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New Haven Briefing
During the 2012-13 school year, Achievement First’s New Haven schools (Amistad Academy and Elm City
College Prep) are serving more than 1,600 students in grades K-12.
PRIMARY TALKING POINTS: RESULTS o “Achievement First’s New Haven students are outperforming their statewide peers by eighth grade and are even surpassing their peers in Greenwich in some grades and subjects.”
 FACT: In some grades and subjects, student performance has now surpassed the gap-closing standards of the highest-performing and most affluent suburban districts, a better measure of college readiness than the statewide average. Ninety percent of Amistad Academy eighth graders achieved at goal in math and 92 percent achieved at goal in writing on the 2012
Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT), outperforming students in Greenwich, one of the state’s most affluent towns.
 FACT: AF Amistad High is consistently one of the top 10 performing schools in the state on the writing section of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT). In 2011, our
10th-grade writing scores were the second highest in the state, behind only Simsbury, with
100 percent of our students achieving proficiency and 88 percent achieving at goal.
 FACT: By eighth grade, Amistad Academy Middle and Elm City College Prep Middle students are outperforming the statewide mastery average by 16 and 8 percentage points, respectively, on the 2012 CMT. At both schools, 100 percent of eighth graders were proficient in math.
 FACT: Across all subjects on the 2012 CAPT, 10th graders at AF Amistad High in New Haven performed on par with the statewide mastery average, with 52 percent of students achieving at goal.
 FACT: Elm City College Prep was the only New Haven school recognized by the Connecticut
Department of Education as a “School of Distinction,” receiving the highest state acknowledgement for African-American student achievement. o “Our New Haven students are making academic gains at a faster rate than their district or statewide peers.”
 FACT: Our middle school students show dramatic growth on their path from fourth grade
(before Achievement First) to eighth grade. At Amistad Academy and Elm City College Prep, the percentage of students at or above goal on the Connecticut Mastery Test, averaged across all subjects, doubled from fourth grade in 2008 to eighth grade in 2012. At Amistad
Academy, where the fourth-grade cohort entered Achievement First with 45 percent scoring at goal, achievement jumped to 88 percent at goal in their eighth-grade year, a 43 percentage point improvement. During the same four-year period, statewide achievement
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Not For Public Distribution only improved by 9 percentage points. o “Achievement First schools are effectively preparing students to succeed in and graduate from college. At our flagship high school in New Haven—AF Amistad High—100 percent of the school’s graduating seniors have gained college acceptance for the third consecutive year in as many graduating classes.”
 FACT: Achievement First Amistad High is consistently one of the top 10 performing schools in the state in high school writing—the subject most predictive of college success. In 2011, our 10th-grade writing scores were the second highest in the state, behind only Simsbury.
 FACT: Our seniors are graduating well-prepared for post-secondary course work. More than
61 percent of students who took the A.P. U.S. History exam earned a 4 or 5, compared with only 33 percent of students across the country.
 FACT: Through a coordinated focus on college readiness, SAT performance continues to improve. Achievement First students are averaging more than 1,020 points on the reading and math sections of the test, especially significant because 1,000 is known as the
“gatekeeper score” for admission to many selective colleges. At AF Amistad High, the average SAT writing score was 545, which exceeds both the Connecticut state average of
506 and the national average of 489.
 FACT: Our students, most of whom will be the first in their families to attend college, are not only gaining acceptance to college, but are persisting toward graduation. While only 16 percent of students nationwide who are the first in their families to enter college will graduate within six years, 90 percent of Achievement First high school graduates remain on track toward graduation.
PRIMARY TALKING POINTS: HIGHLIGHTS o “For kindergarten, Amistad Academy was the top school selected through the New Haven Public
Schools Lottery, with Elm City College Prep a close second, demonstrating high demand from New
Haven families for Achievement First schools.”
 FACT: For the 2012-13 school year, 528 New Haven students submitted lottery enrollment forms for 80 kindergarten spots at Amistad Academy Elementary. At Elm City College Prep
Elementary, 307 students entered the lottery for 57 spots. o “Achievement First is committed to improving performance for all Connecticut students—not only the students we directly serve. Therefore, we are partnering with New Haven Public Schools through the Residency Program for School Leadership to share best practices and increase our collective impact.”
 FACT: In 2011-12, Achievement First and New Haven Public Schools co-developed and piloted the Residency Program for School Leadership, a program that recruits, trains and
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Not For Public Distribution supports a corps of future leaders for New Haven’s highest-needs schools. Through this program, Achievement First is leveraging the best practices and knowledge about training strong school leaders that we have learned from operating a highly effective network of schools. o “Amistad Academy received $26 million in state funding for its new K-8 building, the first-ever school construction grant given to a charter school in the state on the same terms as a traditional public school. Our new building for AF Amistad High also received $24 million funded by the state for construction of a new facility.”
 FACT: Amistad Academy’s K-8 building is now located on the site of the former Timothy
Dwight school and includes a community center for the Dwight community. In addition, students living in the surrounding community are eligible for preference in Achievement
First’s blind lottery.
 FACT: In spring 2012, AF Amistad High also received a major grant for construction of a new high school facility at the site of the former MLK Elementary School. Upon completion of this project in 2014, all Achievement First New Haven schools will be housed in permanent locations.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Demographics* Percentage/Number
Number of students 1,670
Percent African-American/Latino
FRL
SPED
ELL
*Numbers are for the 2013-14 school year.
98%
81%
6%
9%
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