Collegiate counseling and SAT preparation were once services that only the wealthiest of students could afford. Now, as a result of a partnership forged by two motivated educators, that is no longer a reality for students at Manhattan Hunter Science High School.
Principal Susan Kreisman and Scott Farber, President of A List Education, created a class at Manhattan Hunter called College Prep that meets during school every other day. During that time the school’s juniors receive SAT and ACT preparation from teachers who use A List’s methods.
Last year, the improvements from students’ PSAT to SAT scores at Manhattan Hunter were double the national average.
“Our mission is to take youngsters who are average, or a little less than average, academically and by dint of great teaching and great preparation make them both college ready and college successful,” said Kreisman.
“We, of course, being a city school had very little in the way of funding that we could offer and Scott’s commitment was such that he said, ‘We are going to make this happen,’” she said.
Farber, who would not have been able to attend Harvard without the scholarship he earned, founded A List so that he could help level the playing field.
“For me it seemed absolutely criminal that if you look at education as this equality of opportunity, it just isn’t equal,” he said.
Of the partnership Kreisman said, “One can only imagine how much further kids could go if we could provide them with more.”
