A new report by the Research Alliance for New York City Schools at New York University shows just how the high school selection process works for the city’s most vulnerable.
Titled “High School Choice in New York City: A Report on the School Choices and Placements of Low-Achieving Students,” the report was put together by Lori Nathanson and Christine Baker-Smith of the Research Alliance for New York City Schools and Sean Corcoran of the Institute for Educational and Social Policy at NYU.
Some of the findings in the report included the fact that, on average, students who were already low-achieving were placed into lower performing schools than all other students. The placement differences tended to be driven by the students’ initial choices because their first choices tended to be low-performing, less selective institutions that were also more disadvantaged.
The report pointed out that placement wasn’t a result of low-achieving students being less likely to receive their first-choice school because both they and high achievers were matched up with their top choices at the same rate. The report also revealed students of both achievement levels tend to prefer schools close to home, but that finding might be a result of low-achieving students being concentrated in poor neighborhoods with limited options.
According to the report, 42 percent of low-achieving students (using the seventh-grade test score threshold) graduated on time between 2009 and 2011, compared with 76 percent for all other students. The majority of these low-achievers were male and Black or Hispanic and more likely to be English Language Learners, receiving special educations services or both.
The students were also concentrated in some of New York City’s poorest neighborhoods, with 1 in 4 living in 10 ZIP codes in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
Nathanson, Smith and Corcoran assured that the report’s goal wasn’t to pinpoint responsibility for how things are, but to find out basic information to get the ball rolling.
“This study was not an evaluation of high school choice in New York City and cannot tell us to what extent the choice system itself is responsible for low-achieving students attending better schools over time,” read the report’s executive summary. “At this point, we also have little say about why students chose the schools they did. Choice allows families to identify schools they believe are best for them, by whatever criteria they set. Academic performance is a factor, but location, curricular fit, safety and familiarity all play a role as well.
The authors said they’re making no claims about whether students are making the “right” decisions. Instead, they see this report as the first step to understanding the choices and school assignments of New York City’s lowest-achieving students.