Melissa Bailey File Photo
The Amistad Orchestra
New Haven-bred Achievement First came under independent scrutiny across the board — and fared so-so.
Achievement First — the network of charter schools that began with New Haven’s Amistad Academy — is looking to open two new outposts in Providence, R.I. The mayor there repeated an oft-heard claim that Achievement First students do better than New Haven and other Connecticut students on standardized tests.
The Providence Journal’s “PolitiFact” team analyzed that claim. It found that, yes, Achievement First kids do outperform other New Haven kids. But not so other Connecticut kids, except in math. Similar results were found in new York State.
Click here to read and weigh the evidence.
Achievement First started out with New Haven’s Amistad Academy in 1990. It now runs 20 schools in New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford; and Brooklyn, N.Y. Its New Haven outlets include the Amistad schools (K‑8 and high) as well as two Elm City Preparatory schools (elementary and middle).
New state Education Commissioner Stefan Pryor, who helped found the first Amistad, said the state should make it easier for more such charters to blossom. His boss, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, has made that one of his goals of 2012, a year he promises to devote to school reform.