Long Island is known for their high quality and expensive school districts in the nation. Many middle and upper income families who live in New York City will wait for their children to become school age and move to the suburbs for their excellent schools. The flight of middle and upper income families to the suburbs may accelerate with the Mayor's and Chancellor's ill-advised integration plan. Moreover, most Long Island school districts have a full plate of academic courses and extracurricular activities that most school districts don't or cannot offer. Finally, the Long Island school districts have strong parent involvement, because of the high school taxes they must pay, and that's a very important aspect when it comes to excellent schools.
Another important consideration is peer pressure. At the elementary school level its not that important since most elementary schools are parent and teacher dominated, especially at the lower grades. However, by the time the students are in middle school and high school, peer pressure becomes the most important factor in student academic achievement. This is where the suburban Long Island school districts have an advantage since school taxes are expensive and range from $8,000 to $22,000 a year and the parents put pressure on their children to do well academically to justify paying such high property taxes. Therefore, the peer pressure to succeed translates in academic achievement for the majority of the students. By contrast, many urban schools, especially in low income minority communities, peer pressure is just the opposite as academic excellence is frowned upon, with many students doing as little work as possible to pass with a low academic average.
There are a few school district on Long Island that mirror many off the urban schools. In Nassau its the Hempstead school district and Suffolk its Wyandanch school district. Both school districts are considered poor and heavily minority with many immigrants who speak poor English and came from countries that had a poor education system. The Hempstead school district is a majority Hispanic student population with most of the rest Black. While Wyandanch is about evenly divided between Black and Hispanic students. The table below show the passing rate of State tests for 3rd thru 8th grades for the two school district and the county as a whole.
Percent passing the State test
School District.......3rd.....4th....5th....6th.....7th.....8th
Hempstead ELA 33%...31%...25%...23%.....13%...26%
Hempstead Math....36%...31%...28%...15%.....13%...0%
Nassau ELA...........66%...61%...51%...60%....52%...69%
Nassau Math.........67%...67%...61%...68%....58%...38%
Wyandanch ELA....34%...28%...12%...31%....15%...21%
Wyandanch Math...31%..29%...16%...18%....10%....4%
Suffolk ELA...........50%...44%...34%...45%...35%...44%
Suffolk Math.........50%...48%...42%...48%...43%...19%
One noticeable trend is when peer pressure starts to become the most important factor as students advance in grades, passing rates decrease in the poor and minority communities and this is especially true in the two school districts. On the other hand, in Long Island as a whole, except for 8th grade Math where many of the advanced classes take Regents Algebra instead of the 8th grade Math test., the passing rates remain static.
See all Long Island school district test results and opt out rates Here.
16 comments:
Why write this Chaz? You know every racist is going to jump all over it as proof minorities are subpar primates. Please list the high schools to avoid in Queens or any borough based on some criteria, perhaps teacher votes on principal trust.
It's people like you who claim racism on every inconvenient fact presented when it puts minorities in a bad light. The people who cry racism on non-racist facts are the racists.
How about high schools or programs to avoid in Manhattan.
Chaz, I’m not claiming you’re a racist. Far from it - you know the comments you get on here. We all experience the results of non-parenting and poverty as teachers in NYC. Presenting more of it from outside of NYC does nothing but enforce what educated people already know and creates more fuel for the fire for those that aren’t. There’s way too much hate in NYC against whites right now and with the White ain’t Right campaign about to take place, this just angers more people on both sides of the ever widening racial divide. My apologizes that I offended you. 7:03
I'm sorry if I misunderstood your comment. However, I have no use for Racists of any race or religion. Like White nationalist, Anti-Semitic leftists and Neo-Nazis. Nor do I tolerate Islamic fundamentalists who treat women as second class citizens.
Democracy means to me equal rights for everybody but people must earn my respect by working hard and many students in poor and minority communities don't when it comes to academic achievement and yjat's a fact.
OOps.... The last sentence should read that's a fact.
Did anyone have problems with their trs pension check due Aug 31?
