The Bloomberg Administration claims with much fanfare how the high school graduation rate has increased over the years. However, educators in the know that the apparent improvement in the graduation rates are really a function of the increased use of "credit recovery" programs, massaging the dropout rate, and principals who are empowered to change student grades to graduate them. However, the increased graduation rates come with a real downside, that 75% of the NYC high school gradates are not ready for college or employment without remediation.
In Queens the disconnect between high school graduation rates and "college and employment readiness" is highlighted in many of the schools and are listed below. To be "college ready" the student must achieve a 75% on the English Regents and a 80% on the Math Regents. These numbers are for June and August of 2010 and the list only includes schools who had at least 60 graduates.
Queens high schools with the lowest percentage of “college readiness” graduates
School Graduated(#) College Readiness(#) College Readiness(%)
North Queens Community HS 62 0 0.0%
Far Rockaway High School* 164 4 2.4%
Beach Channel High School* 389 10 2.6%
August Martin High School 288 8 2.8%
Queens Academy High School 141 7 5.0%
Jamaica High School* 334 29 7.4%
John Adams High School 808 65 8.0%
Queens Preparatory Academy 95 8 8.4%
Flushing High School 588 50 8.5%
Flushing International HS 86 8 9.3%
Richmond Hill High School 867 81 9.3%
HS of Law & Public Service 171 16 9.4%
Arts & Business HS 187 18 9.6%
John Bowne High School 688 73 10.3%
Queens Vocational & Technical 271 29 10.7%
Newtown High School 773 85 11.0%
Hillcrest High School 766 102 13.3%
Martin Van Buren HS 755 104 13.8%
Campus Magnet 202 29 14.3%
Grover Cleveland HS 703 110 15.6%
Long Island City HS 718 127 17.7%
Newcomers High School 214 38 17.8%
Queens High School Of Teaching 201 55 19.6%
Channel View School Of Research 71 14 19.7%
* Closing schools
By contrast here are the Queens high schools with the highest "college readiness and employment scores.
Queens high schools with the highest percentage of “college readiness” graduates
School Graduated(#) College Readiness(#) College Readiness(%)
Townsend Harris HS** 278 276 99.3%
Queens HS For The Sciences** 107 100 93.7%
Fiorello LaGuardia HS 646 487 75.4%
Queens Gateway For Health 117 67 57.3%
Bayside High school 902 454 50.3%
Frank Sinatra School Of The Arts** 171 45 49.7%
Francis Lewis High School 1209 564 46.7%
Benjamin Cardozo High School 981 458 46.7%
Thomas Edison High School 819 352 43.0%
Forest Hills High School 959 370 38.6%
Aviation High School 368 127 34.5%
Bryant High School 810 195 24.1%
Robert F. Wagner HS 95 22 23.2%
HS or Construction Trades 177 39 22.0%
Robert F. Kennedy HS 159 35 22.0%
** Specialized schools.
The complete list can be found on the New York City Public School Parent blog here.
If you really want to improve academic achievement in schools we need to reduce, not increase class size, ensure that the best and not the cheapest teachers are in the classroom, and give teachers the ability to teach what is best for the classroom and not using the "one size fits all" method that may not be best for their students.
Even the college ready schools are not college ready. I teach at one of the schools listed and grades are massaged to get them to that higher rate too. The whole thing is a farce.
ReplyDeleteI confess, I am guilty as charged. Forgive for not servicing 165 children with differentiated instruction tailored to suit everyone. And forgive me for not being able to medicate half of these kids. And forgive me for not telling parents to do their job at home. Most of all, forgive me for the poverty level in this city, and a mayor who defends all the scandals Tweed has been involved in.
ReplyDeleteWhen you factor in the high number of English Language learners in Queens high schools - my school, which is on this list, is 100% ELLs - it becomes apparent that neither the students or the schools are to blame (not that I think you're doing so). It is understood by language teachers that mastery of academic language takes 5-7 years for most students to develop. Our students and staff make determined efforts to do the best they can, and do remarkably well given the challenges our students face. This doesn't even get into the validity of giving ELL's a college prepatory exam designed for native speakers of English.
ReplyDeleteOther schools have suffered because of the DOE's policy of flooding remaining neighborhood high schools with needy students unable to get into recently opened small schools or charters.
My school's students take the same English Regents as native speakers, having usually been in this country less than two years. Some unfortunate students are compelled to take the exam after having had only one to three semesters of basic and lower intermediate ESL classes. Another disservice to students.
The upshot is, these statistics only reflect badly on the truthfulness of the Mayor, the Chancellor and the DOE.
Michael:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. I was just showing how meaningless the graduation rates really are.
When is our union going to stand up to this farce. Michale Mulgrew say something. MAYBE IF YOU ACTUALLY TAUGHT YOU WOULD UNDERSTAND THE PRESSURE THAT TEACHERS ARE UNDER TO PASS STUDENTS WHO SHOULD BE FAILING. PRINCIPALS WHO THREATEN TEACHERS WITH U RATING UNLESS THEY PASS A CERTAIN NUMBER OF STUDENTS. WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU MULGREW. ALL YOU WANT TO DO IS MAKE SURE THAT UNION DUES GET PAID.
ReplyDeleteTime for new leadership.
ReplyDeleteLook at the college graduation rates and it's worse than you report.
ReplyDeleteZip codes can predict what will be the college ready rate. It looks like geography is still destiny. We need to address poverty to get at this.
ReplyDeleteWhen we pass kids with a D- they certainly are not ready for college. However, if we fail the same kids, they get so far behind that they dro out. Again certainly not ready even for ajob. They are forced into the subclass for the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteThe only solution is to develop a system and philosophy of education thas is designed to serve all. We know grades are a lie, grade levels are mute and a whole bunch of domimoes fall in a system that takes kids from where they are using standards as guidelines for success rather than deadlines for failure.
Go to for the solution. Yes folks, there is a solution.
Cap Lee
Time to get back to basics. Having kids work in groups all day and on their own does them a disservice.
ReplyDeleteAll anyone needs to do is look at the curriulums used in expensive private schools. Parents at those schools would NEVER stand for the dismal education we are required to give our students.
How it is:
ReplyDeleteMy neighbor is a senior at Forest Hills HS and has only three classes each day: Government, English and Gym. Her day ends at 9:45 a.m.