opioid Sackler family,who are big supporters of the charter industry. The implication was that all students were chosen at random and were exactly the same as those in local public schools.

Over the years, critics have noted the high attrition rate of kids who start at SA schools, as well as an extraordinarily high teacher attrition rate.

Gary Rubinstein, high school math teacher and blogger, has followed the progress of SA in many posts on his blog.

In this post, he explores the effects of SA’s “backfill” policy, meaning that the schools seldom accept new students after fourth grade.

Using public data, Rubinstein explores the chain’s admissions and placement policies.

He writes:

I’ve learned through a lot of first hand stories that one of the biggest factors in the ‘success’ of Success Academy is the way they weaponize the school’s ability to force students to repeat grades or to voluntarily leave the school to avoid having to repeat a grade. When they have a student who they think is not fitting into their system enough, even if that student is on grade level and passing the state test, they sometimes arbitrarily tell the family at the end of the school year that if the student returns to Success Academy the next year they will have either repeat the grade they just completed or they can transfer to a different school and then they won’t have to repeat the grade.

So one way that holding a student back can improve the school’s test scores is that the weaker students leave the school ‘voluntarily.’ But maybe the family will decide that they want to keep their child at Success Academy and then the student will be more likely to do well on the state test when they have just repeated the year in that grade. But there is another way that Success Academy wields the power to arbitrarily make a student repeat a grade. Each year there are many students who leave the school for all kinds of reasons. While most schools give students on a waiting list a chance to be ‘backfilled’ and transfer from another school, it is known that Success Academy only allows backfilling in grades 1 through 4. So students from the waiting list are offered a slot at the school, but sometimes Success Academy will tell these families who just got a position off the waitlist that because Success Academy is so rigorous, the student will have to repeat the grade they just completed at their other school. They say this to the families whose children, Success Academy thinks, will struggle at the school. So these families who are told this will either take the deal and have their children repeat the grade or they will choose to go to a different school. Either way, Success Academy improves their test scores this way either by denying the student a chance to go to Success or by having them retake the same grade where they will likely do better on the state test the second time around than they would if they were in their proper grade.

I have heard about families having to grapple with this choice after getting into the school as a ‘backfill’ student, but I had no idea how common of a thing this was. So I did a freedom of information request to the NYC Department Of Education. Much to my surprise, the data was just emailed to me today and what it reveals is shocking, even by Success Academy abuse of families standards.

Read what he learned.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Harlem Success Academy, New York City, Students

Gary Rubinstein: Parents at Success Academy Speak Out: “I Was Not Allowed to Attend My Son’s Graduation”

By dianeravitch
July 20, 2022 //
23

Gary Rubinstein finds that his criticism of Success Academy has caused some parents to reach out to him.

If they attended a public school, they could see the principal, the superintendent, or any number of officials who might be able to intervene.

So Success Academy parents have reached out to Gary to see if he can help them.

But at a charter school, if you have a complaint, they may tell you to choose another school. Leave.

This post is about a mother who was not allowed to attend her school’s graduation. It seems there were a couple of incidents. On one occasion, she failed to buy exactly the right pants for him to wear at school. On another, she went to his classroom without permission.

She had to be punished. She was barred from her son’s graduation.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Cruelty, Discipline, Education Industry, Harlem Success Academy, New York City

Gary Rubinstein: Nearly Half of the 9th Graders at Success Academy Won’t Graduate From There

By dianeravitch
July 17, 2022 //
88

Gary Rubinstein, teacher and blogger, reviewed state data for Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter chain. SA has been widely acclaimed for its high test scores. But Gary found that the attrition rate was astonishing. If low-scoring students leave, it boosts the overall scores.

Gary knew that the overall attrition rate was high but was surprised to see how high it is for students who enter ninth grade.

Over the years I’ve tracked the attrition at Success Academy. They are a K-12 program and I’ve found that generally when I compare the number of kindergarteners entering the school with the number of 12th graders that graduate 13 years later, they lose approximately 75% of their students over the 13 years.

