Very Good News About NYC Schools
Not so long ago, the conventional wisdom was that New York City public schools were inferior to those in the rest of the state. The notion had a basis in reality: New York City students scored well below state averages on math and English exams. As a fascinating new report by the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO) makes clear, however, that is no longer true.
“Controlling for demographics, the average charter school in NYC has 30% more kids pass the state math exam than the average school in New York State. These kinds of large effects are almost never seen in education policy.”
“The performance of city students now is essentially the same as those in the rest of the state in English Language Arts and less than three percent points behind the state average in math,” the report notes.
The IBO study highlights how the city’s relative standing against the state is dramatically differet than it was a decade ago. In 2006, the city lagged the state by 11 points in English and 9 points in math.
Are the increases in New York City scores due to Gotham having gentrified over the past decade? According to the IBO, the answer is no. The report accounts for economic and demographic variables and finds that when students’ backgrounds are factored into the equation, the city’s schools look even better.
After controlling for demographics in all 3,500 schools across the state, the report finds that the average New York City public school (including charters) performs 14.1 percentage points higher in English and 15.2 percentage points higher in math than the average school in the rest of the state.
“The impact of being in a school in New York City was both considerable and statistically significant,” the report notes. In empirical research language, that’s about as emphatic as it gets.
How has the city caught up to the rest of the state? The IBO report finds that charter schools are a major factor. Again controlling for demographics, the average New York City charter school performs 18.8 percentage points higher in English and 30.1 percentage points higher in math.
To reiterate, these are not percent increases. These are percentage point increases. Controlling for demographics, the average charter school in New York City has 30% more kids pass the state math exam than the average school in New York State. These kinds of large effects are almost never seen in education policy.
As the IBO report notes, not all charters are equal. Among the 20 charter schools in New York City with English proficiency above 50%, 12 are part of the Success Academy network and four are part of the Icahn network.
To be sure, the news is not all good. The IBO report notes that of the 329 schools across New York State with English proficiency rates below 10%, 168 are in New York City (161 are traditional district schools, seven are charter schools). Overall in 2015, 35.2% of NYC students scored proficient in math, and 30.4% were proficient in English (compared to 38.1% in math and 31.3% in English statewide).
These are not stellar numbers, and while the city-state gap narrowed in ELA in 2015, it actually increased slightly in math.
But the IBO also notes that New York State’s exams are demanding. New York is one of only 10 states to set its proficiency bar at a level that is equal to or tougher than the standard set by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The report also notes that the gap between the city and state on the eighth grade NAEP exams has been halved over 12 years.
The bottom line is that while city kids once lagged far behind state proficiency averages, they now approach parity. In fact, when demographics are factored in, city kids outperform students in the rest of the state by a significant margin.
Kudos to the IBO for such a rigorous, important study. More importantly, kudos to the hard-working New York City educators who have made these results possible.
This piece originally appeared in New York Daily News
This piece originally appeared in New York Daily News