Theory of Change
Christina Seix Academy is a community centered ecosystem that directly challenges the forces driving poverty — systemic barriers limiting upward mobility, power, the ability to control one’s actions, and a sense of belonging. Our school prioritizes education, family empowerment, and community. It celebrates the strengths of diversity and culture, instead of clinging to narrowness and exclusion.
Pre-K to 8th Grade
Christina Seix Academy, located in Trenton, N.J., serves 230 students from pre-K to 8th grade, mostly Black and Brown, 80 graduate students, and more than 100 families. Almost all our students have experienced challenges no child should have to face.
Through social capital development — fostering networks, norms, and trust — CSA also provides students and families the tools and networks necessary for long-term, intergenerational sustainability, mobility, and overall success.
CSA’s collaborative approach works at multiple levels. It bonds with similar groups and bridges gaps with diverse groups, while always focused on its students and their families.
Starting Early to Ensure Later Success
CSA prepares students who come from single-parent families to succeed through three key stages.
Students join CSA for Early Childhood at age three, in recognition that the early years up to 3rd grade are critical determinants of future success.
They enter Lower School in the first grade. From pre-K through 3rd grade, they attend school on weekdays and join in school activities on weekends.
By Middle School, 4th through 8th graders, most students board at CSA most of the week and go home to their families each weekend.
Measures of Success
We provide our students with the critical resources to become successful adults and pay their opportunities forward to help others.
100%
High School placement
100% of CSA 8th graders who applied to independent day and boarding high schools were accepted.
96%
Four-Year college enrollment
Among CSA's inaugural Class of 2021 graduates.
35%
of CSA graduates take AP or honors courses
while in high school and beyond.
66%
of CSA graduates make the honor roll
during their high school careers.
20%
of CSA graduates earn straight A's
during their high school careers.
80%
of CSA alumni participate in or lead affinity groups
in high school.
68%
of CSA 8th graders scored in the 30th percentile or above on the Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE).
ISEE is used by many of the nation’s independent and magnet schools.
78%
of CSA's 7th grade students achieved 78% proficiency in both math and literacy benchmark assessments.
Math (GMADE benchmark assessment)
Literacy (Gates McGinitie benchmark assessment)