Success Academy has argued that losing 75% over 13 years isn’t actually that bad since it equates to about 10% attrition per year, which is what district schools also have. One flaw in that reasoning is that district schools fill in those 10% of seats each year while Success Academy stops ‘backfilling’ in the 4th grade. Another problem with comparing attrition rates from Success Academy to district schools is that a student can pretty easily move from one district school to another and those schools won’t be all that different. But for Success Academy which are supposedly the best schools in the country, it is a major life change to leave Success Academy for a district school so if they really are as good as they say, you would expect their attrition to be less than the 10% per year that district schools have.

I recently got some data from New York State that puts the attrition of Success Academy in a different and scary context. Since Success Academy is a K-12 school and you can’t get in after 4th grade, any student who makes it to 9th grade there has been at the school for anywhere from 5 to 9 years. After making it that long, the last four years should be pretty easy. It’s like running a marathon and getting to the 25 mile mark, of course you are going to finish the race. But some new data I got reveals that this isn’t the case with Success Academy. In general, only about 60% of the students who become 9th graders there eventually graduate within 6 years. And with certain subgroups it is a lot less than that….

This data is really scandalous. Have you ever heard of a school that sheds almost half their students in a four year period from 9th to 12th grade even though those students have been in the school since kindergarten or maybe 4th grade at the latest? A question I wonder is why do so many students leave the school so late in the game after succeeding there for so many years?

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Discipline and Suspensions, Education Industry, Harlem Success Academy

Gary Rubinstein: Success Academy Attrition Rate Still 75%

By dianeravitch
January 26, 2022 //
62

Gary Rubinstein has followed the progress of the much-lauded Success Academy charter chain, supposedly the most successful in the nation. He has noted that SA graduates only a small fraction of those it admits. He estimates that about 75% are gone before graduation.

Success Academy has argued that a 75% attrition rate isn’t so bad because it is about a 11% attrition per year, compounded, which, they say, is what happens in public schools too. But I don’t think this is a valid argument. Getting into Success Academy is supposed to be like winning the lottery. The attrition rate should be miniscule if Success Academy is as good as they claim. You don’t just give away a winning lottery ticket.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Graduation rates, Harlem Success Academy

Arthur Schwartz, the Lawyer Who Beat Success Academy Charter Chain in Court

By dianeravitch
April 4, 2021 //
2
Civil rights attorney Arthur Schwartz is running for City Council in District 3, Manhattan, which includes SoHo-Hudson Square, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, the Theater District, and Hell’s Kitchen. Arthur has spent his career as a warrior for justice. He was the lead attorney in the successful lawsuit on behalf of parents against the powerful Success Academy charter chain. I donated to his campaign. I hope you will too.

Arthur Schwartz & His Legal Team Win Multimillion Lawsuit Against Success Academy’s Unethical “Got To Go” Policy Singling Out Students With Learning Disabilities

On March 10, 2021 District 3 City Council candidate Arthur Schwartz was part of a team of attorneys representing parents who sued and won a $2.3 million settlement against the Fort Greene Success Academy. In the long awaited decision for a 2017 filed Discriminatory Harassment suit, Judge Fredric Block approved $1.1 million in damages to the 5 families of plaintiffs.https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/nyregion/at-a-success-academy-charter-school-singling-out-pupils-who-have-got-to-go.htmlThis victory highlights an ethical standard for academic administration at the highest levels of education across America and helps to protect families and students from learning disability-related discrimination and prejudice. In this case it involved 5-year olds.

The source of the suit was the internally code-named “Got to Go” list. The lawsuit accused the Fort Greene Academy principal and its parent Success Academy of creating lists of 5 year old students with possible learning disabilities that they wanted to push out because they were ‘not right’ for the school. These children, most in kindergarten, got suspended 20 times or more per year. One parent was told that her 5 year old was going to be arrested for having a tantrum. The lawsuit took 4.5 years to litigate and settle — as the most successful scoring charter school system in America refused to turn over the paperwork and records requested by the plaintiffs’ legal team in an effort to protect Success Academy higher-ups.

Success Academy Fort Greene (SAFG) opened in the 2013-14 school year as an elementary school with grades K-1, with the intention of adding a grade each year until the school served grades K-4.

Known as the largest and most controversial charter multi-school chain in the country, Success Academy has been plagued by scandals from the beginning. After 2 years, it was determined that the Fort Greene school needed  “turning around,” and newly hired principal Candido Brown was tasked with doing that.

Thus began the infamous “Got to Go” list. The lawsuit alleged that the list reflected Success Academy policy.

In an October 30, 2015 press conference, Brown attempted to explain that his list of children to focus on for removal from SAFG was an effort to “fix” the school. On that same date Success Academy founder Eva Moskowitz said she did not plan to fire Brown. The lawsuit was filed in 2017 by 5 parents whose kids had been tortured by Success. The legal team included Arthur Schwartz and the foundation he heads, Advocates for Justice, NY Lawyers for the Public interest, and Skadden and Arps. The parents were initially referred to Arthur by the Alliance for Quality Education.

This is the first in a series of important legal victories I will be highlighting weekly moving forward that City Council candidate and veteran civil rights attorney Arthur Schwartz has achieved in his more than four decades of leadership. This is what leadership looks like. – Bruce Poli
Categories Harlem Success Academy

Success Academy Charter Chain Will Not Give State Tests This Year

By dianeravitch
March 17, 2021 //
4

Reema Amin, a reporter for Chalkbeat in New York, wrote on Twitter that the Success Academy charter chain will not administer the state tests this year. Do you think that any public school superintendents or principals will make the same decision and get away with it? Nah, we won’t take the state tests this year.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Harlem Success Academy, New York City

Podcast: How Success Academy Charters Violate Their Students’ Rights

By dianeravitch
December 5, 2020 //
3

Leonie Haimson is host of a weekly radio program on WBAI, a Pacifica radio station.

In this podcast, she discusses “How Success Academy Charters Violate Their Students’ Civil, Educational, and Privacy Rights.”

The show focused on Success Academy charters, NYC’s largest charter school chain, which has repeatedly violated students’ civil rights while becoming known for high test scores and high suspension rates. Leonie interviewed Laura Barbieri of Advocates for Justice and Nelson Mar of Bronx Legal Services, two attorneys who’ve successfully sued Success Academy charter schools on behalf of students who have been mistreated at the school.

Then she spoke to Fatima Geidi, a former Success parent whose son’s special education, due process, and privacy rights were violated, the last after PBS News Hour interviewed Fatima and her son about the school’s abusive disciplinary practices. Dany Mangrove also related her experiences as a former operations assistant and teacher at Success Academy High School.

Categories Discipline and Suspensions, Harlem Success Academy, New York City

Leonie Haimson: Success Academy Retrenches Due to Lack of Students

By dianeravitch
September 27, 2020 //
12

Leonie Haimson reports that Success Academy is dropping plans to open three new high schools because it doesn’t have enough students.

Parent activist Brooke Parker wrote the report as a guest blogger.

No waiting lists. Not enough students.

Categories Accountability, Harlem Success Academy, Privatization

Gary Rubinstein: How Scholars Fail at Success Academy

By dianeravitch
September 14, 2020 //
22

Gary Rubinstein explores a curious phenomenon at Success Academy. Fully one-seventh of its senior class fail to graduate.

How can this be? They have persisted through 11 years of the school’s harsh discipline, yet are told midway through their senior year that they must repeat the grade or leave.

Public data shows that very few students who begin at Success Academy actually graduate from Success Academy. The class of 2018 started with 72 students and only 16 graduated. The class of 2019 started with 80 students and only 27 graduated. The class of 2020 started with 350 students and only 98 graduated. Success Academy argues that this is normal attrition over 12 years, but one of the most jarring statistics I have ever seen about Success Academy is the attrition rate from students who are in the school at the beginning of their senior year but who do not graduate with their class 10 months later.

For the recent class of 2020 there were 114 seniors in the school in November 2019. But by graduation time in June there were only 98 graduating seniors.

Why?

Categories Discipline, Failure, Harlem Success Academy
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