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Across Achievement First Briefing
During the 2013-14 school year, Achievement First is serving more than 8,100 students across our 25
schools in Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island.
PRIMARY TALKING POINTS
o
“Achievement First students now outperform their peers in affluent suburbs including Greenwich
and Rye in some grades and subjects.”

o
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. At AF Amistad High, 85 percent of students
scored at or above goal in writing on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT),
outperforming affluent districts including Fairfield and Greenwich, and achieving on par with
Madison. On the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT), Elm City College Prep Middle eighth graders
achieved 88 percent at goal in math, outperforming their affluent peers in Fairfield, Greenwich
and Weston. On the New York State Test, 72 percent of eighth graders achieved proficiency in
math, outperforming their peers in Rye.
“Across all grades and subjects, Achievement First’s New York students are surpassing local and
state averages. Our Connecticut students are also surpassing local averages and scoring on par with
the state by their eighth-grade capstone year.”

FACT: Across all grades, our New York students are outperforming the statewide proficiency
average in both math and English Language Arts. On the new, more rigorous Common Corealigned state tests, Achievement First students achieved an average of 46 percent
proficiency in math and 28 percent proficiency in ELA. By comparison, our host community
schools districts in New York averaged 15 percent proficient in math and 15 percent
proficient in ELA, and New York state-wide performance averaged 31 percent proficiency in
both subjects.

FACT: In Connecticut, Achievement First students are consistently closing the achievement
gap with their statewide peers by eighth grade at goal (a higher bar in Connecticut than
proficiency). In our middle school capstone grade—eighth—68 percent of students achieved
at goal on the 2013 CMT, compared to 67 percent of statewide peers.

FACT: Our schools earned top grades on the New York City Department of Education 201112 Progress Reports, which greatly weigh the growth that students make over time. Four
out of five charters earned an “A” and scored in the top 15 percent of all New York City
schools.

FACT: Elementary math performance is especially strong. On the nationally normed
TerraNova math assessment, across our network, kindergarten and first-grade students
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achieved, on average, in the 95th percentile. This means that our students outperformed 95
percent of students nationwide.
o
“Achievement First was named one of three finalists for the 2013 Broad Prize for Public Charter
Schools.”
 The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation created the award to honor the urban public
charter school system that has demonstrated the most outstanding overall student
performance while reducing the achievement gap.
 Finalists were determined by a nine-member review board composed of prominent
education researchers, policy leaders, practitioners and executives from around the
country.
 According to The Broad Foundation, Achievement First was selected, in part, because its
“students performed better than their peers in school districts with similar income
demographics in Connecticut and New York in all available comparisons—elementary,
middle and high school reading, math and science in Connecticut, and elementary
reading, math and science and middle school reading and math in New York.”
o
“Achievement First students are achieving academic gains at a faster rate than their local and
statewide peers.”

FACT: Our middle school students continue to demonstrate dramatic growth on their path
from fourth grade (before Achievement First) to eighth grade. At Amistad Academy, Elm City
College Prep and AF Bridgeport Academy, 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. In Bridgeport, the eighth-grade cohort gained 51 percentage
points from their fourth grade results, compared to statewide growth of only 9 percentage
points.

FACT: From the time New York increased its proficiency standards in 2010 until the last year
of those tests in 2012, the proportion of students attaining English Language Arts and math
proficiency at our schools rose by 20 and 18 percentage points, respectively. In contrast,
statewide proficiency increases were nearly flat—only 2 and 4 percentage points,
respectively. We aim to make the same gains with the new Common Core-aligned state
tests. We believe that the advent of the Common Core is the most exciting challenge – and
opportunity – we have had in the last two decades in American education, and we will work
tirelessly to make sure that all of our students reach this higher bar.

FACT: From 2011 to 2012, individual schools saw even more dramatic gains. AF Bridgeport
Academy Middle saw a 19 percentage point increase at goal, the highest yearly growth of
any public school in Connecticut. In New York, AF Endeavor Middle saw a 13 percentage
point gain in students attaining proficiency, and AF Bushwick Middle and Elementary both
saw gains of 11 percentage points.
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o
“Achievement First schools are effectively preparing students to succeed in and graduate from
college.”

FACT: 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 fourth year in a row in as
many graduating classes. In 2013, 13 percent of the school’s graduating seniors were
accepted to Ivy League institutions including Brown University, Princeton University and the
University of Pennsylvania. In June 2013, the first graduating class at AF Brooklyn High also
achieved 100 percent college acceptance.

