Monday, November 20, 2017

The Disconnect Between Graduation Rates And College Readiness - 2017



























We all know that principals can and do manipulate the graduation rate.   Credit recovery, grade changing, administration pressure on teachers, and school scholarship requirements (80% or more passing per class) or a combination of them all.  The result is an artificially bogus graduation rate as far too many schools graduate students unprepared for the real world.  Therefore, to determine if  unscreened Queens high schools are really diploma mills or truly giving their students a real world class education, I have developed the annual metric for the 2016-17 school year that takes the graduation rate and divides it by the "college and career readiness rate"  as defined by New York City  The New York State rates are lower..

High schools that have a ratio below "1.5" are in blue and giving their students a world class education while high schools with ratios greater than "2" are listed in red and yellow and are simply diploma mills. Parents should make sure their academically achieving students should stay away from them.  This year's metric was lowered since the Algebra Regents rubric and cut scores was made easier to achieve higher grades and the English Regents was found also to be easier than previous years.  It appears the "college ready" scores went up by an average of between ten and fifteen points, primarily due to the lower cut scores in Math and an easier test in English.

The list is based on the 2016-17 school year.

School...........................Graduation Rate.....College Ready

Cambria Heights Academy........86%.....................27% 
Academy of Medical Tech..........73%.....................27% 
Fredrick Douglas Academy VI....47%.....................13%
QIRT.........................................81%.....................25%
Rockaway Park.........................72%.....................16%
Humanities and Arts.................68%.....................19%
August Martin...........................63%....................20% 
Rockaway Collegiate.................66%....................23% 
Martin Van Buren......................61%....................31%
 Flushing..................................60%....................22%
Pathways College.......'.............66%....................26%
Hillside Arts & Letters...............84%....................36%
Law Enforcement.....................80%....................20%
Science, Research, and Tech.....71%....................26%
Excelsior Prep..........................71%....................25% 
 George Washington Carver......78%...................35%
 John Adams............................71%...................32%
Newtown.................................71%....................36%
Queens Prep...........................70%....................36%
Channel View..........................93%....................55% 

Grover Cleveland.....................63%....................32% 
 R
ichmond Hill..........................69%...................38%
Long Island City.......................66% ..................37%
John Bowne............................77%....................40%
Applied Communications.........82%....................42%
Robert  H. Goddard..................93%....................56%
Hillcrest..................................73%....................38%
Queens HS of Teaching............91%....................51%
Writers Academy.....................90%....................51%
Information & Technology.......84%....................46%
Community Leadership............91%....................47%
Queens Collegiate...................80%....................51%
Robert F. Kennedy...................81%....................47% 
Arts And Business...................90%....................59% 
William Cullen Bryant..............72%....................49%
 Queens Vocational..................84%....................54%
 TV & Media.............................98%....................63%
Metropolitan HS......................86%....................68% 
Middle College HS...................73%.....................56%
World Journalism....................97%....................61%
Robert Wagner........................93%....................66%
Civic Leadership......................96%...................66% 
Maspeth HS............................98%....................63%
Forest Hills.............................88%...................71%
Bayside..................................97%...................78%
East-West...............................93%...................72%
Cardozo..................................91%...................72%
Thomas Edison........................89%...................70%
Francis Lewis..........................89%...................78%
Finance & Enterprise...............97%...................84% 


 The citywide "college ready" average is 46%.

Obviously, the lowest rated schools are "diploma mills" and for the most part, are located in Southeast Queens or are "Renewal schools".  By contrast the best schools are located in two areas  Northeast Queens and the Long Island City/Astoria area.  The Bloomberg small schools in the Far Rockaway and Beach Channel campuses inhabit most of the top positions with the worst matrices on the list, while the worst school metric is by Rockaway Park Environmental Sustainability with a metric of 4.5.. By contrast, the best two schools remain Finance and Enterprise and Francis Lewis, when it comes to the metric.

The takeaway is that all the high schools in the Far Rockaway, Beach Channel, and Campus Magnet campuses are academic failures and the Springfield Gardens campus is not far behind.  Moreover, the Jamaica Educational Complex is showing gradual deterioration with one school already failing and the one of the other two unscreened schools showing a significant drop.

While my metric is not perfect it serves as a useful guide for parents who want the right Queens high schools for their academically proficient student. You can see the metrics for the last two years Here and Here.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would like to have the same info on Brooklyn high schools! The grad and college ready results are probably very similar.

Anonymous said...

