(WBIR - KNOXVILLE) Numbers show students who attend Knoxville's inner city schools are less likely to see academic success than their counterparts at suburban schools.
The ACT scores from the 2013-14 school year tell the story. One percent of urban high school students at Austin-East and Fulton High Schools scored a 27 or higher on the ACT.
At the top performing Knox County schools-- Bearden High, Farragut High, and Hardin Valley Academy-- 29 percent scored a 27 or higher.
The average ACT score for freshmen entering the University of Tennessee is 27.
Emerald Academy, Knox County's first charter school, wants to close the gap. The teachers and administrators are using the charter school model: aggressive academics, structure, and a focus on the future.
Seven weeks into their first school year, they say the 120 inner-city kindergartners and first-graders are responding well.
"We do homework every night. He has math, writing, and, of course, his sight words. He does them every night," said parent Catrice Tate.
Her son, Karlton, is in kindergarten. She was a little surprised at first about the work load because her second-grade daughter, who attends traditional school, rarely has homework.
But she says, the reason she signed Karlton up for Emerald Academy, is because she wanted him to be challenged.
"He can know, it's OK to be smart, it's OK to be a scholar. And that's what he is, he's a scholar," said Catrice.
Emerald Academy uses college labels for everything - students are "scholars," the cafeteria "a dining hall," the administrators "deans."
"We talk about college in here all the time. In order to achieve college, you first have to start here. Your college career starts right now. The first day you walk in that classroom," said Karlton's teacher, Tabitha Maynard.
Her class is named Harvard University and a banner that reads "Class of 2028" is above the door. Each of the school's four classes are named after colleges.
Maynard says it encourages the students to be responsible and understand what they're working toward.
Each class has two full-time, certified teachers. They focus on small group lessons and one-on-one interventions. The curriculum is rigorous but that's because they have big goals for their students: They want all students reading at or above grade level and they want to become a top 5 percent school in the state in the first 10 years.
"We hold our students to, 'You're going to come out (of kindergarten) on a first-grade level. You're going to be ready to hit first grade head on," said Maynard.
Catrice is excited her son wants to do his homework each night. During an interview with 10News, Karlton even said, "Homework is fun."
Sometimes his homework is more difficult than what his sister in second grade sees at a traditional school, his mom said.
Emerald Academy started with two classes of kindergarten and first-graders this year and it plans to grow with those students through the eighth grade.
The school operates on a longer school calendar and school day.
