JUNE 2012 UPDATE: Harlem Success 4 moved into the PS 241 building at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year. The building is shared with the STEM Institute (PS 241) and Opportunity Charter. An article by a Columbia University reporter details the space crunch in the shared building.l

SEPTEMBER 2008 REVIEW: Harlem Success Academy 4 opened in the fall of 2008 with a kindergarten and first grade class, based on the flagship Harlem Success Academy, which opened in 2006. Each Harlem Success school combines an intense academic program with mandatory parental involvement. Students spend 100 minutes a day in small groups-based on level rather than grade-working on math, reading, and writing through the Success for All curriculum. The school day is extended, lasting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and then parents are required to read with their children in the evening. If a student arrives late during the week, parents and child must show up together for Saturday school. Students have hands-on science class everyday and are taught geography, writing, social studies, chess, arts, and sports, according to administrators.

College graduation is emphasized, even with the youngest students. Each grade is referred to by the year they will graduate from college and each class is known by the name of the teacher's college. Each Harlem Success Academy opens with a kindergarten and 1st grade and will expand by one grade each year until they serve kindergarten through 8th graders.

Mitch Center, the principal of Harlem Success Academy 4, has taught at P.S. 172 and P.S. 124. As part of New Leaders for New Schools, he spent a year in a principal's residency at P.S. 3 and for the past two years he has worked at the flagship Harlem Success Academy as assistant principal.

In addition to Harlem Success 3, Harlem Success Academy 2 and Harlem Success Academy 4 also opened in Sept. 2008. The Success Charter Network-led by Eva Moskowitz, a former chair of the City Council's education committee-sponsors all of the Harlem Success schools. The network conducts extensive student recruitment campaign, including mailing brochures, leaving flyers in building complexes and local businesses, and hosting information sessions at day care centers. The response has been substantial; there were 3,600 applicants for the 600 available places at Success Academies in the fall of the 2008. To answer the demand, the Success Charter Network plans to open 40 schools in the city during the next decade.

Special Education: Special Education Teacher Support Services (SETSS), occupational therapy, and speech therapy are all offered.

Admissions: Application and lottery, with preference given to students in the district and siblings of current students. (Lindsey Whitton Christ, September 2008)