Original article appears on 7online.com:
Like champions heading onto the field, students from Harlem Village Academy won the equivalent of the superbowl by earning top honors in math.
Dr. Deborah Kenny started this charter school.
“They have such a special place in my heart when they came here they were my little babies and told them if you put in the work and follow strict rules and we love you. you will make it to college,” Dr. Kenny said.
Ninety six percent of the eight graders here passed the New York state math test last year — the best in the city.
Thirteen-year-old Shanti received a strong score. “The test wasn’t that hard compared to what we do in school,” Shanti said.
Teachers here set out to raise the bar higher then expected so students are more than prepared. All of the children are minorities, 88 percent are at or near poverty, 12 percent classify as special needs.
These top scoring kids are part of the founding class but when they arrived as fifth graders needed extra attention.
“They didn’t know multiplication, fractions … things second and third graders know. We had to catch them up three years and make them to a point they are now doing algebra,” Dr. Kenny said.
Students here spend about 2 hours a day studying math. There’s a morning session with new concepts and drills and then in the afternoon in debt problem solving.
But today was about celebrating a job well done. Actor and R & B singer Mario tipped his hat to the students who now know the sky’s the limit.
Related: New York Daily News :: Village Academies ::
Posted on January 16, 2007 by D. Bell