Maybe we should be thinking of a mentoring program targeting students in
this group. Premed students are always needing volunteer/community service.
If a group of you organized a mentoring program with a high school to assist
such students it would be a great service to Hunter and to these kids.
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October 22, 2006
Study Takes a Sharp Look at the City's Failing Students
By ELISSA
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/elissa_gootman
/index.html?inline=nyt-per> GOOTMAN
The first comprehensive look at New York City's failing students has found
that nearly 140,000 people from ages 16 to 21 have either dropped out of
high school or are already so far behind that they are unlikely to graduate.
The study, which the New York City Department of Education is to present to
the State Board of Regents today, for the first time sheds light on a
population of students who for decades have been relegated to the shadows of
the city's sprawling school system. The study was conducted by the Parthenon
Group, a Boston consulting group, and was paid for with $2.6 million from
the Bill
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/g/gates_b
ill_and_melinda_foundation/index.html?inline=nyt-org> and Melinda Gates
Foundation.
The study is the school system's latest effort to try to grapple with one of
its most basic problems: a low graduation rate. City figures indicate that
58.2 percent of students graduate in four years, although the state, which
counts on-time graduation differently, puts that number at 43.5 percent.
Other school systems are also examining their low graduation rates; on
Thursday, researchers from Johns
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/j/johns_h
opkins_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org> Hopkins University released a
report on Philadelphia's high school dropouts.
In New York, Michele Cahill, the senior counselor for education policy to
Joel
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/joel_i_klein/i
ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> I. Klein, the schools chancellor, said the study
was unique in its attempt to pinpoint who falls behind; when in their
academic careers it happens; and which schools do a better job of getting
students back on track. Ms. Cahill said dropouts had previously been lumped
together into one "black box."
The study found that students who fall behind in the number of credits they
are expected to accumulate have a difficult time getting back on track at
traditional high schools. Of the class of 2003's dropouts, the study found
that 93 percent fell behind in their credits at some point, indicating that
their chief problem may not be the state requirement that all graduates pass
a series of Regents exams. By contrast, only 19 percent of those who
graduated had fallen significantly behind in their credits at any point.
There are 68,000 students ages 16 to 21 who have dropped out of school, the
study found, but there are 70,000 who are still enrolled even though they
are behind in their credits. Effectively serving that group, the bulk of
whom are 16, 17 and 18, is critical to improving the city's graduation rate,
Ms. Cahill said.
Many students fall behind after coming to high school with insufficient
reading and math skills, the study found, indicating shortcomings in the
city's middle schools. But 30 percent of students who eventually fall behind
begin their freshman years with proficient or nearly proficient reading
skills, suggesting that high schools are also to blame. Boys are more likely
than girls to drop out, the study found, and black and Hispanic students are
more likely to drop out than whites and Asians.
Ms. Cahill said the findings pointed to a need for more so-called transfer
schools: small, 200-student schools that focus on students who have fallen
behind at traditional high schools. The mayor last year announced plans to
open 15 such schools, and Ms. Cahill said the administration is hoping to
open an additional five.
New York is likely to seek more money for transfer schools and other
programs for students behind in their credits, from the Gates Foundation,
which has already given $7 million toward such efforts in the city.
Elisa Hyman, executive director of Advocates for Children, a nonprofit group
that has criticized the city schools for failing to meet the needs of its
struggling students, described the study as "a very important first step."
Sister Paulette LoMonaco, executive director of Good Shepherd Services, a
nonprofit group that runs two city transfer schools and is planning to open
several more, said her schools provided intense counseling services and
designed schedules that enable students to accumulate credits over shorter
periods of time.
"Sometimes we tend to write these kids off too quickly when we see that
they're not coming to school regularly," she said. "What's always amazing is
the incredible amount of obstacles that our young people have lived with,
and yet they still have a strong determination to finish high school."
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