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DOCUMENT RESUME UD 030 306 ED 379 378 The Class of 1994. Longitudinal Report. TITLE New York City Board of Education, Brooklyn, NY. INSTITUTION Office of Educational Research. PUB DATE [94] NOTE 40p. Evaluative/Feasibility (142) PUB TYPE Reports MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Alaska Natives; American Indians; Asian Americans; DESCRIPTORS Black Students; Cohort Analysis; *Dropouts; Enrollment; *Graduation; High School Graduates; High Schools; *High School Students; Hispanic Americans; Limited English Speaking; Longitudinal Studies; *Minority Groups; Pacific Americans; *Urban Schools; White Students *New York City Board of Education IDENTIFIERS ABSTRACT This report tracks the school-completion progress of New York City students who entered ninth grade in fall 1990 and were scheduled to graduate on time in June 1994. The report indicates the percentages of students (including those in special education) who graduated, dropped out, and remained in school for summer school or a fifth year in fall 1994. After correction for transfers in and out of the system, the class of 1994 contained 63,130 students. The dropout rate (without transfers) was 18.7 percent, and the total graduation rate (through June) was 44.3 percent, with 37 percent still enrolled at the end of the 1993-94 school year. A little over 14 percent were of limited English proficiency. Almost one-third of the class was Hispanic American, and just over 10 percent was Asian/Pacific Islanders. Blacks made up just under 40 percent of students, and less than 20 percent were white. Substantially higher percentages of Asian/Pacific Islander and White students graduated within 4 years than did Black or Hispanic students. While Blacks dropped out at a rate comparable to the class as a whole, Hispanics dropped out at a higher rate. Overall, school completion findings show little change from those for the class of 1993. Seven figures and six tables present school completion figures. An appendix contains school-level analyses in table form. (SLD) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** 4 The Class of 1994 Longitudinal Report "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS OF EDUCATION MATERIAL Fi.S BEEN GRANTED BY U b DEPARTMENT IrePtovement Research and OnKe or Edueal,enal INFORMATION ESOURCES EDUCATIONAL CENTER (ERIC) ep,OCluCetl as has been Caganaatuan krhS document petsee o, ,ete.ved f,orn the tc)tnat.ep tt many` tc ,n,cnove avP beer` Ntno ,nanges (eptoductto, nuaitty TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES stated e thStiCtU ve et eetetees INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) t'oe'ts esSarov ,e13,eserq "-tent do not ne, pobcr OF pl DI SQO ^nr BEST COPY AVAILABLE I. INTRODUCTION This report tracks the progress toward school completion of students who entered the ninth grade in fall, 1990 and were scheduled to graduate on time in June, 1994. Designated as the Class of 1994, the report indicates the percentages of students who graduated, dropped out, and remained in school to attend summer school or enter a fifth year of high school in fall, 1994. As noted above, the Class of 1994 is the focus of this report. The Class of 1994 is the ninth class to be studied for at least four years using the longitudinal study method. However, the results in this report represent the status of students in the Class of 1994 only through the Since updates and corrections to the central files are made end of the 1993-94 school year. during the fall semester, the results in this report are not directly comparable to the four-year statistics provided in previous reports. Also, this report excludes students who transfer out of the New York City public schools from the calculation of dropout and graduation rates. Statistical comparisons with the results for previous classes (excluding discharged transfers), (See page 14.) are made in the section entitled, "What are the results across classes?" The present report focuses on the outcomes for the entire Class of 1994, as well as on the outcomes of various student groups, each of whom has specific academic needs, including students with limited English proficiency (LEP). In addition, results by school and program type, including the performance of students in Project Achieve schools, are included. Outcome data for the individual high schools are presented in the Appendix. Definition of the Longitudinal Study Group General education students were assigned to the Class of 1994 based on the year in which they entered grades 9 through 12. The vast majority (almost 90 percent) of the students in the Class of 1994 entered the study group as first-time ninth-graders during the 1990-91 school year. The remainder of the students transferred into the New York City public school system during high school and joined the study group as tenth graders in 1991-92, as eleventh graders in 1992-93, or