Every eighth-grader at Success Academy Harlem West Middle School passed the Advanced Placement World History exam, a rigorous test usually administered to high school students.
Of the 47 eighth graders, 89% scored a 4 or 5, the highest possible scores on the exam, while the remaining 11% achieved a passing score of 3. The exam covers world history from 1200 to the present day and includes multiple-choice questions and essay responses that require critical thinking and deep content knowledge.
Luke Mitchell, a history teacher at the school, expressed pride in his students' achievement. He noted that approximately 77% of his students come from low-income families, with 70% identifying as Black and 28% as Hispanic.
Hunter Tittle, a 14-year-old who will attend Success Academy's high school next fall, called scoring a 5 on the exam as an eighth-grader one of his life's biggest accomplishments. He stated that the experience reinforced his belief in his ability to succeed and expressed gratitude to his teacher for instilling a strong work ethic.
Success Academy, a network of charter schools, has a curriculum that begins its world history studies in the fifth grade. The network mandates that all students take 18 to 20 Advanced Placement exams before graduation, including AP Calculus, AP Biology, AP Macroeconomics, AP Literature, AP U.S. History, and AP Art History.
In May, over 3,000 Success Academy students took nearly 8,000 AP exams across various subjects, with testing held at the Javits Center in Manhattan due to the large number of participants. The school network reported that 70% of the 1,200 eighth graders who took the AP World History exam earned a passing score.
Success Academy's founder and CEO, Eva Moskowitz, stated that the results demonstrate what can be achieved when perseverance overcomes educational skepticism. The charter school network also reported exceeding global passing rates in nine subject areas, with a majority of students achieving high scores of 4 or 5 on exams like AP Calculus, where their passing rate of 61% was slightly below the global average but their rate of top scores was higher.
Nationally, fewer than 25% of high school students pass at least one AP exam by graduation. In New York City, Black and Hispanic students represented 13.4% and 19.6%, respectively, of those who passed at least one AP exam last year. Success Academy highlighted that 95% of its high school graduating Class of 2026, largely composed of low-income students of color, passed three or more AP exams by the time they graduate, with 60% passing seven or more.