AF Brownsville is highlighted in the newly published book "A Chance To Make History" by Wendy Kopp

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By: Achievement First

Achievement First Brownsville is highlighted in the newly published book "A Chance To Make History" by Teach For America Founder and CEO Wendy Kopp. Wendy draws on what she has learned in her 20 years at the center of a growing movement to end education inequality in America. We congratulate Wendy on her new book and are excited to join her in doing whatever it takes to achieve our goals. Read one of the AF Brownsville passages below, and buy the book here http://amzn.to/ekm8IT.

Across New York City in Brooklyn, at Achievement First Brownsville, an elementary school serving students in one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods of New York, Gina Musumeci also does not accept "catching kids up" as success. She intends to completely close the achievement gap between her students and students in high-income, well-resources schools -- a bar much higher than the state and standardized assessments' measure of "grade level." "State proficiency levels are nowhere near these students' potential. We have to set our sights higher. Our vision is that we are preparing them for the day they graduate from college. We are asking ourselves, 'What knowledge, values, and habits do they need to be ultimately successful in life?' and we're planning backwards from that vision. We are creating a rigorous and loving school around that purpose." Gina's school, in only its second year, is posting dramatic results. Starting with children who come through its doors well below grade level in kindergarten, in the 2009 school year more than 95 percent of children were proficient across the school, and more than 55 percent were more than a year ahead. (54-55)