NYC Small High School Reforms Boost Student Performance

A report examining the first group of new small high schools in New York City that opened four years ago finds that the schools are making significant progress with impressive graduation rates. According to “Rethinking High School: Inaugural Graduations at New York City’s New High Schools,” these small schools are beating the odds with graduation rates that are 20 percentage points higher than the citywide rate.

The average graduation rate for the sample schools was 79%, in contrast to the citywide average of 58%. The report also found that 81% of the seniors at the new schools applied to college, and of those who applied, 85% were accepted to two or four-year institutions. Those rates were achieved despite the fact that over 80% of the schools’ graduates did not meet New York State standards in English and Math when they entered ninth grade.

The report, developed by WestEd, a non-profit education research, development and service organization, and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, examined preliminary data from 14 new small high schools that opened in September 2002 as part of the Children First reform agenda implemented by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein and the New Century High Schools Initiative, which is funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Open Society Institute, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"Our research shows that these new schools are doing exactly what they set out to do," said Tracy Huebner, a senior research associate at WestEd and the report's principal author. "These schools show that a culture of high expectations, rigorous academics, and individualized attention accompanied by the appropriate supports help students to succeed in their secondary education."

The schools surveyed also had higher attendance and ninth-grade promotion rates, two predictors of graduation rates, according to WestEd. The most recent data available indicate that the average attendance rate at the 14 new schools was 89% in 2004-05. The ninth-grade promotion rate across the featured schools was 92% in the same year and 91% in 2005-06, according to the report.

Each of the 14 schools examined had successfully created a “college-going” culture through academic programs that emphasize the new “3 Rs” – rigor, relevance and relationships. For example, the schools provide increased access to advanced courses, better preparation for Regents exams, and extra support to help struggling students catch up; connect curricula to students’ personal experiences, contemporary issues and career opportunities; and encourage strong relationships between teachers, students and their families to give students more individualized attention and to enable their families to support them.

“The results in this report reflect four years of hard work and dedication on the part of the schools’ teachers, principals and partners, as well as students and their families,” said Robert L. Hughes, President of New Visions for Public Schools, which created, together with the New York City Department of Education, the United Federation of Teachers, and the Council of Supervisors and Administrators, the schools featured in the report as well as many of the other new small schools in New York City. “The challenge for New Visions and for other partners engaged in school reform is to apply the lessons learned here across all schools, both new and old, to ensure that more students reach higher levels of personal and academic achievement.”

To date, the New York City Department of Education, in partnership with local and national school developers, including New Visions, the College Board, ISA, Urban Assembly, and the Internationals Network for Public Schools, has created 197 new small secondary schools, 47 of which will graduate classes this June.

The WestEd researchers recommended that concrete steps be taken to “scale up” and expand the new schools work so that it can be sustained. The report’s recommendations include: aligning K-8 reforms with high school improvement strategies, expanding rigorous course offerings through partnerships or online learning, addressing enrollment and space challenges, applying the lessons of small schools to broader secondary reform, and tracking students after graduation.

The WestEd report can be found at http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/gf-07-01.pdf

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