Building on prior research by two of the present authors, which uses lottery-like features in New York City's high school admissions process to rigorously demonstrate that new small public high schools in the district are markedly improving graduation prospects for disadvantaged students, the present paper demonstrates that these graduation…

In 2002, New York City embarked on an ambitious and wide-ranging series of education reforms. At the heart of its high school reforms were three interrelated changes: the institution of a district wide high school choice process for all rising ninth-graders, the closure of 31 large, failing high schools with an average graduation rate of 40…

Educators, researchers, and policymakers across the political spectrum agree that America must send more of its young people to college and find ways to help them graduate. Yet it has been difficult to design and implement effective strategies for dramatically increasing college enrollment and graduation. In Chicago, an intervention now under way,…

During the past decade, New York City undertook a district-wide high school reform that is perhaps unprecedented in its scope, scale, and pace. Between fall 2002 and fall 2008, the school district closed 23 large failing high schools (with graduation rates below 45 percent), opened 216 new small high schools (with different missions, structures,…