As an atr I've rotated into all of these schools. Most of them are horrible. Students smoking weed coming to class stoned listening to music and being very confrontational. But of course it's the teachers fault and the fault of white oppression. Liberals!

Anonymous said...


A lot of my friends are being forced placed in these
diploma mills because teachers don"t want to work in
these diploma schools. Its hard to staff the diploma mills.
They also have high turnover rates.

Pissedoffteacher said...

I used to teach a remedial math course at QCC but have long given up teaching that level. Kids are graduated who know nothing, do nothing and expect to pass anyway. It is criminal. FLHS would never have such a high graduation rate if it were not for credit recovery and other bogus measuring devices.

Anonymous said...

Fariña should resign.

Anonymous said...

carmen farina sits on her high horse collecting a fat pension and a big salary. she brags how well the shitty is doing us teachers in the trenches know better. the students are stupid and getting dumber every year. the only ones dumber are us teachers who stress and worry about these students and our jobs!

Anonymous said...

Rita Cat, You are 100% Correct about FLHS...It is a scam!

Anonymous said...

The buzz is that Farina is on her way out! Who will be the next chancellor? Are there some candidates who have a clear record of supporting teachers and students?

Our contract is also up soon! I see this as a chance for CHANGE!!!

Just read something about pres of Queens College for chancellor. What are his views on education?

UFT ORGANIZE NOW FOR REAL CHANGE!!!

Anonymous said...

Seating in the teacher's lounge and just venting. Wondering what I did in my twenty year teaching career to deserve such treatment as an ATR. I was at a school earlier this year where I felt needed and valued and then I was rotated two weeks ago to a school where I'm ignored and feel useless. There was actually no reason for me to be rotated here, there is no position. It's humiliating to sit with a newbie to be their assistant in class, when I know I could do a better job as this teacher's mentor. To be basically ignored by the staff, when I could be an excellent team member. Again after 20 years of teaching what did I do to deserve this.

Anonymous said...

Being ignored is a reward! Been teaching for 23yrs the last 4 as an atr. Being ignored is the best thing to happen to me I just hope it continues for 2 more years. Why would anyone want to be not ignored in this corrupt system. I cover my 3, 4 , 5 classes and plan my well deserved retirement. Should I move to Florida, or Arizona or Colorado etc... Embrace being ignored by the tier 6 newbies and more importantly the vengeful admins. Let it go it my fellow atr and let go of the notion your going to be anything but a overpaid sub. Happy Thanksgiving

Anonymous said...

12:57,
It beats babysitting in one out of control class after another, but hey if they want to pay me $113,000 to babysit I'll grin and bear it. Virtually NO ATRs were forced placed and no one is talking about THAT. Sill is a shill that spreads shit as sincerity. There's many, many ATRs. I'd venture at at least a thousand. Most schools have at least two.

Anonymous said...

You are a victim of age discrimination.

Anonymous said...

The UFT is against us.

Anonymous said...

12:57 I cal it the invisible ATR! The system is designed to make you feel exactly how you are feeling right now!

You know your talents and abilities! Stay positive and strong! This is a battle we are in. DOE will not win! Things will change. Hang in there! You are not alone!

Anonymous said...

Was in a school last year for the last 5 months of the year. Covered a few different classes a day and was ignored by 195 out of 200 staff members everyday. I was never so happy in my life. Being ignored is a blessing! Who wants to involved in all the crap that goes on in this horrible school system. Kept my head down and was polite to my field supervisor, school AP and secretary who gave me my daily classes and smiled like I thought they were the greatest. No need to be angry and anyway confrontational. Play the game they created and play it better. Know your enemy and know them well. Happy Thanksgiving!

Highly Effective King Clovis said...

It sucks sometimes to not have my own class. But other times it is great. I got placed into one of the premier high schools in Manhattan. Kids are really good, I mean, obviously, but, adults are nice, staff, APs are excellent. It's a nice area. Been here nearly 3 weeks, haven't heard derogatory or even slightly direspectful language once. When I get class in my field I go full power, even out of license, I do the best with what I have.

Beats lesson planning every night just to have some incompetent admin who can't teach their way out of a wet paper bag and some kid who has issues tell you to go f yourself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Anonymous said...

Clovis, it’s a set up. You’re in a great school for a couple of months and then you’re thrown into the black hole of Calcutta. I’m not kidding the shithole I’m in right now would cost every administrator and maybe the chancellor her job if I reported it. It’s not even believable, it’s like some type of 1970s Italian horror movie - Susperia High. I don’t know how much more I can take. Fuck you, Mike Sill and you’re coolie ATR, Haj.