A NYCAN Research Report

The State of

New York

Public Education, 2013

Preface

Information is power. It opens doors, it transforms lives and--like a great education--it changes everything.

With that in mind, I bring you NYCAN’s 2013 State of New York Public Education report: a visual guide to our school system, packed with information I know you can use. This report tells a story, one with encouraging highs and disturbing lows.

Our state is making progress: we won competitive Race to the Top funds, adopted the Common Core State Standards and launched a top-notch teacher evaluation system. New York also ranks near the top of the country in pre-K accessibility for 4-year-olds.

But we still have a long way to go.

While New York spends almost double the national average on schools per pupil, that money hasn't bought our kids the education they deserve. Only 60 percent of New York’s eighth-grade students are proficient in math, and just half are proficient in English-language arts. Unbundle these numbers and you’ll find startling achievement gaps: black and Latino students trail their white peers by more than 20 percentage points in both fundamental subjects.

And these gaps persist. Fewer than 65 percent of our black and Latino students are graduating from high school on time. Among English-language learners, the graduation rate is an abysmal 46 percent. Believe it or not, as of 2010, New York is home to more “dropout factories” than Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

You’ll find these facts, and others, as you flip through our report. But don’t stop there. Our kids need you to engage your community around this report, share it with your lawmakers and discuss it with your Parent Teacher Association. After all, having information is only the first step. We must use it, too.


Christina Grant
Executive Director, NYCAN

The kids

There are 2,689,969 students in New York. They differ in race, economic standing and native language, but every one of these children deserves a great school.

Student demographics, 2010–2011

Low-income and non-low-income students, 2010–2011

English language proficiency, 2010–2011

Sources. "Low-income" is defined as eligible for free and reduced-price lunch.

The schools

In New Yorks’s vast K–12 system, there are 214,189 teachers and 697 school districts responsible for providing every child with a great education.

New York’s K–12 public school system

Sources here, here and here


A great education begins with pre-K. Children who received pre-K education have stronger vocabulary skills, higher school attendance rates and better reading and math test scores. Though New York ranks near the top in pre-K accessibility for 4-year-olds, our state is at the bottom in pre-K accessibility for 3-year-olds.

New York students' access to government-funded pre-K programs

Total state program enrollment
103,646
Number of students enrolled in federally funded Head Start programs
43,775
Number of students enrolled in state-funded Head Start programs
0
Percentage of 3-year-olds enrolled in state pre-K programs
0%
Percentage of 3-year-olds enrolled in Head Start programs
8%
National Institute for Early Education Research's access ranking for 3-year-olds
24th out of 24
Percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled in state pre-K programs
45%
Percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled in Head Start programs
11%
National Institute for Early Education Research's access ranking for 4-year-olds
9th out of 39

The money

New York spends more money on elementary and secondary education than any neighboring state and far outpaces the national average of $10,615 per pupil.

Regional comparison of per-pupil spending, 2009–2010

The learning

The real question is: what are New Yorkers getting in return for their money?

Despite New York’s high per-pupil spending, state assessments show that our students aren’t getting the education they need. By eighth grade, nearly 40 percent aren’t proficient in math and 50 percent aren’t proficient in English-language arts.

Percentage of fourth-graders scoring at least proficient on New York’s state assessments in math and English-language arts, 2012

Math
ELA

Fourth-graders

Eighth-graders



The Nation’s Report Card is another barometer of student achievement that allows for state-to-national comparisons. Its proficiency rates are expected to mirror results from the Common Core State Standards-aligned tests that arrive to New York’s elementary and middle school classrooms in 2013. The Common Core State Standards are part of a state-led initiative to adopt clear academic standards that will better prepare students for college and the workplace. Unfortunately, New York's results on the Nation's Report Card suggest that more than 60 percent of eighth-graders won't be able to meet that mark.

Percentage of students scoring at least proficient on Nation’s Report Card in math and reading, 2011

Math
Reading

Fourth-graders

Eighth-graders

Sources for math in fourth grade and eighth grade; reading in fourth grade and eighth grade.


New York’s SAT results are similarly disappointing. More of our students are taking the SAT, but their performance has steadily declined since 2006. The College Board sets an SAT score of 1550 as the benchmark for college- and career-readiness. By that standard, the average New York student isn’t prepared for higher education and the workplace.

Trends in New York’s SAT participation (number of students)

Trends in New York’s SAT performance

Critical Reading
Math
Writing
Total score (out of 2400 possible points)

Regional comparison of SAT performance, 2011

Compared to neighboring states, New York’s students have the lowest average SAT score

Sources for NY participation and performance here and here.
Regional comparison by state: New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The gaps

In addition to poor overall performance, startling achievement gaps remain between students of color and their white peers, as well as between low-income students and their more affluent counterparts.

Achievement gaps:
Black
Latino

Statewide racial achievement gaps in New York State’s grades 3–8 assessments, 2011–2012

Percentage of students proficient or above in Math

Percentage of students proficient or above in English-language arts

Achievement gap:
Low-income

Statewide income-based achievement gaps in New York State’s grades 3–8 assessments, 2011–2012

Percentage of students proficient or above in Math

Percentage of students proficient or above in English-language arts

Achievement gaps:
New York City
Buffalo
Rochester
Syracuse
Yonkers

Achievement gaps between “big-five” cities and statewide population in grades 3–8 assessments, 2011–2012

There are also wide achievement gaps between New York’s “big-five” school districts and the rest of the state. Rochester and Syracuse, for example, are more than 30 percentage points behind in English-language arts proficiency, and nearly 40 percentage points behind in math proficiency.

