Overview

Our mission is to ensure that every Harlem Success scholar graduates from college. In addition to literacy and math, we teach art, science five days a week, chess, writing, geography, social studies, dance, soccer, and more. If a child loves being in school, they will love learning.

THINK Literacy is designed in-house and builds on a balanced literacy framework.  The goal is for all scholars to become critical thinkers with the ability to express their ideas in interesting and compelling ways. 

Our literacy program centers on the following guiding principles:

1. Reading and Writing Time are Sacred
Kids get better at reading by reading; kids get better at writing by writing.

2. Joyful Rigor
At Success Academies , we are vigilant about maintaining an incredibly high bar at all times, while infusing reading and writing with urgency, purpose, and joy.

3. Closing the Deal and Keeping it Simple
We care deeply that our scholars read, write, think, and speak with clarity and elegance, and we work backwards from those goals.  It's not a priority for kids and teachers to name fancy skills and strategies.

4. High Expectations for ALL of our scholars
At Success Academies, we move scholars each day in REAL TIME in reading and writing.  While we collect formal reading and writing data every 6-8 weeks, we do not wait for this data to tell us whether scholars have grown.  Rather, our teachers informally assess scholars on a daily basis and plan instruction accordingly.

5. Real Time Teacher Improvement (RTTI)
To ensure that scholars meet our incredibly high expectations we must teach every lesson at a phenomenally high level.  Because this is so urgent we make improvements to our teaching in real time. 

Monitoring Student Progress: Data and Ongoing Assessment

All students are tested when they walk into the building so we can identify their starting point, track their growth, and make academic interventions in real-time. Monitoring student progress is an ongoing activity in all Harlem Success classrooms.

Science

Harlem Success students take science five days a week, for an hour each day, beginning in kindergarten. In schools around the country, science has taken a back seat to literacy and math, subjects that many would consider a prerequisite for all other learning.

In Eva Moskowitz's report for the City Council's Education Committee, "Lost in Space: Science Education in New York City Public Schools" she writes, "Long before they can read, children ask endless questions - Why is the sky blue? Where does snow come from? - that can and should be explored in science class. Children love to experiment, and they love to ask questions, but our schools have not capitalized on this natural curiosity."

Harlem Success' science curriculum capitalizes on this curiosity. The curriculum takes a hands-on, discovery approach to learning science. Children conduct experiments and are encouraged to observe and ask questions about the world around them. We don’t read about frogs, we dissect them.

Chess

Harlem Success encourages all students to think ahead. Chess teaches strategy and higher-order thinking. Harlem Success' chess instructor extraordinaire Carlos Sanchez began teaching chess in the year 2000 in New York City public schools and has helped more than 6000 students discover and learn the fun game of chess. Of his teaching skills, Mr. Sanchez says, "I feel that great sense of awe and inspiration knowing my students have a million questions for me because when I walk into a classroom. I AM ALSO READY TO LEARN!"

Visual Arts

While Harlem Success emphasizes rigorous academics and discipline, we also encourage creativity—and our art program is thriving. Arts education at Harlem Success gives all children the ability to express themselves, draw meaning from the world around them, develop their unique personalities, appreciate great works of art, and perhaps most important, enjoy school. Student art work is showcased throughout the hallways to instill pride and to create a welcoming school environment.

Geography and Social Studies

At Harlem Success we prepare children not just for success on tests, but for success in life. We teach geography and social studies to give children an understanding of the world around them.

Physical Education

All students engage in physical activity everyday. Students take dance, soccer and basketball to learn discipline and exercise their bodies. In addition to twice-weekly soccer instruction, Harlem Success scholars have intramural soccer games several weekends per year.