Results

Absolute performance is extremely important, and we are proud to outperform the district each year, but since we serve all kids, it matters less to us how successful they are walking in the door; it matters how successful they are walking out. We commit to deliver tremendous academic growth each year to ensure that our scholars are successful in the college of their choice and a life of active citizenship. Our data demonstrates that we are making good on our commitment.

Democracy Prep is uniquely committed to serving all students. We enroll scholars in all grades, regardless of how far behind they start academically or how challenging their home environment may be. When a student is accepted into Democracy Prep by random lottery he or she is greeted with the same expectation of success in college and citizenship—no excuses.

Nearly a quarter of Democracy Prep’s incoming sixth graders have special needs, a percentage higher than that of the neighboring traditional public schools, and much higher than that found at other high-performing charter schools. The average incoming sixth grader enters more than two grade levels behind in reading and math.

100% of our scholars are African-American or Latino, more than 80% of Democracy Prep students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, 24% enter with special needs, 12% enter as English Language Learners, and nearly 5% of Democracy Prep scholars are in New York City’s homeless system. Despite these challenges, we expect 100% of our scholars to work hard, go to college, and change the world.

Democracy Prep serves a randomly selected group of students from Central Harlem. When they come in, our scholars score similarly, or below, the students at surrounding local schools in Central Harlem. Despite this, Democracy Prep Charter School’s scores on state math and ELA exams have exceeded the district average since its founding in 2006. What’s more, the margin between Democracy Prep’s scores and the district tends to increase each year after sixth grade, showing that our students continue to make more progress each year than those in the traditional public schools next door.

At Democracy Prep, we believe that student academic growth (value-added increases, year over year) is the most important measure of a school’s success. Our students enter Democracy Prep at least two years behind in reading and math. Over the course of their first year, our students make up to three grade levels of progress and continue to make tremendous progress year after year. When compared to students at other high-performing charter schools in New York City, Democracy Prep scholars made the most progress on 2010 state tests in math and ELA.

An experimental study by Dr. Roland Fryer and Will Dobbie of Harvard University’s EdLabs suggests that Democracy Prep middle school scholars make more progress in English Language Arts than students at some of the highest-performing public schools in the country. This graph shows the estimated effect of Democracy Prep and its teachers on its students over the course of a year.

While our high school is just two years old, our Regents exam data tell us that the tremendous growth our scholars have made year after year is leading to above average absolute performance. This gives us confidence that our kids are on track to succeed in college in just two years. Over 90% of our scholars tested in the past three years passed Regents Exams in Integrated Algebra, Biology, Chemistry, and Global History.

Eyes across the nation are on Harlem Prep (previously Harlem Day), the turnaround elementary charter school Democracy Prep took on in July. Last year, just 20 and 23 percent of Harlem Day’s students were proficient in ELA and Math, respectively.

Yet even though it is currently a failing school, the news that we were to turn it around led to over 2500 families applying for just 60 projected seats.

Since our turnaround has just begun, there are no "results" quite yet. However, at the first elementary school Democracy Prep founded, our model led to outstanding results. In September, 82% of incoming kindergartners entered our school at below basic or basic literacy level. By June, only one of those kindergartners was below a first grade level (and he made it by August), 38% were at a 2nd grade level or higher, and 6% were at or above a 3rd grade level. We are confident that, after the initial transition phase, Harlem Prep’s students will be back on the path to college and citizenship.