Friday, October 17, 2014

Top 60 Schools In NYC


Wednesday, the Daily News ran an article highlighting the 60 best high schools in NYC.  Read close and don't be too happy even if your school is mentioned, or even if it is in the top half.

Baruch College Campus Magnet is school number 19.  It boasts of a 99% graduation rate but only has a 47.1% college readiness index.  The school shows 96% of their students go on to post high school programs but there is no indication of what percent of this 96% actually succeed.  Francis Lewis High School just makes the cut off for the top half at number 30.  It boasts of an 86% graduation rate but only has 38.5% of their graduates college ready.  While 77% go on to some sort of post secondary education, you have to wonder how many spend years in remediation and how many others just never finish.  No one bothers with these stats.  Once the kids are out the door, the high schools are finished.

I taught high school for over 30 years.  The school I started in had a low graduation rate, but the students who graduated and went on the college succeeded.   They got a real education, passing when they deserved to pass and failing and repeating when they didn't.  The school offered alternative programs and no one got a free ride.  While many did not go on to college, they learned the importance of working for what they received.   Things are not the same now.  High school education has become a joke.  Kids pass because teachers are afraid to fail them.  There is credit recovery and after school programs where credits are given for showing up a few times.I've even heard of APs encouraging special education teachers to coach their students while taking exams and APs translating questions into native languages but actually doing a lot more than just translating.

I teach at a local community college.  Last night, during an exam,  boy from one of these schools came up to me and said, "Professor, I don't know how to do this problem.  Can you just give me the answer."  He wasn't kidding.  A former teacher from his school told me I shouldn't have been surprised.  That is what happened there.  Colleagues were talking about remedial classes where students don't do homework, don't buy books and sleep or text constantly in class.  These kids are what made the best high schools what they are.  These kids are not going to be successful.  The whole thing is a sham and our kids are the biggest losers.

If the Daily News and other media really care about investigative reporting, they should look closer into what  the statistics they posted actually mean.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The NYC DOE has being pushing the Common Core- as a major driving force in creating students that are college/career ready. It's hard to believe that Stuyvesant HS was #10 on that list.

Pissedoffteacher said...

Stuyvesant probably doesn't juke scores as much as other schools do. They most likely have standards.

Anonymous said...

Hey Teens and Cousins: Here are your Top 60 NYC schools.
It would have been nice to have a countdown of the schools on the radio/internet narrated by 'Cousin Brucie'-he certainly has standards. (However, I don't think Madison HS-his alma mater was on this list).

Anonymous said...

The college readiness index they used and quoted by you is meaningless, it simply measures the % of students who scored a 3 on an AP test. The actually college readiness index and the % of students who need remediation is not a mystery, it is public information. For Baruch it is only 4% of the kids who enroll in College who need remediation and about 18% for Francis Lewis. Please do your homework first.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous (although WE know who you are, EVERY teacher at the school you mention knows that most of the students are pushed through to graduate. MIRACLES happen in the special education department graduating students with regents diplomas and these students flounder after high school not making it.
High school education is a joke lately, and yet we expect these youngsters to run this country. I am glad I am no longer a part of this.

Anonymous said...

If the sham and corruption is ever brought to light, the teachers will be blamed. People outside the field of education think teachers have autonomy; we don't. For fear of losing our jobs, we do what we are told, including passing children that we know should fail. This is a very difficult pill to swallow for those of us who are true educators.

Pissedoffteacher said...

Anonymous doesn't like a statistic that makes the schools look bad and claims it has no validity. For his or her information, I did look it up and agree that the way it is arrived at is pretty silly but I also know the graduation rate and the rate of students going on to post secondary education is just as flawed, probably more flawed. He or she can't pick and choose the statistics they like and use only them, sorry. It doesn't work like that. If you want to be 1 or 19 or 30, use everything that makes you that number or stop using hte number at all.

Pissedoffteacher said...

Anonymous doesn't like a statistic that makes the schools look bad and claims it has no validity. For his or her information, I did look it up and agree that the way it is arrived at is pretty silly but I also know the graduation rate and the rate of students going on to post secondary education is just as flawed, probably more flawed. He or she can't pick and choose the statistics they like and use only them, sorry. It doesn't work like that. If you want to be 1 or 19 or 30, use everything that makes you that number or stop using hte number at all.