NEW: Mayor Taveras Visits Achievement First School
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Mayor Taveras on Monday visited the Achievement First Amistad Academy in New Haven, Connecticut to meet with students, teachers and school administrators and personally view Achievement First’s nationally lauded public charter schools.
Since opening its doors to public school students in New Haven in 1999, Amistad Academy Middle School has been profiled in the PBS documentary “Closing the Achievement Gap” and was named Connecticut’s 2006 Title I Distinguished School after having the greatest performance gains of any middle school in the state.
Achievement First followed on that record of success in 2006, opening the Amistad Academy Elementary School and Amistad Academy High School. In its first year of operation, the elementary school raised the percentage of its kindergarteners reading at or above grade level from 4 percent to 99 percent.
“Today’s inspiring visit to Amistad Academy demonstrated for me the need to increase the number of high-performing, public charter schools in Providence as part of our work to raise the bar on education for every child in our city, and reaffirmed my deep commitment to bringing Achievement First’s successful model to Providence ,” said Mayor Taveras.
Bringing Achievement First schools to Providence provides one more step in building a portfolio of high quality school options for all students in Providence. Mayor Taveras has joined with Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian, North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, Achievement First and Rhode Island Mayoral Academies in submitting an application to the Rhode Island Department of Education for a Providence-based mayoral academy.
Under the application, two elementary schools would be operated by Achievement First serving students from Providence, Warwick, North Providence and Cranston. The first school would open in 2013 and the second in 2014. Acting Providence Schools Superintendent Dr. Susan Lusi and the Providence School Board have affirmed they are ready to work with Achievement First to raise the bar for Providence students.
The new schools would provide a proven, additional resource and opportunity for parents and students. In addition, the state’s new school funding formula limits the district-level fiscal impact of students enrolling at Achievement First Mayoral Academies. For example, if a student leaves the district during the 2012-2013 school year to attend a charter public school, private school, or because of a move out of district, state funding allocated for that student will continue to flow to the district on a phased-out basis for six years after the student departs.