I believe that family structure, discipline and effort have much more to do with education than money. I have known a few people who come to University in the States from public schools in third world countries. The conditions they describe are really incredible; very poor and bare.
It makes me think about how much we offer the students in the United States and how much is just thrown away. Why don't more students in the US value education? Where does this value of education come from? parents, family, self?
The NYC public school system has a budget of 25+ billion dollars! If money was the reason for success and failure then the NYC public schools have no excuse for their massive failure.
I live in Oceanside and teach in south bronx and when I pass Hempstead I think of the Bronx. I also think those scores are low because the better performing students or the ones with parents who care more and send them to the new charter schools in hempstead which you mentioned on a previous post.
It's amazing to me that students in schools like mine who have students who just came to the country have to compete with regents passing rates from westchester and long island.
It does bother me when students come to this country and do not try to learn our language even after 2 years. If I moved to France or Spain, I would have to adapt to their language.
White ain't right movement is another nail in the coffin. Having served the students for 30 years in the NY shitty DOE, the masses of ignorants are still unwilling to study and achieve academic success. Always looking for excuses. The years of educational neglect has dumbed down the growing pool of so called graduates. They are on their way to become poorer than their forebearers and depend greater on handouts and the welfare system. Penal system too.
Its sad. It keeps them segregated in their corner into the future. There is a reason why neighborhoods continue to segregate. That's reality.
Their parents gave up long ago.
Why can't they buy their kids school supplies, set a curfew, and demand that their children do their homework and respect their authority? That's how the world works.
Corruption from the top down perpetuates the cycle. The chancellor and mayor should be on the bullhorn demanding that his youngest and most vulnerable disciples concentrate on schoolwork and cut the bullshit. Instead they blame the white race and values. While they and their cronies make $$$$ off the budget of billions to steal from the classroom.
Retired 30/55
Still lurking and wishing for improvement
Chaz is right. Peer pressure, good or bad, makes or breaks a school.
good parenting is first and foremost what is important. It doesn't cost any money to teach children responsibility and values. School starts at 8am not 8:13. YES, your child is LATE if they arrive after 8am because they are LATE. 8AM MEANS 8AM NOT around 8am. Imagine if we did this?
Homework is supposed to be completed at home and returned to school when due. Parents are to parent and ensure the homework comes back and is completed.
Dismissal is 2:20pm daily this does not mean come at 2:34 to pick up your child. When I see you leaving your house to pick up your kid at 2:30pm this means you CHOOSE TO BE LATE and teach your child the same poor set of values.
Hands down the PARENTS have to do better for their children
Chaz...
Last year UFT members were able to fill out a "temporary rate change" form with BERS to increase their contribution for a single pay period , and contribute up to 80% of their retro (and not get slaughtered on taxes). Can we do it again for the October 2019 retro check?
Why is the 'solution' to failing minority schools always 'integration' (adding more white kids to the school)?
Is there some magic inherent in white kids, who are alternatively called evil, racists from birth (according to Time magazine)?
Why can't integration also mean Asian kids, who outscore white kids?
“many students in poor and minority communities don't when it comes to academic achievement and yjat's a fact”... when I read this I thought about the many Asian kids I had in the past three years... families are poor too maybe not the poorest but what matters to a kid’s success is parenting. How parents see education in their kids’ life. Is it being a top priority without any doubt or it’s whatever... most of my kids’ parents didn’t speak much English and didn’t finish high school not even to mention college back home. But it’s the value parents and families model for you and even the culture you are raised up in that plays quite a role. But again sometimes it’s sad and make you feel helpless because parents work their ass off day and night trying to provide at the cost of communicating and getting to know what’s going on in school. Can’t take off the time to come meet the teachers or phones are not reachable...
The Wyandanch district contains many unoccupied commercial buildings. Add to that there are many renters who don't pay property tax whose children are in Wyandanch schools. I am not defending the nonsense that goes on with the school board misappropriating funds but the tax base is small. Throwing money at the district isn't the answer. Unfortunately, the school board election turnout is usually small with the board members getting their cronies out to vote. The state sent in monitors who did little. Sounds like they need a little "Carranza Diversty Magic-CDM for short!
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