Academy Prep of Tampa, now in its second year, enrolls students in 5th and 6th grade, with a full enrollment of approximately 120 5th through 8th graders expected for the 2006-2007 academic year. What has occurred on this beautiful Ybor City campus in the past 15 months is nothing short of spectacular.

When our inaugural 5th grade was tested in September 2003, as a class the students averaged a 4th grade, 4th month level in reading and a 4th grade, 8th month level in math. We just received our Stanford-9 test scores from last month's test, and this same class (now 6th graders) is averaging 7th grade, 5th month level in reading and 8th grade, 9th month level in math (the 72nd national percentile). The fact these economically disadvantaged minority children are almost in the top quarter of all 6th grade children in math is astounding.

Our new 5th grade students have (not surprisingly) scored below grade level in reading and math. There isn't a doubt in my mind that next year we will be reporting spectacular increases for these students as well.

And if this is not enough, our average daily attendance rate, including the mandatory Saturday field trips, is 97.7%. The Hillsborough County public middle school with the highest average daily attendance rate for the 2003-2004 school year had a rate of 97.6%, and I can assure you that the demographics of that school's (Martinez Middle School) student body are far different than those of Academy Prep of Tampa.

And if success with attendance is not enough, in just the first three months of this school year our 54 parents have put in over 900 hours of unpaid service to Academy Prep. Who says economically disadvantaged black and Hispanic families do not contribute their time and effort to schools?

We are proud of the achievements forged from the hard work of our students, their families, and what I consider to be the best teaching staff in the entire Tampa Bay area, if not the state. We invite the general public to visit this wonderful school to see for themselves what makes this place so special.