Robert Treat Academy Recognized As High-Performing Rewards School

The Robert Treat Academy Charter School in Newark was designated as a “High-Performing Rewards School,” for the 2013-14 school year by the state Department of Education.

In recognition of the K-8 school’s status as an “exemplar of Title I schools,” the DOE awarded the school with a $52,025 Title I School Rewards Grant that can be used to sustain and enhance the school’s Title I program.

“We are certainly pleased to be recognized for the third year in a row as a high performing rewards school by the state,” said Principal Theresa Adubato. “It is quite an honor to be held out an as exemplar school. This is a testament to all the hard work by our staff and our students.”

In order to receive the designation, Robert Treat had to meet three specific criteria: adequate yearly progress for the last three school years for all students and subgroups, a proficiency rate above 90 percent for all students and a proficiency rate in the top 10 percent of performance for each eligible subgroup. Robert Treat was only one of 89 schools in the state, and 11 in Essex County, to receive the recognition.

Assistant Education Commissioner Susan Martz, who heads the Division of Student Services and Career Readiness, commended Robert Treat and its stakeholders in a July 14 letter for “their efforts to employ strategies that are supporting effective teaching and promoting learning for all students.”

Robert Treat Academy, founded in 1997 by The North Ward Center, was named a national Blue Ribbon School in 2008. It was featured on the U.S. Department of Education’s web site as a “high performing, high poverty” school.

This year, the school graduated it’s tenth class, with students earning more than $3 million in scholarships to continue their education at the nation’s most prestigious private prep schools and day schools.

Robert Treat will serve 625 students in the upcoming school year on two campuses in Newark’s North and Central wards. The school has a longer school day and school year than most public schools in the state. Many of its students continue their education during the summer by attending the Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth.

Adrianne Davis, the executive director and co-founder of The North Ward Center, said the recognition from the state is further proof that Robert Treat is on the right track.

“I am particularly proud that we were recognized for promoting learning for all students,” said Davis, who is also the vice president of the Robert Treat Academy Board of Trustees. “Nobody at Robert Treat gets left behind because we have high expectations for every single one of our students.”

Stephen N. Adubato, who founded The North Ward Center and was the driving force behind Robert Treat Academy, said the school continues to prove that Newark students are capable of learning.

“When we founded Robert Treat Academy, our goal was to prove that children in Newark could not only learn, but excel,” Adubato said. “Robert Treat’s designation as a high performing rewards school is proof that it’s possible for urban kids to do well.”