as twelfth graders in 1993-94. The study group includes students served in special education resource rooms. All of these students would have completed the traditional four-year high school sequence by June, 1994. Students who were discharged to other school systems with confirmation of enrollment in those school systems were deleted from the study group. The numbers of these students are reported. Since self-contained special education classes are ungraded, students were assigned to the Special Education Class of 1994 based on their age and enrollment in special education Students were included in the Special Education Class of 1994 if they were 14 programs. education class years c'd during the 1990-91 school year and were in a self-contained special in a community school district school or high school or in a citywide special education initial year program. Students were not added to the Special Education Class of 1994 after the Results for these students are presented in a because of the ungraded nature of their classes. later section of this report. DEFINITION OF OUTCOMES The primary focus of this report is on the number and percent of students graduating on time and dropping out of the New York City public schools. Related to this focus is the determination of the status of the entire class at the time the students were expected to graduate. In order to provide these results, each student in the study group is assigned to one of five possible categories based on each student's status at the end of the 1993-94 school year: students who have left the school system without enrolling in another Dropouts: educational program that leads either to a high school diploma or prepares the student for the Test of General Educational Development leading to a general equivalency diploma (G.E.D.). Students are identified as dropouts during the school year if, after a period of non- attendance (generally, at least one month) and a subsequent search by the Bureau of Attendance, the student does not return to school. According to State Education 17 during the school year must be Department regulations, students who turn maintained on register until the end of the school year, at which time the student can be discharged as a dropout. students who have received either a high Graduates and Other School Completers: school diploma, G.E.D., or special education certificate by the end of the 1993-94 For the first time, graduates are identified by the type of diploma school year. regular high school diploma, Regents-Endorsed diploma, or Regents- received: Endorsed diploma with Honors. Discharges, Transfers and Students Leaving the School System: these are students who left the school system to enroll in another educational program or setting. This includes students who entered local private or parochial schools, left New York City altogether, or entered a non-Board of Education G.E.D. preparation program. Students who age- out of the school system and students who died prior to completing high school are also Students in this category are identified as "Discharged" counted in this category. to avoid confusion with high school transfers within the New York City public schools. Students may be discharged from the school system only after a request for the student's records (or other official documentation) has been received or there is a confirmed admission to the new educational setting. Students who are discharged from the school system no longer attend the New York As such, it is inappropriate to hold schools responsibile and City public schools. Therefore, following their initial accounting, students accountable for these students. who were discharged from the school system are not included in the final statistics for the study group. -2- Students Still Enrolled in the School System: students who were still on register as of the end of the 1993-94 school year, including students who will graduate in August, 1994. Unknown Status: students whose admissions and/or discharges have not been recorded due to either errors or delays in data reporting or computer system entry. H. THE CLASS OF 1994 Who are the students in the Class of 1994? After adding admissions to the Class in grades 10, 11, and 12 and removing students who transferred to other school systems, there were 63,130 students in the Class of 1994. Almost 90 percent of the 63,130 students in the Class of 1994 entered the cohort as first-time ninth-graders during the 1990-91 school year. (See Table 1.) An additional 12,684 students were in the Class of 1994 but were discharged from the school system prior to their expected graduation date. TABLE 1 Grade and Year of Entry into the Class of 1994 Total Students Transfers Grade and in Class (Discharges) Admissions Year of Entry 64,850 2,939 67,789** 9th Grade, 1990-91 65,814 4,808 3,844 10th Grade, 1991-92 65,266 3,332 2,784 11th Grade, 1992-93 63,130 2,569 433 12th Grade, 1993-94 63,130 12,864 75,814 Total Number of students transferred (discharged) from the New York City public schools during the indicated school year. ** Number of students on register in grade 9 who were not held over from the previous school year. The Class of 1994 contains a slightly higher proportion of females than males (51.5 percent females and 48.5 percent males). Nearly 40 percent of the students were over age for grade when they entered high Research has shown that these students are at greater risk of not completing school. high school than those of appropriate age for grade. 