The Manhattan Times

Joy at Amber Charter School as test scores are tops in Manhattan

by John Gutiérrez

There was joy in the hallways of Amber Charter School May 7. That was the day that the NYC Department of Education unveiled scores for the English Language Arts Test (known in education circles as the ELA) that showed Amber leading all other charter schools in Manhattan with a school-wide score of 88.5 percent. These ELA results indicate that nearly nine out of every ten students in Amber’s 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th grades are reading at or above grade level.

Located in East Harlem, Amber Charter School is led by Inwood residents Dr. Vasthi Reyes and Luis Miranda (founder of the Manhattan Times). Dr. Reyes, Amber’s head of school and principal, and an educational leader who was previously at 21^st Century Leadership Academy, said: “The entire school community closed ranks and engaged in a process of educational self-discovery, striving for excellence and making sure each and every student could achieve his or her God-given potential.”

Dr. Reyes said the school’s formula for success rested on making sure “that our curriculum was aligned with state standards, that teachers were supported and that kids spend time on task, we knew we were preparing our students not only for yearly achievement tests but more importantly, for future success.”

This year, hundreds of area families applied to Amber’s lottery in which 100 new kindergarten and first grades were selected.

Amber, one of the top five charter schools in the city according to ELA test results, has an almost 100 percent minority student body. Its 350 students are housed in a 100 year-old school building on E. 106th Street that the school’s board of trustees purchased five years ago. Board of Trustees’ chairman Luis Miranda, elated by the tests results, pointed out that “everyone has worked very hard to create the best charter school in the city.” “This year,” Miranda said, “Amber is up for re-chartering and this is certainly a great beginning.”

Charters are examined by government institutions every five years. Schools that are meeting their educational goals are recertified for an additional five years, while those failing to meet the grade are closed.

Other Northern Manhattan neighborhood charter schools also did well on standardized English tests. At Harlem Science and Arts Charter, 87.8 percent of students were reading at or above grade level. Similarly, Leadership Village Charter and Harlem Village Academy’s students scored 87.2 and 86.7 percent, respectively, on ELA tests.

All of this good news doesn’t mean that the staff at Amber is resting on its laurels.

“It is exciting to see the fruits of a lot of hard work in these scores,” said staffer Nereida Morales. “But I believe that Amber students can and will accomplish even more.”

CUTLINE:

Amber Charter School in East Harlem had the highest score in Manhattan on the English Language Arts Test.

The Manhattan Times is the bilingual newspaper of Washington Heights and Inwood.