York City Public High Schools Research Articles

Exploring teachers’ experiences of a professional learning community

ABSTRACT Our ability to structure professional learning opportunities in ways that teachers value and that support the implementation of the strategies and ideas contained therein are important considerations for improving teachers’ practice. Professional learning opportunities can be structured in many ways, including through the use of professional learning communities. This study explores a professional learning community focused on the teaching of mathematics for social justice in which seven New York City public high school teachers participated. Relying on survey and interview data, the study explores teachers’ beliefs and opinions about the professional development. The study examines those characteristics teachers valued such as working with peers, engaging in the opportunity voluntarily, and working over an extended period of time. Also considered are suggestions for improvement including the need for support through the implementation stage.

Differential Prediction for Disadvantaged Students and Schools: The Role of High School Characteristics

Validity studies of college admissions tests have found that, on average, students who are Black or Hispanic earn lower freshman grade-point averages (FGPAs) than predicted by these test scores. This differential prediction is used as a measure of bias. These studies, however, conflate student and school characteristics. The differential prediction affecting minoritized groups may arise in part because they attended high schools in which college enrollees, regardless of race, perform worse than predicted. Using data on students who graduated from New York City public high schools in 2011 and enrolled in the City University of New York, we examined this using college admissions and high school test scores. There was no differential prediction based on race/ethnicity among students within high schools when school characteristics were accounted for. Instead, overprediction of FGPA was associated with the school proportion of enrolled Black and Hispanic students. Overprediction was larger in models with high school test scores.

Breaking Ties: Regression Discontinuity Design Meets Market Design

Many schools in large urban districts have more applicants than seats. Centralized school assignment algorithms ration seats at over‐subscribed schools using randomly assigned lottery numbers, non‐lottery tie‐breakers like test scores, or both. The New York City public high school match illustrates the latter, using test scores and other criteria to rank applicants at the city's screened schools, combined with lottery tie‐breaking at the rest. We show how to identify causal effects of school attendance in such settings. Our approach generalizes regression discontinuity methods to allow for multiple treatments and multiple running variables, some of which are randomly assigned. The key to this generalization is a local propensity score that quantifies the school assignment probabilities induced by lottery and non‐lottery tie‐breakers. The utility of the local propensity score is demonstrated in an assessment of the predictive value of New York City's school report cards. Schools that earn the highest report card grade indeed improve SAT math scores and increase graduation rates, though by much less than OLS estimates suggest. Selection bias in OLS estimates of grade effects is egregious for screened schools.

Linking Top Leader Turnover to the Performance of Public Organizations: Evidence from New York City Public High Schools

Limited research has taken the contingency perspective to analyze the conditions under which the impact of top leader turnover on public organizations’ performance may vary. Using panel data from New York City public high schools, this study not only examines the main effect of principal turnover on schools’ performance but also how the main effect depends on schools’ baseline performance. Two estimation strategies—namely fixed effect models and Blundell–Bond dynamic panel models—find a consistent pattern that leader turnover is negatively associated with subsequent organizational performance, and the negative impact is stronger in low-performing organizations than it is in high-performing organizations. This study contributes to the literature by showing that the disruptive effects of leader turnover outweigh the adaptive effects in some public organizations. Moreover, the contingency perspective highlights the role of pre-turnover performance in moderating the effect of leader turnover.

Reframing School Culture through Project-Based Assessment Tasks: Cultivating Transformative Agency and Humanizing Practices in NYC Public Schools

