Sunday, November 27, 2016

The Disconnect Between The Graduation Rate And Being Prepared For The Real World.



























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 metric that takes the graduation rate and divides it by the "college and career readiness rate"  as defined by New York State.

High schools that have a ratio below "2" are in blue and giving their students a world class education while high schools with ratios greater than "3" are listed in red and are simply diploma mills. Parents should make sure their academically achieving students should stay away from them.

The list is based on the 2015-16 school year.

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

Cambria Heights Academy........79%......................9% 
Academy of Medical Tech..........66%......................8% 
Fredrick Douglas Academy VI....66%......................8%
QIRT........................................70%.....................12%
Rockaway Park.........................62%.....................11%
Humanities and Arts.................79%.....................14%
August Martin...........................39%....................7% 
Rockaway Collegiate.................63%....................13% 
Martin Van Buren......................66%....................18%
Newtown.................................71%....................19%
Pathways College....................71%....................20%
Hillside Arts & Letters...............81%....................24%
Law Enforcement.....................81%....................25%
Science, Research, and Tech.....70%....................22%
Excelsior Prep.........................78%....................24% 
Queens Prep...........................72%....................24%
Flushing.................................63%....................18%
Channel View..........................95%....................31% 
John Adams.............................66%....................22%
Richmond Hill...........................64%....................22%
Long Island City.......................63% ...................25%
Grover Cleveland.....................63%....................27%
Queens HS of Teaching............91%....................37%
George Washington Carver......86%....................35%
Writers Academy....................82%....................36%
Hillcrest.................................72%....................29%
Queens Collegiate...................77%....................33%
Information & Technology........76%....................34%
Community Leadership............84%....................37%
John Bowne............................74%....................33%
Applied Communications.........80%....................38%
Robert F. Kennedy...................86%....................42% 
Arts And Business...................90%....................40% 
William Cullen Bryant..............69%....................34%
Metropolitan HS......................92%....................46% 
Robert H. Goddard...................89%....................50%
Middle College HS...................82%.....................49%
Writers Journalism..................94%....................51%
Robert Wagner........................87%....................51%
Queens Vocational...................84%...................51%
Civic Leadership......................91%...................55% 
Maspeth HS............................99%....................63%
TV & Media.............................98%....................62%
Forest Hills.............................88%...................56%
Bayside..................................95%...................63%
East-West...............................97%...................66%
Cardozo..................................89%...................60%
Thomas Edison........................93%...................71%
Francis Lewis..........................88%...................73%
Finance & Enterprise...............91%...................77% 


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 three Bloomberg small schools in the Far Rockaway campus inhabit three of the top four positions with the worst matrices on the list, while the worst school metric is by Cambria Heights Academy, while last year's winner (loser), Rockaway Park Environmental Sustainability rounds out the top five. 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.  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 in "college and career readiness"

To look at last year's list you can find it Here.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow great info Chaz. Question, is the ratio (number) called something? Is there a specific name for when you get the result of dividing the grad rate by the college ready rate? What's this final number called?

Anonymous said...

This info that Chaz has provided should without a doubt be published and should be made available for all to see.

Anonymous said...

Children last, always!

Anonymous said...

Very sorry to go off topic Chaz, but please confirm if this is true regarding 25/55.
If one is signed onto the program, it means one can retire after 25 years of service but CANNOT collect a pension until they are 55. Yes?
Also, do these people get back the 2% contribution ( per paycheck ) after retirement? If so, how is that paid out?

Anonymous said...

Chaz lets not give the reformies...i.e. trump any more negative information regarding our schools. Yes I know its not "our" fault that these kids do not want to learn or come to school but the reformists see the problem lies within the "union" so lets keep out stories positive and show the world now how great WE are - public school teachers.
Second, the nomination of a new education secretary Ms. Devos is a pick that we can jump on. First of all it has been proven that vouchers do not work and charters hand pick their students - TAKE A LOOK AT MICHIGAN schools and the disaster she created there!!!! The city of Detroit's education system is a complete shambles!!!! google it.....Making a transition by moving our public schools for vouchers and charters would be a mess and Trump needs to understand this...are you listening UFT??

Coffee said...

That is right, you can leave after 25 but not collect until 55.

You don't get the 2% back, just the joy of retirement early.

Anonymous said...

Any type of fraud and deception is tolerated. Abuses are ok since the UFT will not do anything about noting. As longest the numbers are good through chancellor will be happy.

Anonymous said...

Chaz I was an ATR at Bronxdale High School in the Bronx. You couldn't imagine the median age at this boutique school. I believe it was 25. Clueless admin but I looked up their stats after this post. Their graduation rate is 76% but their college ready rate is 4%. So Chaz if you divide 76 by 4 you get their score of 19. HAAAAA! What's more hysterical than a school getting a 19? It's when you look at the first category in snapshot that says Rigorous Instruction. You know what they scored right? Yup, you guessed it! Perfect 4 out of 4 on Rigorous Instruction. Bronx Science scored a 1 with a 100% grad rate and a 100% college ready rate BUT their Rigorous a Instruction totaled 3 out of 4 bars. I love it. Sad sad sad. A 4% college ready rate but a perfect score on instruction. Somebody call Edelman.

Anonymous said...

All these young teachers are effective because they are cheap.

Anonymous said...

i worked briefly in three of the top five failing schools on the college readiness list which i believe are all located in the old far rockaway high school building. it is hard to comprehend the level of pure incompetence from the district administrators on down, and as dedicated and diligent as the teachers were at these locations, the end results are simply terrible. (there was no working library in this building for several years.) blame for sure goes all around--parents, students, school discipline, etc. however, that community's poor education scores have been going on for many, many years. i finally retired with the 55/25 package and i was glad to move on to greener pastures--community college lecturer. hopefully, the community will somehow rise up and demand a more meaningful opportunity for its children.

Anonymous said...

All type of fraud is permitted, while they get rid of veteran teachers with integrity. It is a formula for disaster.

Anonymous said...

Big shortage coming up, failed policies and failed educational leaders with no vision.