Exclusive | Success! More rigorous NYC charter schools excel on state reading test as public-school results plummet

The overwhelming majority of students in the city’s largest charter-school networks excelled on recent state math and reading exams, unlike those in government-run schools where reading results plummeted.Success Academy’s results show that of its students in grades 3 to 8 who took the tests, 96% passed or were deemed proficient in math and 91% were proficient in English Language Arts, about the same stellar scores as last year.By comparison, only about 50% of New York City’s public-school kids were considered proficient in reading, a 6-point drop from the year before, and just 57% made the grade in math, about the same as the previous year.“Our curriculum is more rigorous,” Bronx Success Academy 4 Principal Nadienka Morillo bluntly told The Post.Twelve Success Academy schools even saw 100% of their students score proficient in both math and ELA, while at an additional eight of its schools had 100% of their students score proficient in one exam or the other.Students are graded from Levels 1 to 4.Level 3 is passing, and Level 4 is exceptional.At Bronx Success Academy 4 elementary school in the Soundview section, not only were all of its students proficient in both subjects, but a stunning 100% of the 195 students who took the math exam scored at a Level 4, as did 96% of students who aced the ELA.Many of the students at Success Academy are from low-income families.

Seventy-two percent are poor enough to quality for free and reduce meals, 13% are current and former English language learners from immigrant families, and 10% have special needs.As for racial makeup, the students break down into black (42%), Hispanic (36%) multracial (11%) and Asian, white or Native American (11%).Students at another large charter-school network — Zeta Charter Schools’ 14 campuses — also crushed the exams, with 92% proficient in math and 86% in English Language Arts.When comparing the charters’ success to the city’s public schools, the pass rate at the charters was 35 t...