Background/Context In the last two decades, high-stakes testing policies have proliferated exponentially, radically altering the broader educational landscape in the United States. Although these policies continue to dominate educational reform agendas, researchers argue that they have not improved educational outcomes for youth and have exacerbated inequities in schooling across racial, economic, geographic, and linguistic lines. Alternative project-based assessments, like ones used by the New York Performance Standards Consortium (Consortium) are one type of practice to have shown promise in aiding in the creation of humanizing and transformative educational spaces. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This article examines how teachers and students make meaning of their experiences transitioning away from high-stakes standardized tests to project-based assessment tasks (PBATs) and specifically considers the role that PBATs might play in shaping school culture. Drawing from three years of data collection at 10 New York City public high schools new to the Consortium, we discern how students and teachers negotiate this shift, paying attention to the ways in which PBATs fostered transformative and humanizing pedagogies and practices. We raise the following questions: How can schools that use project-based assessment reinvigorate school culture to address enduring inequities that persist in schools? How might PBATs reframe schools to be more humanizing and transformative spaces? Research Design We used multiple methods to understand how project-based assessment shapes school culture and curriculum in these transitioning schools, and drew from qualitative and quantitative traditions. The research involved: (1) a historical inquiry into the role of the Consortium in school reform; (2) a broad investigation of the 10 schools transitioning into the Consortium (including three rounds of annual surveys with teachers and administrators); (3) three in-depth focal case studies of transitioning schools (including observations, interviews with teachers, and surveys with students); and (4) surveys with experienced teachers new to established Consortium schools. Conclusions PBATs are a useful tool to engage students and teachers more actively as participatory actors in the school environment, particularly when overall school structures collectively support its integration. Although there were inevitable challenges in the process of transition, our data suggest that the school actors mediated some of these tensions and ultimately felt that PBATs helped create more dignified spaces for youth. By anchoring the assessment process in the concept of transformative agency, we consider how the transition to PBATs might reinvigorate school culture, redress harmful systemic injustices, and serve as a necessary part of school reform and education policy.

Building tolerance through human rights education: The missing link

Human rights education (HRE) is an emerging practice across formal and informal educational sectors worldwide. However, most literature and theory on HRE emphasize the importance of imparting knowledge about human rights. In this paper, we argue that increasing tolerance among students is a vital but understudied aspect of HRE. This paper is based on the results of a mixed methods longitudinal study conducted in three classrooms across two New York City public high schools. Our methods include a pre-/post- survey, classroom observations, and semi-structured individual and group interviews. The findings indicate that merely teaching about human rights issues is necessary but not sufficient to shift deeply embedded attitudes that contribute to the transformative nature of the human rights framework. We present tolerance as a necessary precursor to positive social change and sustainable human rights implementation.

The Development and Preliminary Impact of CAMP Air: A Web-based Asthma Intervention to Improve Asthma Among Adolescents

ObjectiveDescribe the development and preliminary impact of CAMP Air, a web-based intervention for adolescents with uncontrolled asthma. Materials and MethodsCAMP Air was developed using an iterative process with input from stakeholders and incorporating usability testing results (n = 14 adolescents). To test CAMP Air’s initial impact, 61 adolescents from two New York City public high schools (n = 37) and from clinics, community-based organizations, and third-party recruitment services (i.e., community sample; n = 24) were enrolled in a randomized pilot trial. Participants were randomized to CAMP Air (n = 30) or information-and-referral control intervention (n = 31). A point-person worked with school participants to complete CAMP Air. ResultsCAMP Air participants were satisfied with the intervention and its value for supporting self-management, completing on average 6 of 7 modules. Relative to controls, CAMP Air participants demonstrated significantly improved asthma knowledge, asthma control, night wakening and school absences, and less risk for urgent care visits. Adolescents enrolled in schools completed more modules and had significantly fewer nights woken and school absences than community enrollees. ConclusionCAMP Air improves asthma outcomes among adolescents with uncontrolled asthma. Practice ImplicationsA web-based intervention CAMP Air is a promising intervention. When a point-person works with adolescents, CAMP Air’s access and impact are improved.

Relationship between retail food outlets near public schools and adolescent obesity in New York City.

Using objectively-measured height and weight data from academic years 2009-2013 (n=1,114,010 student-year observations), we estimated the association between the food outlet in closest proximity to schools and the likelihood of obesity among New York City public high school students. Obesity risk was higher for students with a corner store as the nearest option to schools, regardless of whether other food outlet types were located within a quarter mile or a half mile of schools (i.e., benchmarks for zoning policies). Policymakers may want to consider introducing healthier food options near schools, in conjunction with programs to support changes within corner stores.

