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Colts Neck High School Principal Dan Simon will head College Achieve Greater Asbury Park Charter School, set to open this fall.

Simon was principal at High Technology when it garnered the number one STEM High School accolade in the nation from U.S. News & World Report.

Simon, who began his career as an East Brunswick math teacher, will serve as executive director and principal.

“As executive director and principal, I will focus on building a strong, cohesive and collaborative team at College Achieve Greater Asbury Park that is focused on our mission to prepare every one of our students to succeed in college,” Simon said. “We have an incredible opportunity to impact Asbury Park through College Achieve, which uses a model that has a proven track record of success and has changed thousands of students’ lives. I truly believe that when Asbury Park succeeds, so does Monmouth County and the entire state of New Jersey.”

The Monmouth County resident’s approach to education is one founded on the belief that student success is a team effort and depends on creating a strong and supportive environment.

“As an educator, you get to the point where you recognize that to truly make a difference, you have to surround yourself with a highly effective team of teachers, staff and administrators,” he said.

During his four years at Colts Neck High School, Simon helped grow student participation in Advanced Placement [AP] exams by 27 percent.

Simon received his B.A. in mathematics from the University of Dayton and minored theater arts.  He earned a master’s degree from The College of New Jersey and an M.A. in Educational Leadership from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

He had a brief stint as the Superintendent of Wall Township Schools, and has served as an adjunct professor for a number of colleges and universities. He currently teaches a mathematics course at Brookdale Community College.

Simon has six children with his wife Linda and recently welcomed their first grandchild to the family.

The College Achieve Public Schools, are a tuition-free network of schools that aim to produce students who will go on to graduate from top colleges and universities across the nation, officials have said. Their curriculum is based on the Toulmin College Writing Model and will emphasize science, technology, engineering, arts, and math education.

Enrollment is now open for the pre-K through 9 charter school; with 276 students being accepted for kindergarten, first,  fifth, and sixth grades. The school is expected to grow to over 1,000 students by 2020.

The yet to be identified campus will serve students in Asbury Park,  Neptune Township and surrounding areas, officials said. The local campus will be College Achieves third charter school, with other branches in the Plainfield area.

The charter school’s’ students will study science five hours a week, well above the national average of 2.2 hours for K-6 schools. This will amount to over 100 additional hours of science instruction per year and more than 1,700 hours by the ninth grade, officials said. The increased STEM education focus aims to prepare students for careers in science, technology, engineering, medicine and mathematics, officials said.

Through the Toulmin College Writing Program, a model used by the top private schools, students will be asked to not only read and understand literature but to engage deeply with issues prior to making an argument, which they must then develop and defend.

College Achieve Public Schools was founded in 2013. In its first year, its Central Charter School nearly closed the achievement gap in 6th grade math for both Latino and African-American students, officials said. For more information, visit collegeachieve.org. For more about enrollment, click here.  

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