FACT: Thanks to a concerted focus on college readiness, Achievement First students are
averaging more than 1,020 points on the reading and math sections of the SAT test, topping
1,000—the score considered the “gatekeeper” at may top colleges. These scores have
improved 200 points from our 2009 scores, and AF Amistad High’s now surpass the national
average. 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 are also graduating well-prepared for post-secondary course work. At AF
Amistad High, 100 percent of students who took the A.P. Calculus exam passed. More than
77 percent of students earned a 4 or 5 on the A.P. Calculus exam, compared with only 41.8
percent of students across the country.

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 our high school graduates remain on track toward
graduation.

FACT: In both Brooklyn and Connecticut, more than 70 percent of our high school students
participated in summer programs that include pre-college programs and career-oriented
internships.
PRIMARY TALKING POINTS: HIGHLIGHTS
o
“There is high—and increasing—demand from our families and communities for more Achievement
First schools in both Brooklyn and Connecticut.”

FACT: For the 2012-13 academic year, our New York schools received approximately 11
applications for each open seat. Compared with the 2011-12 school year, we received 3.5
more applications per seat.

FACT: For the 2012-13 academic year, our Connecticut schools received approximately six
applications for every open seat. In Hartford, AF Hartford Academy Middle was the #1
middle school in the Hartford Public Schools District Choice Lottery, receiving more
applications than any other middle school in the district. In New Haven, Amistad Academy
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was the top school selected through the New Haven Public Schools Lottery for kindergarten,
with Elm City College Prep a close second.

o
o
FACT: Our 8,100 Achievement First students and their families are overwhelmingly satisfied
with our schools. On our 2011-12 annual parent survey, 95 percent of Achievement First
families agreed that their child goes to a great school, 94 percent felt confident the school
was doing all it could to prepare their child for success in college and 95 percent agreed that
the school was a safe place for children.
“Achievement First is planning to open additional schools every year for the next five years,
eventually serving more than 12,000 students at more than 34 schools.”

FACT: In the 2013-14 academic year, Achievement First has placed more than 350 additional
students on a college-bound path when we opened three new schools: two in New York and
one in Rhode Island.

FACT: At scale, we will serve more students than 95 percent of school districts in the United
States and more low-income students than 97 percent of school districts in the United
States.

FACT: By creating the equivalent of a high-performing urban public school “district,” we will
prove that the achievement gap can be closed at scale and thus inspire and inform broader
district-wide reform efforts.
“Achievement First's Teacher Career Pathway—a comprehensive, multi-input approach that offers
growth opportunities and recognition to teachers as they progress through five career stages—has
been nationally recognized by both the New Teacher Project and the Aspen Urban Superintendents
Network as one of the most promising designs in the country.”

FACT: Teacher effectiveness is the single largest determinant of student outcomes.
Achievement First’s Teacher Career Pathway provides increased compensation,
differentiated professional development and recognition for teachers based on their proven
effectiveness.

FACT: Since great teaching is as complex as it is important, the Teacher Career Pathway
combines a number of inputs to create robust picture of a teacher’s impact. These include
lesson observation and feedback, peer feedback, parent surveys, student surveys, and
student achievement data.

FACT: Teachers can progress through five career stages from intern through master teacher.
Achievement First has invested in this program because we want to make sure that
excellent teachers know they can stay in the classroom and still “progress” in their careers,
with opportunities and recognition commensurate with their increasing effectiveness.
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o
“Achievement First is committed to improving performance for all students—not only the students
we directly serve. Therefore, we are partnering with our host districts to share best practices and
increase our collective impact.”

FACT: Through the Residency Program for School Leadership, Achievement First is training
future leaders for New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford Public Schools. Co-developed with
New Haven Public Schools, the program was successfully piloted in New Haven during the
2011-12 school year and has since expanded to Hartford and Bridgeport.

FACT: In December 2012, the Gates Foundation announced a $5 million grant for Hartford
Public Schools, Jumoke Academy and Achievement First to further promote the sharing of
best practices around leadership development, school turn-around and teacher evaluation.
This three-year grant was the largest of only seven given across the country.

FACT: Achievement First has partnered with two of our host cities—Hartford, Connecticut,
and New York City—to sign District-Charter Collaboration Compacts with the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation. This competitive compact supports plans for bold collaboration between
public charter and traditional public schools, and only 14 other district-charter partnerships
in the country were recognized.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Demographics*
Percentage/Number
Number of students
8,168
Percent African-American/Latino
98%
FRL
85%
SPED
9.2%
ELL
5.2%
*Values are for the 2013-14 school year.
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