During the Bloomberg years, the city came up with the bright idea, advocated by Bill Gates and then abandoned as not the answer, that closing the large comprehensive schools in poor communities and replacing them with smaller schools will improve student academic achievement. These small schools will show an improved graduation rate and "college and career readiness" rates. Well the graduation rates did improve, thanks to "credit recovery", Principal pressure, student exclusionary practices, and questionable grading policies. However, the "college and career readiness" rates cannot be manipulated and these rates clearly show how much a failure these small schools have been when improving academic achievement.
Lets look at the 2013-14 school year "college and career readiness" scores of the small schools that replaced the large comprehensive schools in Queens. The citywide average "college and career readiness" rates is 32% while the average in Queens is 36%.
Andrew Jackson High School Campus:
Business Computer Application and Enterpriseship........4%
Law, Government And Community Service..................9%
Humanities and Arts Magnet School..........................5%
Math, Science Research Technology Magnet..............19%
Franklin K. Lane Campus:
Brooklyn Lab School...............................................11%
Cypress Hills Collegiate Prep....................................11%
Multicultural..........................................................2%
Far Rockaway Complex:
Fredrick Douglas Academy VI....................................7%
Information, Research And Technology........................8%
Academy of Medical Technology................................21%
Springfield Gardens Campus:
Queens Preparatory Academy..................................18%
George Washington Carver......................................30%
Excelsior Preparatory High School............................21%
Preparatory Academy For Writers.............................31%
Since the Beach Channel and Jamaica high schools have closed this year, the small schools that inhabit the campuses are new and were given extra funding and allowed to exclude "high needs students" from the schools to ensure that they succeed. Therefore, they were not included in this post until there is a real track record for them.
The relatively high "college and career readiness" scores of the small schools at the Springfield Gardens complex will rapidly drop as the data reflect the last year of the new small school exclusion policy that kept low achieving students from being accepted to the schools which is no longer the case.
For comparison what were the "college and career readiness" rates of the large comprehensive high schools that the Bloomberg administration tried to close but failed to get court approval?
August Martin........................................................6%
Flushing...............................................................20%
Grover Cleveland...................................................17%
John Adams..........................................................12%
Long Island City....................................................29%
Newtown.............................................................14%
Richmond Hill........................................................11%
William Cullen Bryant .............................................33%
...
The average "college and career readiness" scores of the eight large comprehensive Queens high schools, slated for closure but spared by the courts is approximately 18% while the small schools created at the four closed large comprehensive high schools averaged only 14%.
If one uses the "college and career readiness" scores, its obvious that the small schools carved out of the closed large comprehensive high schools have not shown any real academic improvements. In fact, that might be even worse once the small schools have a longer track record and cannot exclude "high needs students" as the Campus Magnet schools (Andrew Jackson Campus) have shown..
8 comments:
As abysmal as those scores are in Queens, they're worse in the Bronx. Even the charter schools in the Bronx are horrendous. Family, discipline, and hard work are the answers for students who want to succeed. They can shuffle the cards all they want- all you get is the same pack of jokers.
One more thing- I want to give credit where credit is due. I say Bravo! to Carmen Farina for speaking out against the manipulated statistics the charter schools are advertising.
Oh oh....I sense a rant from Eva Moskowitz coming in 3, 2, ....
Amen for this posting. What makes it even more horrendous a waste is a simple look at the funding per student these small schools receive compared to that of Lewis, Dozo, Bayside, Forest Hills. Those 4 big and still successful Queens bigh schools ranked in the absolute lowest funding per student while the small schools get 200% more funding per kid. Efficiency and good results get no favor from ideologues. We all know the small schools movement was a way to reduce the power of unions by splitting chapters into pages- the UFT should do the logical counter-move by combining the chapters at all "campuses" into single chapters to offset this nonsense.
Bronx ATR - Bravo to Ms Farina also for the follwing, taken from that email about Diversity and Inclusion that was sent to us recently: "As you work on behalf of New York City’s students, I am focused on creating a workplace where you feel valued, supported by your managers and colleagues, and empowered to collaborate and innovate. I am committed to providing you with broader professional learning opportunities, more ways to share and connect with your co-workers, a range of options for taking on leadership roles, and a continuing culture of respect—whether you work in a school, a field or central office, or in another role." It sounds so nice, but being the cynical, jaded, old veteran teacher that I am (sarc), I'll believe it when I see it. Here's hoping the trickle-down effect has already begun.
To 10:47,
I've often wondered the same thing. It would give the chapter leaders much more power because they wouldn't be under the capricious notions of one principal and could have less fear in protecting teachers. This is a very real problem in many small schools.
Bronxdale High School at the Columbus Campus in Bronx is terrible. Putrid scores to match putrid college/career readiness BUT they have the best web site I've ever seen, so in this case it doesn't matter because they look good. As long as they look good they're ok. I mean who really gives a shit that they have regents pass rates below 30%? Does anyone really care? Nahh, don't think so.
bronxdale high school otherwise known as thugdale high
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