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Title: High School Discharges Revisited: Trends in New York City's Discharge Rates, 2000-2007
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2009
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Abstract: In 2002, Advocates for Children and the Public Advocate of New York City published a landmark report revealing the large number of New York City high school students who are “discharged” from the school system without graduating.3 Discharged students are removed from the city’s enrollment rolls entirely; they are not counted as dropouts, nor are they counted in the denominator when graduation rates are calculated. As the number of discharges rises, so too does the graduation rate. Based on evidence that high schools had illegally ejected students entitled to continue attending public schools, Advocates for Children coined these students “push-outs” and subsequently filed three class action complaints against the city. 4 In summer 2003, Chancellor Joel Klein condemned the practice. "The problem of what's happening to the students is a tragedy," Klein said, "It's not just a few instances, it's a real issue.”5 In a message to principals, Klein made it “unequivocally clear” that he did not support this practice and would take steps to end it, “It is a disservice to our students and ourselves to rely on shortcuts or play numbers games in order to make things look better than they really are.''6 Following the Advocates for Children lawsuits, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) revised its policy on transfers and discharges in January 2004 to bar schools from discharging students without their consent, and required schools to conduct planning interviews before discharging students to non-high school diploma granting programs. 7 In addition, the DOE created an “Office of Multiple Pathways” in order to better serve overage students who had . . .
Url: http://www.jobsfirstnyc.org/docs/DischargesRevisited.pdf
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Authors: Jennings, Jennifer L; Haimson, Leonie
Publisher: Columbia University
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Education, Other
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