Here's the 'secret sauce' this Paterson charter school used to boost its test scores

PATERSON — Students at the College Achieve charter schools in Paterson get to go home 90 minutes early every Friday afternoon.

But their teachers must stick around for another two hours for weekly training sessions.

That focus on developing staff members’ teaching skills is one of the factors that College Achieve officials say helped their schools achieve a substantial increase in student test scores made public earlier this month.

College Achieve went from having 40.8% of its students pass the state’s language arts test in 2021-22 to 61.3% in 2022-23, a jump that allowed the schools to surpass the statewide average of 51.3%.

In math, College Achieve saw its passing percentage rise from 14.1% to 27.7%. That rate was lower than the New Jersey average of 38.2%, but it exceeded those for 37 other schools operating in Paterson, including 17 that had fewer than 10% of their children pass the math test,

“I think it’s a good sign that College Achieve has the right formula for educating Paterson kids in a successful way,” said Bob Guarasci, president of the trade group composed of the seven charter schools operating in the city.

“Gemar Mills has found the secret sauce for academic success in Paterson,” Guarasci added, referring to the man who founded the College Achieve campus in Paterson and serves as its executive director.

How did College Achieve improve its scores?

Mills said the jump in test scores reflected the cumulative impact of academic programs College Achieve has implemented for years. In addition to the Friday training sessions, College Achieve teachers spent 10 days in August in sessions designed to develop their professional skills, he said.

The summer training focuses on preparing educators for handling classrooms in which students break down in small groups for something called differentiated instruction, essentially tailoring assignments to pupils’ various academic levels.

Mills also cited an intervention program that assigns a second teacher to some classes, an educator who focuses on students who need extra help. On top of all that, the College Achieve founder said the school has increased from two to three hours the amount of language arts instruction provided each day to its K through 9 students.

“Teaching the scholars to read and write at an early age is significant,” said Mills. “Not being able to read and write will put you in a position where your only answer for functioning in society is likely to be criminal activity.”

Several parents of College Achieve students said they were not surprised by the school’s rising test scores.

“They definitely focus on academic achievement,” said Travell Zimmerman, whose daughter is in the fourth grade.

Zimmerman's daughter, Journey Lattimore, had attended the regular district’s School 17 until it closed a few years ago. Journey’s scores have improved steadily at her new school, helped by College Achieve’s tutoring program, said her mother.

Another parent, Davetta Ford, said the charter gets its students thinking about going to college starting when they are in kindergarten. Ford noted that classes bear the names of various prestigious universities and that her 9-year-old, Drew Lang, is at the “Cornell University” room.

“They plant the idea of college in their minds at an early age,” Ford said.

Another factor that drew Ford to College Achieve was what she described as the diverse cultural make of the school’s teaching and administrative staff.

Theodore Best, a former Paterson Board of Education president who now does work for statewide and local charter school groups, said College Achieve is led by people who come from the city and “understand the population.”

“There’s a culture of high expectations,” Best said of College Achieve, “despite the circumstances the kids come from.”

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Ongoing tensions about resources for charters, public schools go on

For many years in Paterson, there’s been tension between advocates for charter schools and people who profess their loyalties to the schools run by the city’s Board of Education.

The Paterson district’s supporters complain that the charters are siphoning off funds from the school board and do not get as many students with special needs and language barriers, youngsters whose instruction tends to cost more because they need extra services.

Recent reports issued by the New Jersey education department say 16% of the students in the Paterson district had disabilities and 29.3% had English language difficulties. In comparison, the state reports showed that at College Achieve, 5% of students had disabilities and 10.6% had language barrier issues.

But the charter advocates maintain they have open enrollment policies that allow any student to go to those schools. The charter supporters point out that the funding those schools get from the Board of Education is tied to the number of students who attend those programs.

The recent state reports said College Achieve spends $21,184 per student, compared to $22,132 per pupil in the regular district.

The charter schools in Paterson have a combined waiting list of 3,600 students, a number that may count some children multiple times if they are signed up for slots in several schools, Best said.

College Achieve — with a current enrolment of 1,481 for elementary, middle, and high schools — has a waiting list of about 800 children, Mills said. Every year, the school conducts an electronic lottery for its openings.

Ford recalled when her daughter applied, she waited anxiously to see her name come up on the screen during the lottery. As other children were getting picked, Ford said she started thinking about moving to another town if her child didn’t get a slot.

“It was such a big relief when I saw her name,” Ford said.

College Achieve is in the process of a multi-year expansion plan that would double its enrolment by 2030-31.

“We remain committed to disrupting the cycle of poverty through education, ensuring that every student can reach their full potential,” said Mills of the expansion plan.

Guarasci, from the charter school trade group, said College Achieve’s improved test scores will make it easy for Mills to fill the additional 1,500 slots on the drawing board. “If you achieve academically, the students will come,” said Guarasci.

Best said the growth of charters won’t hurt schools run by the Board of Education. Those schools, Best said, already are overcrowded and many are in substandard buildings.

“If the charters don’t grow, the class sizes (in the regular district) will become a problem,” Best said. “This will actually help the school district.”

College Achieve has plenty of educators who used to work in the Paterson district, including Jaimie Phillips, principal of College Achieve’s elementary school. Phillips on Thursday showed one of her fifth-grade language arts classes to visiting journalists.

The teacher, Ezera Washington, was working with one group of about 11 students as they answered questions about a story they had read, “Archie Smith, Boy Wonder.” A second group of seven children were busy writing about the “Archie Smith” story without their teacher’s direct supervision. In another part of the room, five students were doing a separate assignment using laptops.

“My second group, get ready, I’m coming to you in two minutes,” Washington announced as the children she was addressing barely looked up from their work.

As the language arts period neared its end, Washington engaged in a countdown, giving her students a reminder — such as packing their books and making sure their sneakers were tied — as she said each number.

Washington stood at the door and blew the children a kiss before they left.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com