Achievement First is a charter management organization (CMO) that operates 17 K-12 schools in New York and Connecticut. Achievement First works to close the achievement gap for black and white students by providing a high-quality education to students in low-performing urban districts, having initially started with Amistad Academy in New Haven and then moved to Hartford and Bridgeport, in Connecticut, and New York City. Achievement First was recognized for its impressive achievements: two K-12 schools reaching the top 4 percent of New York City schools in the Department of Education's 2008 Progress Reports and Achievement's top middle school First which ranked first in the region in 2008. reading and writing. They do this by setting high expectations and ambitious goals with a challenging curriculum, developing teachers and school leaders, focusing on data, increasing the length of the school day, and creating a strong school culture. Like other CMOs, a big challenge for Achievement First is scalability, particularly recruiting and developing effective leaders and teachers. Achievement First sets high standards for academics and character. It requires school uniforms and sees state tests as the “floor, not the ceiling” on the path to college readiness. Simple changes, like referring to kindergartners as the “class of” and the year they graduate from college, help Achievement First foster a college-ready culture. One way to achieve high achievement and meet high expectations is to increase the amount of time spent in the classroom. Results First students spend approximately two hours more per day in school than public school students and attend a 15-day summer academy. T...... middle of paper ......g 17 schools in four cities in two states. The organization's goal is to produce college-ready graduates from low-income and traditionally low-achieving urban districts. Schools use a model aimed at closing the achievement gap by lengthening the school day, identifying the best human capital, and using data to guide instruction, while building student character and modeling students' lifelong learning behaviors. At this point, or about seven years of the Achievement First network's operation, schools have managed to significantly increase test scores and have much higher-than-average graduation rates. Achievement First's biggest challenge, as with many other CMOs, is growth and there are several parties involved in this, including teacher and leader development, budget concerns, and maintaining high achievement with a student base wider.