When the New Rochelle Board of Education met on September 28, 2010 at Isaac E. Young Middle School to discuss the high school graduation rates, the definition of drop-out was requested. Susan Yom clarified that all students are included as "still enrolled." It was suggested the actual rate could be 2.6% or 4%. It was mentioned that GED’s (General Equivalency Diplomas) are included as "still enrolled" at New Rochelle High School. The Superintendent of Schools, Richard Organisciak, added, "You are obligated to keep a child until he or she is at least 17 years old." However, the power point presentation on high school graduation rates titled, "Pathways to Graduation – Middle Schools." highlighted the much higher rate of students who had not graduated in four years.
This provocatively titled report on the routes to graduation in the New Rochelle Public Schools was an analysis of the graduation rates at New Rochelle High School for the graduating 2009 class where 775 students were tracked and 2010 where 798 students were tracked. The categories were students from: Albert Leonard Middle School, Isaac E. Young Middle School and students who entered the New Rochelle Public Schools in ninth grade. Student statistics on gender, race, disabilities and limited English proficiency were listed; by June 2009, 66% of all students been graduated, but by August that year, 77% had graduated. The next year, 70% had graduated in June and 80% by August. The highest rates of graduation were by Asian/Pacific Islander background students at 97% for 2009 and 94% for 2010. The lowest graduation rates were for limited English proficiency students with 24% graduating in 2009 and 38% graduating in 2010.. Interestingly, the percent of students with disabilities graduating dropped from 65% in 2009 to 56% in 2010. Black students in both years had the highest increase in number graduating in August from 19% in 2009 to 15% in 2010. Limited English proficiency students followed by Hispanic students had the highest percent of students that had not graduated and were still enrolled at New Rochelle High School.
Three categories of students entering New Rochelle High School were then analyzed: for example in 2006, 43% of the students were from Albert Leonard Middle School, 37% from Isaac E. Young Middle School, and 20% of them were enrolled in the ninth grade at New Rochelle High School for the first time in the school system. A pattern begins to appear: in August 2009, 91% of students entering from Albert Leonard Middle School had graduated, and in 2010, 90%. 68% of Isaac E. Young students in 2009 had graduated and 72% in 2010, while students entering the New Rochelle Public Schools had an 65% graduation rate in 2009 and 73%in 2010. Among the inconsistencies were the notably higher percent of both male and female students coming Albert Leonard Middle School that had graduated. This included Black, Hispanic, White and economically disadvantaged students graduating in 2009 and the disparities that remained in 2010. Students with disabilities who had entered from Albert Leonard Middle School were the one category from that feeder school that experienced a drop in graduation rates from 85% in 2009 to 55% in 2010.
A list of specific programs to assist students at New Rochelle High School and Isaac E. Young Middle School do not give any specifics such as how many students, or what categories of students attended these programs. Titles of some programs were illustrative of the help that was being offered, such as programs for limited English proficiency students. There is also no indication of how students were selected for these programs or how many hours they attended. For example, if after-school programs were included, were economically disadvantaged students who may need to work at part time jobs excluded? Since only students coming from Albert Leonard Middle School appear to have significantly higher graduation rates, why haven’t the reasons for this been explained? Since some students in New Rochelle are still allowed to attend a school of their choice, did this group benefit?.
Parents are certainly an important component of the educational progress that students make. Reports circulate in the community that parents were not informed that their child was cutting classes. Is necessary follow-up being made by teachers or administrators? In this 21st Century there is both an increase of knowledge of how learning takes place and new programs harnessing this knowledge (e.g. even the New Rochelle High School "brain fitness training to enhance cognitive skills" is an example). Instead of categorizing any school, gender, race or student disability, these statistical analysis should be viewed as challenges for the future. All students deserve nothing less than the best possible education.
Printed in the October 14 issue of the Westchester Guardian