Posted on December 24, 2010
NYC Makes Small Schools Out of Large
In the past decade, graduation rates in New York rose 10 percent. School reform in New York City, led by schools chancellor Joel Klein, is seen as a model for other urban areas facing high dropout rates and dangerous schools. One of Klein's strategies is to replace large, over-crowded schools with small specialized schools where principals and teachers can better look after each student. He has closed 26 "dropout factory" schools where less than half the students graduated. Justin Martinez is a good example of how the reforms work. Two years ago, Martinez started ninth grade in a crowded school where students had to stand or sit on the teacher desk because there were not enough chairs. The final straw was when he was threatened with a gun by gang members in the hallway. He ran from the school and never returned. Instead, he enrolled in Williamsburg Prep, which has 500 students, compared to 2,000 in his old school. Martinez says that everyone knows each other in his new school, he feels safe |