Why The NYU Study On The Closed Schools, When Replaced By Small Schools, Is Fatally Flawed.
This week, NYU released a study showing that students fared better with the closing of the many large comprehensive high schools and replaced by the Bloomberg small schools. The basis for the study's conclusion was the increased graduation rate from the small schools when compared to the closed schools. However, the study is fatally flawed since the graduation rate is a bogus parameter and easily manipulated by the school Principal to allow students to graduate academically unprepared for college and career. Let's look at how schools manipulate the graduation rate.
First, a little history. During the 2002-08 time period the study looked at 29 closed high schools and the results for future students who instead went to the Bloomberg small schools which showed a 15% increase in the graduation rate. However, the study admits that students who fled these closing schools did worse then the ones who stayed and graduated, Moreover, these students who fled were academically behind their peers in the new schools they transferred to.
Credit Recovery:
During the time period the study covered there was an explosion of credit recovery courses that artificially increased a struggling student's credit accumulation. Even the State finally saw the abuse of the credit recovery system and required the City to put an end to it in 2012. The primary beneficiaries were the Bloomberg small schools who needed to have a high graduation rate to show how successful they were. Therefore, they gave struggling students loads of "credit recovery" courses, many of them were bogus. You can read some of the stories, Here, Here, and Here.
Principal Pressure:
The Bloomberg small schools were notorious in hiring "newbie teachers" and since these teachers lacked tenure, they were pressured to pass along the school's struggling students. Teachers who failed too many of their students were discontinued due to scholarship issues and were banned from working at the DOE. This message resonated loud and clear with the inexperienced staff and resulted in high graduation rates despite these students academically unable to succeed in college or careers.
Student Selection:
To ensure the Bloomberg small schools would succeed they opened with some very significant advantages like excluding many Chaz's School Daze: Why The NYU Study On The Closed Schools, When Replaced By Small Schools, Is Fatally Flawed.: