In 2012 I moved from Mississippi to New York City to teach at a charter elementary school in Harlem. My 27 fifth grade students had reading levels ranging from third to eighth grade. They grew up speaking 14 different languages in their homes, which were scattered from the far reaches of Brooklyn to the South Bronx. I had spoken word poets, Lego masters, dancers, and chess fiends. One gave me a hug every hour, on the hour. Others had to be coaxed into speaking.

After serving on the New York City Council, Eva Moskowitz became convinced that she could have the greatest impact on public education by starting charter schools. Moskowitz founded Success Academies in 2006; and today Success Academies has 22 charter schools serving almost 7.000 elementary and middle school students. Under Eva

“But what did you do with us over the summer?” I was pleading with my mom, trying to figure out how she and Dad could afford to keep my sister and me occupied for the months of summer vacation.

Success Academy Charter Schools announced today that it is submitting applications to SUNY Charter Schools Institute to establish 14 new public charter schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens. Community demand for these high-performing schools reached an all time high this year, with more than 14.400 families applying for fewer than 3.000 open seats.

Chess is part of the curriculum in the Success Academy charter school network, and these young players are among the best.

Sixty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court created mass disruption in public education with its Brown v. Board of Education ruling. No more, the court said, could states discriminate against African-American children with government-sponsored segregation policies.

A kindergarten through third-grade team of seven from Success Academy’s Upper West Side charter school won in their beginner section for the U.S. Chess Federation national championship.

At Success Academy Charter Schools in New York City, whose students significantly outperform most peers statewide, the youngest kids all learn and play chess, in part because it hones

Campbell Brown, a Success Academy Charter Schools board member, and Nina Rees, CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, discuss the growing support for charter schools with Trish Regan on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart.”