Another Failure Of Mayor Bloomberg's Education Policy - Youth Disconnection Rates.

A study was produced by the Measure For America Organization that showed that New York City was in the bottom group, ranked a dismal seventeenth out of twenty-five major urban areas when it came to disconnected youth. How is disconnected youth defined?  It includes youth between the ages of 16 to 24 who are not in school and have no job.  For New York City to be in the lower part of all the nation's major cities shows a serious failure of the Mayor's education policy.

The New York City numbers are dismal indeed.  According to the study New York City's disconnected youth rate averaged 15.1% while so-called inferior metropolitan areas such as Baltimore (14.2%) , Chicago (13.3%), and Philadelphia (11.9%) had lower disconnected youth rates.  Even Boston (9.0%) and Washington D.C. (11.3%) beat New York City.  Had Mayor Bloomberg's education policy worked, you would think that New York City would compare very favorably to other major cities when it came to disconnected youth rates but the fact is it doesn't.  The reason is that while the Bloomberg Administration claims that the high school graduation rate has increased, the reality is that only 22.7% of these graduates are considered "college and career ready".

What are the New York City youth disconnection rates?

1. Black.........................................21.7%
2. Latino........................................20.6%
3. Asian...........................................9.8%
4. White...........................................9.8%

While in one South Bronx community the youth disconnection rate is an astounding 35.6%! and New York City had one of the worst disconnection rates for Latinos compared to all other metropolitan areas.

It is very obvious if the Bloomberg education reform policy had actually worked, the New York City disconnected youth rates would be lower and the racial gap would be closing.  Instead the New York City disconnected youth rates are higher than sixteen of the twenty four other cities analyzed, and  the racial disconnected youth gap between Blacks and Latinos and Whites is wider in New York City than the nation as a whole.

Below are the comparisons between New York City and the National youth disconnection rate gap.





NYC  Gap.....................................................National  Gap

Blacks/Whites   11.9%..........................................10.8%
Latinos/Whites  10.8%............................................6.8%

While I cannot make a direct correlation between education and youth disconnection rates, it certainly is a major factor in New York City's dismal showing in providing a solid foundation both educationally, and providing proper services  to these disconnected youth.  This study just supports that Bloomberg;s claim of academic success during his Administration is simply false.