Eva Moskowitz, CEO & Founder of Success Academy, joins ChedHER to discuss how she went from a career in politics to becoming a CEO in the education industry, and all the ways she's working to close the gaps in education to help students thrive.

Success Academy CEO on the State of Education

to our first guest who was on a mission to reform the education system as we know it. Success Academy currently operates nearly 50 public charter schools in new york city, helping thousands of Children fulfill their academic potential. And joining us now is Eva Moskowitz Ceo and founder of Success Academy Eva welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me absolutely. So glad to have you here on the floor of the new york stock Exchange. You know, before this, you were a politician focused on educational policy. Can you tell us what that transition has been like as you transition from politics to the actual world of education here? Well, I've always cared deeply about kids and whether it's within the realm of government or as a leader in the charter sector, I've always wanted to for kids to have access to excellent education. Very important as you're in this leadership position of course to uh and you know, how would you describe your leadership style? Well, I would say that there are a few things that are really critical. First of all, being a captain of conviction, you have to believe that kids can, and in America, we suffer a lot from the bigotry of low expectations. So being captain of conviction is really important. I would say, second of all its urgency, this is an urgent problem that we have to solve quickly because millions of Children are falling through the cracks. And then I would say third is really my drive for excellence. It's not enough to be pretty good. We have to be extraordinarily good and present for Children. I do want to ask to considering your former profession, were there any lessons that you learned in politics that you were able to transfer into this new career? Yeah, I mean, government is actually very important for the work that I do. Education unfortunately is a fairly political endeavor shouldn't be, but it is. And so all the ways in which government can positively or negatively impact Children has been very, very useful in my journey. Educating 20,000 kids, K to 12, very, very well well. And of course you are the Ceo and founder of Success Academy. So I have to ask you, how do you define success? I really define success as making the world more inclusive and equitable for Children who are often left out of the equation, 94% of our kids are black and brown and um many of them live in difficult circumstances and yet they should have the same access to opportunity that an affluent child has. So getting them that opportunity. There are many statistics. I could cite from state test to ap scores to S. A. T. S. But I think the staff that I'm most proud of is for our first five graduating classes from high school, 100% of our kids have been admitted to college. Many of them quite selective colleges. You mentioned some of the shortcomings of the education system here. So I want to talk a little bit more about that. You know, Success Academy has, you know, 50 schools uh you know, employs hundreds of teachers and professionals. So what gaps in that education process are you looking to close? Well? Um so many kids unfortunately um can't read. Even if you look at here in new york city, um 21% of black and brown kids failed, you know, tests that's one in five Children at success, 80% of our Children are facing the math test for example. So we are looking to ensure that kids are totally proficient in reading writing arithmetic. It's not that complicated, but it's complicated to achieve. And of course we know Eva that the pandemic really set back those benchmarks when we're talking about mass skills, literacy skills. So how do we get back to a place where we were pre pandemic or go even higher than that in terms of those important metrics? And I think it's important to remember Chloe that things were not so great pre pandemic for our poorest kids or for America at large. So you're absolutely right. It's not just about getting back to where we were, it's catching up with other countries around the world, but we have to get back to some pretty basic achievements. Every child needs to learn how to read and read well. And that includes a combination of phonics and access to lots of literature. We've been able to teach Children for years to read for most of America's history. So we know how to do it. It's really a question do we have the political will to ensure that every child in America reads well and loves to read back there, circling back to politics again. Of course I do want to ask what's next for success? What do you have planned for the academy? Well, there are so many Children in need that we want to get to 100 schools educating 50,000 kids, which would make us about the size of the Atlanta or boston school system, not only to offer an excellent education but actually to prove to our country that we can do better and we must do better. We can't have a fair, well educated society citizens and a society unless we improve the academic outcomes of our Children. Thank you so much for your time and for joining us today here on cheddar news. That's even Moskowitz Ceo and founder of Success Academy