Dive Brief:
- A new report from education reform group StudentsFirstNY found a subset of New York City’s high schools look like they are doing well by beating the district’s 70% graduation rate, but they are still failing students on another metric.
- The New York Daily News reports 45 schools had above-average graduation rates in 2015 while also having fewer than 20% of students test as college ready.
- The New York City Department of Education points to record-high graduation rates across the city and record low dropouts as signs of improving schools, but StudentsFirstNY says the city is graduating students who aren’t prepared for life after high school.
Dive Insight:
The StudentsFirst report, “The Graduation Facade: How New York City’s Diploma Mills Mask College Readiness Crisis,” assessed college readiness by analyzing a four-year graduation rate for the 2011 cohort and the CUNY-aligned College Readiness Index, which determines whether students meet the City University of New York’s standards to go straight to college-level courses without remediation.
New York City is not an outlier, however. National data indicates students across the country are graduating at higher rates but remain unprepared for life after high school.
As college becomes increasingly necessary to get middle class jobs, the stakes get higher for high schools to properly prepare students for college-level coursework. Many colleges are shifting their remediation programs so students can catch up on basic skills while learning credit-bearing material. Some high schools, though, are being more proactive and forming relationships with local colleges to align curriculum and expectations.