Percentage of students proficient or above in Math

Percentage of students proficient or above in English-language arts



‪The Nation’s Report Card indicates that New York’s achievement gaps between Latino students and their white peers exceed the nationwide gaps. By eighth grade, New York’s Latinos are 26 percentage points behind whites in reading, compared to 23 percentage points nationally. In math, our state’s Latinos trail whites by 27 percentage points, four percentage points worse than the nation as whole.

State-to-national comparison of eighth-grade proficiency achievement gaps in math and reading, 2011

Math (in percentage points)

  • Jurisdiction
  • Black/white achievement gap
  • 27
  • 30
  • Latino/white achievement gap
  • 27
  • 23
  • Low-income/non-low-income achievement gap
  • 25
  • 28

Reading (in percentage points)

  • Jurisdiction
  • Black/white achievement gap
  • 28
  • 27
  • Latino/white achievement gap
  • 26
  • 23
  • Low-income/non-low-income achievement gap
  • 23
  • 26
Source for math and reading; see also.


Advanced Placement courses give high school students a taste of college-level rigor and an opportunity to earn college credits by scoring three or higher on an end-of-year exam. But success rates on the AP exam reveal clear college- and career-readiness gaps. Black and Native American students are scoring three or higher on the AP exam at less than half the rate of their Latino, white and Asian classmates.

Percentage of graduates scoring three or higher on an AP exam at any point in high school, 2011



In New York, black, Latino and Native American students fall more than 200 points short of the college- and career-readiness benchmark.

New York’s SAT Performance by race

The dropouts

When students arrive to high school without the requisite math and reading skills, many of them drop out or fail to graduate on time. More than 35 percent of New York’s black and Latino students don’t graduate from high school within four years. In some cases, students are stuck in dropout factories, high schools in which 40 percent or more of ninth-graders drop out by 12th grade. The number of dropout factories has declined since 2002, but at last count there were 130 dropout factories responsible for educating our kids.


Percentage of students
who graduated
in four years

New York’s four-year high school graduation rates for the 2007 cohort

Regional comparison of dropout factories

Number of dropout factories in:
2002
2010

The graduates

Getting our children to and through college is pivotal to their economic futures. In 2018, 63 percent of New York’s jobs will require an education beyond high school. Unfortunately, about 70 percent of students at our two-year colleges fail to graduate within four years.

Four-year graduation rates of degree- and certificate-seeking students at two-year colleges by state, 2008

One = 10%
  • Pennsylvania 45%
  • New York 32%
  • Massachusetts 26%
  • Connecticut 21%
  • New Jersey 20%

Six-year graduation rates of bachelor’s degree-seeking students at four-year colleges by state, 2008

The policies

Thankfully, New York is making progress. Our state’s winning Race to the Top application, adoption of Common Core State Standards and newly approved statewide teacher evaluation system are all important steps toward improving our schools. But we can’t stop there. High-quality charter schools still lack equitable access to facilities and their growth remains capped. To ensure that every child has access to a great school, we must keep pushing forward with reforms that advance greater choices, greater accountability and greater flexibility.

New York’s progress on improving schools

Did New York win funding in Phase 1, 2 or 3 of the federal government’s Race to the Top competition?
Yes, $696,646,000 in Phase 2
Did New York win federal funding from the Race to the Top Phase 3 Early Learning Challenge?
No
Did New York receive a waiver from the federal government’s education requirements?
Yes
Did New York adopt the Common Core State Standards?
Yes
Did New York join a Common Core State Standards consortium?
Yes, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers
Does New York have a statewide teacher evaluation system?
No
Is student achievement factored into a teacher’s evaluation?
Yes
What ranking did the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools assign to New York’s charter school law?
8th out of 43
Is there a cap on the number of charter schools that can operate in New York?
Yes, 460 charter schools are allowed to operate in the state
Do New York’s charter schools have equitable access to public school facilities?
No
Sources




The next steps

There is much to celebrate about New York’s progress, particularly in the past year. But this report makes it clear that New York needs all hands on deck to strike back against our achievements gaps, give every child the chance to reach their potential and prove that demographics don’t have to be destiny.

As it stands, too many of our kids are falling behind based on where they’re born, the color of their skin and their family income. New York is home to large achievement gaps that start in grade school and follow our students through 12th grade, especially in urban centers like Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse.

We know that money isn’t the silver bullet, not when New York already outspends our neighbors and the rest of the country. If we’re serious about giving all kids a great public education, we need to champion dynamic reforms that put a premium on accountability, school choice and flexibility.

We'll need your help. Now that you’re armed with the facts, we hope you will join NYCAN in the 2013 legislative session as we fight against anemic high school graduation rates, college-readiness gaps and the failing, calcified status quo. Please share this report with your family, friends, neighbors and elected officials, and then visit www.nycan.org to sign up for updates on other ways you can be part of our 2013 campaign.

It will take an entire movement of New Yorkers to enact the change our schools so desperately need. We hope you join us.

We won’t rest until
every student has access
to a great public school.