Amber Charter School was founded in September 2000. Sponsored by Community Association of Progressive Dominicans/Asociación Comunal de Dominicanos Progresistas (ACDP, an NCLR affiliate), Amber is New York City’s first charter school founded by a minority community-based organization. Designed to reverse inner-city school failure and to educate leaders for the diverse city and world, Amber prepares all students to meet New York State Learning Standards at high levels of achievement while becoming fluent in both English and Spanish. Amber Charter School offers a challenging curriculum based on the idea that children learn best through engaging in meaningful and purposeful work. The arts are integrated into the curriculum. Assessment is closely tied to instruction. Portfolios of students’ work are developed and analyzed by students and faculty. Individual needs are given great attention to ensure that no student falls through the cracks. Parents are deeply involved in children’s education, both in their own child’s learning and through participation in school governance. Amber utilizes a “partial-immersion” model of language instruction in which all children are immersed 50% of the time in English-language classes and 50% of the time in Spanish-language classes, beginning in kindergarten. This has been shown to be an effective way to teach English and to teach English-speaking children a second language from an early age.