Success Academy named finalist for prestigious national charter school award

New York City-based Success Academy is one of three contenders for a prize recognizing the “best-performing large charter school systems in the country.”

Finalists for the $250,000 Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools were announced Monday by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The annual prize honors large charter school networks that have proven adept at serving low-income students and students of color.

Success Academy is the city’s biggest charter school network, with 41 schools serving 14,000 students, 76 percent of whom are low-income. Last year, all of its elementary and middle schools were in the top 10 percent of schools in the state for academic performance in English, math and science, according to the announcement.

In a statement, Success Academy spokeswoman Nicole Sizemore said the recognition comes at an auspicious time. “We are hiring hundreds of teachers and school staff — to open more schools and meet parent demand — thus more people will see Success as a force for change and innovation, and a great place to work,” she wrote.

But Success has also been the subject of harsh criticism, most notably for a “Got to Go” list of unwanted students at one school, exposed in 2015, and for leaning too heavily on strict rules and student suspensions. Chalkbeat spoke with Success Academy CEO Eva Moskowitz in March about some of those critiques and about her support for education secretary Betsy DeVos.

Previous winners of the Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools include IDEA Public Schools in 2016, Noble Network of Charter Schools in 2015, KIPP Schools in 2014 and Uncommon Schools in 2013.

This year’s winner, chosen by a panel of education experts, will be announced June 12 at the National Charter Schools Conference in Washington, D.C. The other finalists are DSST Public Schools in Denver and Harmony Public Schools in Texas.