A study commissioned by research group MRDC found that students enrolled at NYC's smaller schools are more likely to graduate on time, compared with students in the City's larger high schools. The study examined student outcomes from the fall of 2006 6o the present. According to WNYC, the city has opened over 200 small high schools during the Bloomberg Administration:
"On average, the four-year graduation rate for students in the small schools was 74.6 percent compared to 65.1 percent in the control group. The researchers also looked at students entering small high schools in the fall of 2004 and 2005. When all three groups were averaged, with 12,000 students attending 85 small schools, the total graduation rate was 70.4 percent compared to 60.9 percent for students attending other schools. The results build upon a previous study released last year.
"'It seems pretty clear now that these small high schools are much, much stronger than some of the traditional high schools,' said MDRC president Gordon Berlin. 'So we came away very impressed by the size of the result.'"
The study results were especially noteworthy since NYC's overall graduation rate had increased during the time period, and small high schools saw their graduation rates rise even faster.
