
Children and Youth;Education and Literacy
Until the turn of the 21st century, high school graduation rates in New York City hovered at or below 50 percent, much lower than state and national averages. There was widespread agreement about the need to reform the City's high schools and produce better results for students. This paper presents an independent analysis of how the high school landscape changed in New York City between 1999 and 2011 and, importantly, the extent to which key student outcomes improved during that time. The paper describes dramatic shifts in the supply of high schools, most notably a trend toward smaller, more mission-driven schools of choice. It also reports steady improvement across many indicators of high school performance and engagement, including attendance, credit accumulation, graduation, and college readiness rates. The paper highlights stubborn gaps in performance as well -- between groups of students, and between current achievement levels and the aspirations that the public and school leaders have for New York City high schools. Drawing on these findings, the paper outlines several directions for future policy and practice. This paper is the first in a series examining the structure and performance of New York City's high schools.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Northeastern) / New York / New York County / New York City

Education and Literacy;Prison and Judicial Reform
This guide for trainers is one of four manuals that, together, explain how drug court teams can create a program to help drug court participants pursue higher education. The Practitioners Manual provides a road map for the entire program, which gives step-by-step guidance to participants enrolling in and seeking financial aid for college. The other three manuals provide support for participants, interns and trainers.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Northeastern) / New York

Education and Literacy;Prison and Judicial Reform
This guide for practitioners is one of four manuals that, together, explain how drug court teams can create a program to help drug court participants pursue higher education. The Practitioners Manual provides a road map for the entire program, which gives step-by-step guidance to participants enrolling in and seeking financial aid for college.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Northeastern) / New York

Children and Youth, Education and Literacy
Many public school districts across New York State provide sex-ed instruction that is inaccurate, incomplete and biased, according to Birds, Bees and Bias: How Absent Sex Ed Standards Fail New York's Students. This report examines sex-ed materials used during the 2009-2010 and 2010-11 school years from across New York State.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (Northeastern)-New York

Education and Literacy, Employment and Labor
This paper synthesizes findings from the Research Alliance's investigation of teacher turnover in New York City's public middle schools. These years are widely recognized as a critical turning point for students, and the NYC Department of Education (DOE) is pursuing a range of middle school improvement initiatives. The stability of the middle school teaching force has the potential to facilitate or complicate these efforts, yet there have been few studies of the rates and patterns of teacher turnover in the City's middle schools.
This study provides the most current, comprehensive look at middle school teacher turnover to date. Drawing on a range of data sources -- including DOE human resource records from the last decade, a survey of over 4,000 full-time middle school teachers, and in-depth case studies in four middle schools -- this paper examines how long middle school teachers remain in their schools, how long they intend to stay, and what predicts whether or not they leave. It also explores how various aspects of teachers' work environment may influence these decisions. Among the key findings: Among middle school teachers who entered their school during the last decade, more than half left that school within three years -- significantly higher than the rates seen for elementary and high school teachers. Of the teachers who leave, most exit the NYC public school system altogether, and only about 1 in 10 transition to another grade 6-8 school. The findings point to several strategies that may be useful for increasing middle school teachers' lengths of stay.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America-United States (New York Metropolitan Area)

Education and Literacy;Race and Ethnicity
This report, which is part of the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice's (CEJ) campaign to transform the city's middle-grade schools into platforms for success for all our city's students, demonstrates that New York City's middle-grade schools are failing to prepare students for the rigorous high school work that will enable them to succeed in college. That failure assumes crisis proportions for African American and Latino students.
This report is the next stage in CEJ's campaign to mobilize the energies of parents, students, community organizations, advocacy and policy groups, youth and social service agencies, and religious organizations to transform our middle-grade schools from pathways to failure into platforms for success for all our city's public school students.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Northeastern) / New York / New York County / New York City

Education and Literacy;Race and Ethnicity
This report, which is part of the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice's (CEJ) campaign to transform the city's middle-grade schools into platforms for success for all our city's students, demonstrates that New York City's middle-grade schools are failing to prepare students for the rigorous high school work that will enable them to succeed in college. That failure assumes crisis proportions for African American and Latino students.
This report is the next stage in CEJ's campaign to mobilize the energies of parents, students, community organizations, advocacy and policy groups, youth and social service agencies, and religious organizations to transform our middle-grade schools from pathways to failure into platforms for success for all our city's public school students.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Northeastern) / New York / New York County / New York City

Education and Literacy;Race and Ethnicity
This report, which is part of the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice's (CEJ) campaign to transform the city's middle-grade schools into platforms for success for all our city's students, demonstrates that New York City's middle-grade schools are failing to prepare students for the rigorous high school work that will enable them to succeed in college. That failure assumes crisis proportions for African American and Latino students.
This report is the next stage in CEJ's campaign to mobilize the energies of parents, students, community organizations, advocacy and policy groups, youth and social service agencies, and religious organizations to transform our middle-grade schools from pathways to failure into platforms for success for all our city's public school students.
August 1970
Geographic Focus: North America / United States (Northeastern) / New York / New York County / New York City