New York City Public Schools Make Progress in College Readiness But Racial Gap Remains

A new report from the Research Alliance for New York City Schools at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University finds that the city’s public school system has made dramatic progress reducing high school dropouts and boosting on-time graduation rates, which rose from 47 percent in 2005 to 70 percent in 2016.

Despite the overall gains, the report notes a persisting racial gap in high school graduations and college enrollment rates. For Black students in the ninth grate in 2003, 67 percent graduated from high school and half went on to enroll in college. For Black students in ninth grade in 2008, 76.6 percent graduated from high school and 56.3 percent enrolled in college. Less than 40 percent of Black students remained in college for two years.

But the data shows that for White students in the ninth grade in 2008, 82 percent graduated from high school and 71 percent enrolled in college. More than 60 percent were still enrolled in college after two years.

The full report, New York City Goes to College: New Findings and Framework for Examining College Access and Success, may be downloaded here.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Did I “miss” something ? There seems to be no e-mail responses to this article? Really? Guess I’ll pass too. OK, I’ll say something. What we probably need is a 20 year plan. Starting at 3 years old for the entire Black community of a city. Starting at 9th grade is probably too late. This crisis is the results of over a century of mis-education and cannot be “solved” in a four year plan.

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