Achievement First Bushwick Middle School

1300 Greene Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11237
Phone: 718-453-0425
Fax: 718-453-0428

Opened: September 2007
Grades: Five to seven (growing to five to eight)
Number of Students in 2009-10: 246
Student Demographics in 2009-10:
52% Boys, 48% Girls
96% African American or Hispanic
78% Qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch

Overview

At Achievement First Bushwick Middle, teachers strive to build student buy-in, nurture close partnerships with students and parents, and make sure that expectations set at school are upheld at home. Like other Achievement First middle schools in New York, Achievement First Bushwick Middle scholars have 90 minutes of math instruction and more than two hours of reading instruction every day. Scholars can serve as representatives on the Principal Advisory Board, a group of students that oversees and rules on “cases” in which students are close to meeting homework and behavior/character goals but have not made the cut-off for the end-of-the-year trip. The school also offers students the opportunity to perform in a traveling orchestra, which made its Manhattan debut as part of the Vision Jazz Festival. Achievement First Bushwick Middle finds creative ways to recognize and reward achievement. Students participate in Scholar Dollar auctions in which all items are focused on “quality time” with teachers.

School Leader

Amy D'Angelo is the prinicpal of Achievement First Bushwick Middle School. As a teacher and school leader, she has been driven by her passion for equity in public education and her firm belief that all children can learn and achieve excellence. Ms. D'Angelo joined Achievement First in 2006 as the academic dean at Achievement First Crown Heights Middle. Prior to working with Achievement First, she was selected as a resident principal of the New Leaders for New Schools program and served as a school administrator in Jamaica, Queens. With a strong foundation teaching sixth and seventh grade in Bushwick, she also taught new teachers of the Teach For America and NYC Teaching Fellows programs through Pace University, as well as adult English language learners in the Teachers College Community English Program. In 2004, Ms. D'Angelo received the Outstanding Achievement award for her teaching success from Pace University. In addition to her range of teaching experiences, she also worked for four years in business at McKinsey and Company. Ms. D'Angelo earned an M.S. in educational leadership and an M.S. in teaching from Pace University, an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University and a B.A. with honors from Binghamton University.