Breaking Ties: Regression Discontinuity Design Meets Market Design

Centralized school assignment algorithms must distinguish between applicants with the same preferences and priorities. This is done with randomly assigned lottery numbers, nonlottery tie-breakers like test scores, or both. The New York City public high school match illustrates the latter, using test scores, grades, and interviews to rank applicants to screened schools, combined with lottery tie-breaking at unscreened schools. We show how to identify causal effects of school attendance in such settings. Our approach generalizes regression discontinuity designs to allow for multiple treatments and multiple running variables, some of which are randomly assigned.Lotteries generate assignment risk at screened as well as unscreened schools. Centralized assignment also identifies screened school effects away from screened school cutoffs. These features of centralized assignment are used to assess the predictive value of New York City's school report cards. Grade A schools improve SAT math scores and increase the likelihood of graduating, though by less than OLS estimates suggest. Selection bias in OLS estimates is egregious for Grade A screened schools.

Early Birds: An Exploration of Early College Initiative High Schools in New York City and College Persistence

The Early College Initiative (ECI) high schools in New York City provide opportunities to take college-credit courses up to the equivalent of an associate’s degree while in high school. In this study, we measure the association between attending an ECI high school and college persistence. Our sample is the 3,271 students who graduated from New York City public high schools in the ECI network between Fall 2006 and Fall 2013 and enrolled in college. We use survival analysis to measure the relationship between demographic, academic, and behavioral risk factors and persistence of ECI graduates. We find that Black and Latinx students are as likely as White students to persist, when both high school achievement and behavioral factors, such as attendance, are taken into account. Differences in persistence do exist by gender with young women more likely to persist when compared with young men. This study provides empirical evidence that attending early college high schools has the potential to narrow racial and ethnic gaps in postsecondary outcomes.

Breaking Ties: Regression Discontinuity Design Meets Market Design

Many schools in large urban districts have more applicants than seats. Centralized school assignment algorithms ration seats at over-subscribed schools using randomly assigned lottery numbers, non-lottery tie-breakers like test scores, or both. The New York City public high school match illustrates the latter, using test scores and other criteria to rank applicants at ``screened'' schools, combined with lottery tie-breaking at unscreened ``lottery'' schools. We show how to identify causal effects of school attendance in such settings. Our approach generalizes regression discontinuity methods to allow for multiple treatments and multiple running variables, some of which are randomly assigned. The key to this generalization is a local propensity score that quantifies the school assignment probabilities induced by lottery and non-lottery tie-breakers. The local propensity score is applied in an empirical assessment of the predictive value of New York City's school report cards. Schools that receive a high grade indeed improve SAT math scores and increase graduation rates, though by much less than OLS estimates suggest. Selection bias in OLS estimates is egregious for screened schools.

Them That’s Got: How Tie Formation in Partnership Networks Gives High Schools Differential Access to Social Capital

School partnerships are important sources of school social capital. Schools may have unequal access to social capital due to the pattern of relationships in the school-partner network. Using data on school resource needs, sociometric measures, and a set of multilevel logit models, the results of a study of 211 New York City public high schools and 1,098 partner organizations from 1999 to 2005 suggest that high schools have unequal access to partner resources. Already well-endowed schools, in terms of having many experienced teachers or being embedded in dense networks, are most likely to partner. Disadvantaged schools, in terms of having many low socioeconomic status students or being in high-competition network positions, are least likely to partner. So, some policies promoting school partnerships may unintentionally reinforce existing structural inequalities among schools.

Belonging, Place, and Identity: The Role of Social Trust in Developing the Civic Capacities of Transnational Dominican Youth

In the context of transnational migration, schools are reimagining their role in preparing students to become democratic citizens. The qualitative research study described in this article explores the places where five Dominican transnational youth attending a New York City public high school for late-arriving migrants enacted their civic identities. Findings show that the youth developed a sense of place and belonging across the contexts of school, family, and neighborhood that was informed by their dual frame of reference. Participants perceived their school to be a space where they developed social trust due to caring and supportive relationships with teachers and students, and where they were able to draw upon their transnational experiences as civic assets. They reported fewer opportunities to develop social trust in their neighborhoods. Implications are discussed for how these youth perspectives can be leveraged to improve civic outcomes for transnational youth whose sense of belonging and identifications transcend national boundaries.