14.4 percent of the students in the Class of 1994 were limited English proficient (LEP). 28.5 percent of the LEP students entered the New York City public schools in the 10th, 11th, or 12th grade. Most were recent arrivals from other countries and many were over age for grade. -4- 5.8 percent (3,639 students) of the Class of 1994 were in a special education resource room class at some point during the four years. What were the school completion outcomes for the Class of 1994? Figure 1 shows the outcomes for students in the Class of 1994, as of the end of the 1993-94 school year. The overall results for the Class of 1994 indicate the following: Figure 1 Outcomes for the Class of 1994 As of the End of the 1993-94 School Year (N = 63,130) * Includes students with uoknown status. ** Includes special education diplomas and certificates. ***Includes Regents-Endorsed and Regents-Endorsed with Honors diplomas. Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding. However, because discharged students are not the dropout rate was 18.7 percent. is not comparable to any similar statistics reported included in this percentage, it previously. the total graduation rate for the Class of 1994 is 44.3 percent (which does not include August, 1994 graduates). -5- t-1 a total of 37.0 percent of the Class of 1994 was still enrolled in school as of the end of the 1993-94 school year. Based on previous studies, between 10 and 1.5 percent of these students will complete their graduation requirements during the summer of 1994. Table 2 presents the status of the Class of 1994, for each of the four years of the study. The percent of students in the Class of 1994 receiving a G.E.D. was 3.1 percent and the percent of students receiving diplomas (including Regents-endorsed and Regents-endorsed with Honors) was 41.2 percent. Table 2 Class of 1994 Status by Year Year Four-Year Total 1993-94 1992-93 1991-92 Status 1990-91 6,278 3,514 18.7 11,791 400 Dropouts 1,599 G.E.D Recipients 1,180 3.1 1,971 705 77 9 Graduates and 41.2 26,014 25,082* Others 839 78 15 Total Graduates and 44.3 26,262 27,985 G 2.D. Recipients 1,544 24 155 Students Still Enrolled, 23,237 23,237 36.8 as of June 30, 1994 --- Students With 0.2 117 Unknown Status 117 63,130 5,058 55,894 100.0 424 1,754 Total Transfers Out, Other Discharges (for accounting 2,569 3,332 12,684 3,844 2,939 purposes, only) Of these students, 19,187 students (76.5 percent) received a regular high school diploma, 4,513 students (18.0 percent) received a Regents-endorsed diploma, and 1,288 students (5.1 percent) received a Regents-endorsed diploma with honors. The remaining 94 students (0.4 percent) received special education diplomas or certificates. -6- For the first time, data are available on the number and percent of students in a cohort class by the type of high school diploma received. As the results in Table 2 indicate, for the over 25,000 students who received a diploma during the 1993-94 school year, over three- fourths received a regular high school diploma. Almost 20 percent of these students received a Regents-endorsed diploma, and five percent received a Regents-endorsed diploma with honors. (See Figure 1.) The 94 students who received special education diplomas or certificates were originally general education students. Subsequent to their identification as members of the Class of 1994, these students were placed in special education classes; hence, their special education diplomas and/or certificates. Outcomes by Various Student Groups in the Class of 1994 What are the outcomes for the Class of 1994 by gender? As noted above, the Class of 1994 is evenly divided by gender. However, an analysis of the student outcomes for the Class of 1994, by gender (after the discharged students have been removed), showed differences in the results. As seen in Figure 2, a substantially greater Figure 2 Four-Year Outcomes for the Class of 1994 by Gender Females Males (N = 32,461) (N = 30,608) * Includes students with unknown status. te: Data do not include students who were discharged from the school system. percentage of females than males graduated on time by the end of the 1993-94 school year. Further, the percentage of males dropping out was more than two percentage points higher than that of females. Also, a substantially higher percentage of males were enrolled in school after four years of high school. -8- I 0