The Carl C. Icahn Charter School in the Bronx was New York City’s toughest charter school to get into this year. The school had spots for less than 3% of its 868 applicants, the Daily News reports. On last year’s state ELA test, 85.1% of students were proficient, more than double the rate of the surrounding district–as good an argument for the efficacy of a content-rich curriculum on reading achievement as one could want. Math proficiency is even higher–over 97%.
The paper doesn’t mention it, but Carl Icahn is a Core Knowledge school. The school’s mission statement is “to use the Core Knowledge curriculum, developed by E.D. Hirsch, to provide students with a rigorous academic program offered in an extended day/year setting. Students will graduate armed with the skills and knowledge to participate successfully in the most rigorous academic environments, and will have a sense of personal and community responsibility.”
“The first class of eighth-graders who graduated last year all went on to top-tier high schools,” the paper notes, ”including the specialized high school Brooklyn Tech, the elite private school Phillips Exeter on a scholarship, and parochial schools also on scholarship.” The school is run by Jeffrey Litt, who is something of a legend in Core Knowledge circles. Many years ago a South Bronx public school run by Litt became only the second in the nation to adopt the curriculum.
The huge surplus of applicants suggests there’s some serious untapped demand in the Bronx. Do the math. Or ask the kids at Icahn to do it for you.
Awesome!