A new report issued by MDRC, a nonpartisan, nonprofit education and policy research firm, found that smaller schools in New York City had higher graduation rates than traditional, big high schools. The findings, based on a measurement used by the City University of New York, show that smaller schools benefited low-income minority students. The multi-year research study found students of color in the small schools studied raised the graduation rate by 9.5 percent.
According to MDRC, that means almost “10 more student graduates for every 100 ninth-grade students.” Smaller schools are a staple of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s education reform strategies. During Bloomberg’s administration, he closed underperforming schools and created new smaller schools to replace big high schools.