Differences in school choice by race contribute to school segregation and unequal access to effective schools. Conditional on test score and district of residence, Black and Hispanic families consistently choose schools with fewer white and Asian students, lower average achievement, and lower value-added. This paper combines unique survey data and…

Most U.S. students attend racially segregated schools. To understand this pattern, I employ a survey experiment with New York City families actively choosing schools and investigate whether they express racialized school preferences. I find school racial composition heterogeneously affects white, black, Latinx, and Asian parents' and students'…

In an effort to better understand how students' length of exposure to American secondary schools relates to academic performance in core, first-year college courses, this study surveyed and analyzed the demography, study habits, and grades of 267 freshman composition (ENG 101) students at a large, urban community college. Results indicated that…

Most analysis of, and debate about, public charter schools focuses on student performance on standardized reading and math tests. These are important indicators of school quality; but school safety is also a crucial consideration. Unfortunately, whereas standardized test score data are universally available, reliable data on school safety are…

Between 1994 and 2014, New York City engaged in a historic overhaul of its publicly funded high schools. This included the opening of charter high schools (made possible by a 1999 state law) and the creation of new, smaller district high schools that would, in time, replace many of the city's large, traditional, comprehensive, and vocational high…

This technical appendix provides additional information about the sample, data, and estimation strategy used for a series of American Educator Panels (AEP) Data Notes published by the RAND Corporation in 2019. The Data Note series is intended to provide brief but incisive analyses of teacher and school leader survey results that may be of…

In this paper, we show that the design and decentralized, school-based scoring of New York's high school exit exams--the Regents Examinations--led to the systematic manipulation of test sores just below important proficiency cutoffs. Our estimates suggest that teachers inflate approximately 40 percent of test scores near the proficiency cutoffs.…

The growing cost of college is one of the most significant barriers to completion. However, research shows that frequent, intensive advising, combined with financial and other support, can make a tremendous difference in helping students complete. For two years, TICAS has worked with a group of rigorously evaluated organizations across the country…

This descriptive study used nonparametric (Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U) tests to determine the efficacy of New York City (NYC) small school initiative. A sample of 369 NYC high schools was tested on various performance indicators. The results: Large schools generated statistically significant higher performance scores and were more effective…

Although the United States is touted as a country where anyone could be successful regardless of social class or national background, upward social mobility is hard to attain. Less than one in 10 children born into poverty will reach the top of the income distribution. For many individuals, postsecondary education has historically been a way out…

This report presents final school completion outcome data on class of 1998 students in New York City public schools as of June 2001, noting separate outcomes for the 1998 special education class. The overall class of 1998 graduation rate was 69.5 percent. Approximately half of the students who continued their education beyond 4 years of high…

Examination of dropout trends in New York City for 1986-87 reveals the following: (1) the annual dropout rate was 7.3 percent for the high schools, and 8.3 percent system-wide; (2) the estimated four-year dropout rate was 26.3 percent for the high schools, and 29.2 percent system-wide; (3) the 1986-87 four-year high school dropout rate was 6.2…

This study followed the progress of New York City high school students in the class of 1999 through the end of June 2002, three years past their expected four-year graduation date. Separate outcomes for students in the 1999 special education class are also presented. Data from the New York City public school system indicated that by June 2002,…

This report presents progress toward school completion of New York City public school students who entered ninth grade in 1997 and were scheduled to graduate on time in 2001. Outcomes are presented for the whole class and by gender, native language, race/ethnicity, and immigrant status. The class of 2001 dropout rate was 20.4 percent, marking the…

New York City is establishing a number of new small high schools. Implementation of this reform effort is described through the example of the Legacy School for Integrated Studies, a school committed to providing an intellectually responsible education that is sensitive to issues faced by people of color and the poor. (SLD)