State Renews Charter for College Achieve Paterson Charter School

Paterson, N.J.—The state has granted College Achieve Paterson Charter School a five-year renewal, allowing the school to expand to the 12th grade by the 2023-2024 school year, school officials announced today. The school currently offers grades K-9, but the state approval will allow the school to add a grade level each year. The popular Paterson charter school currently has a waiting list of 398 students.

“We’re thankful for the state for supporting the choice families made to enroll at our schools in Paterson, and for allowing us the opportunity to fulfill the promise we’ve made to our community that we will offer students a path to and through college,” said Michael D. Piscal, founder and CEO of College Achieve Public Schools. “Our students are demonstrating enormous growth in student achievement and at an incredibly fast rate. But we’re all going to have to work hard—students, teachers and families—to make sure our kids are going to excel in and graduate from college. This renewal now makes it possible.”

College Achieve Paterson serves students that come to them one to four years behind grade level. But in just one year, the school improved from the 8th to the 60th percentile in ESSA (2017-18 to the 2018-19 school year).

“We have made a promise to our students and to our parents that we are going to provide them with the best of what we know about education. Our students are learning to read and think critically, write persuasive college level essays, and break through the gateway subject of Algebra and excel in math to the level of Calculus,” said Gemar Mills, executive director and co-founder of College Achieve Paterson Charter School. “Our mission is to prepare our scholars to excel in and graduate from top colleges and universities, and this decision by the state of New Jersey is going to allow us to do just that.”

Internal assessments show scholars at College Achieve Paterson continuing to progress academically during Covid. While schools across the nation struggled to keep students engaged in school, College Achieve Paterson maintained an average daily attendance rate of 92 percent. If a student did not attend school, leaders immediately reached out to family members.

College Achieve Paterson currently offers full remote learning or a hybrid learning option in a move designed to offer families much needed choices and to protect vulnerable students while also providing a safe learning environment during the ongoing public health crisis.

College Achieve Public Schools (CAPS) is a network of K-12 schools in Paterson, Plainfield, Asbury Park, and Neptune Township that was created to serve youth who have enormous potential but limited resources. Its mission is to prepare all students to excel in and graduate from the top colleges and universities in the nation.