“If you don’t find a friend in here, it's gonna be hard for you”: Structuring bilingual peer support for language learning in urban high schools

As schools are called on to educate an increasingly diverse student body to higher levels of academic skill, examination of the role of social resources and social contexts in the learning outcomes and experiences of students classified as English learners is urgently needed to better understand the many factors beyond instruction that contribute to adolescent English language development. Four descriptive case studies of Spanish-speaking newcomer immigrant youth in New York City public high schools examine how schools structured peer linguistic resources. Findings suggest that school policies designed to support language development created boundaries that isolated language learners from mainstream and bilingual peers and had profound repercussions for access to opportunities to use and learn academic English. Hyper-segregation is used to describe the multilayered social separation experienced by emergent bilingual students in this study.

“It’s All Possible”: Urban Educators’ Perspectives on Creating a Culturally Relevant, Schoolwide, College-Going Culture for Black and Latino Male Students

This article examines how 18 teachers, counselors, administrators, and support staff from seven New York City public high schools collaborated during the Black and Latino Male Professional Development Initiative (a pseudonym) to develop a “culturally relevant, schoolwide, college-going culture” supportive of Black and Latino males’ college readiness and access. We draw from a mixed-methods empirical research study to discuss participants’ changing understandings of the features of such a culture, and how participants’ action plans illuminate steps for change in their schools. We provide recommendations for creating equitable educational opportunities for Black and Latino males supportive of access to postsecondary education.

Yoga Improves Academic Performance in Urban High School Students Compared to Physical Education: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ABSTRACTYoga programs within schools have become more widespread but research regarding the potential effect on academic achievement remains limited. This study cluster‐randomized 112 students within a single New York City public high school to participate in either school‐based yoga or physical education (PE) for an entire academic year. The primary outcome was mean annual grade point average (GPA). Psychosocial variables (self‐regulation, executive function, well‐being, and mindfulness) were examined as mediators. The study's primary hypothesis that yoga would improve academic performance was not supported by intent to treat analysis; however, a significant interaction was observed between class assignment and class participation. Among students with higher participation, those assigned to yoga classes had a significantly higher GPA. For example, at 49 classes of participation for both groups, students assigned to yoga classes had an estimated 2.70 higher mean GPA (effect size = 0.31) than students assigned to PE.

Are all schools created equal? Learning environments in small and large public high schools in New York City

Over the past two decades, high school reform has been characterized by a belief that “smaller is better.” Much of the expected academic benefit from attending small schools has been credited to their better learning environments. There is little empirical support for this claim, however, and the existing research fails to provide causal evidence. Moreover, recent studies in New York City have shown that students attending newly created small schools do better academically relative to students attending both large and older established small schools. Are these differences in academic outcomes also mirrored by differences in learning environments? In this paper, we address this question by exploring the impact of attending large compared to small high schools on students’ learning environments, considering the differences between small high schools formed in two different eras with different missions and resources. We use a unique data set of school and student-level data from New York City public high school students entering 9th grade in 2008–09 and 2009–10 to examine students’ attitudes about school learning environments along three dimensions: interpersonal relationships, academic expectations and support, and social behavior and safety. While OLS results show that students attending small schools (new and old) perceive better learning environments, instrumenting for selection into these schools challenges those results. In general, it is not clear that small schools provide better learning environments than large schools. Our results challenge the conventional wisdom that the higher academic performance of students in small schools is driven by a better learning environment.

Behaviors and Knowledge of HealthCorps New York City High School Students: Nutrition, Mental Health, and Physical Activity.

HealthCorps provides school wellness programming using curricula to promote changes in nutrition, mental health, and physical activity behaviors. The research objective was to evaluate effects of implementing its curricula on nutrition, mental health, and physical activity knowledge and behavior. Pre- and postsurvey data were collected (N = 2255) during the 2012-2013 academic year from 14 New York City public high schools. An 18-item knowledge questionnaire addressed 3 domains; 26 behavioral items were analyzed by factor analysis to identify 6 behavior domains, breakfast being a seventh 1-item domain. We examined the effects stratified by sex, applying mixed-effects models to take into account clustering effects of schools and participants adjusted for age. The HealthCorps program significantly increased all 3 knowledge domains (p < .05), and significantly changed several key behavioral domains. Boys significantly increased fruits/vegetables intake (p = .03). Girls increased acceptance of new fruits/vegetables (p = .03) and breakfast consumption (p = .04), and decreased sugar-sweetened beverages and energy dense food intake (p = .03). The associations between knowledge and behavior were stronger in boys than girls. The HealthCorps program significantly increased participants' knowledge on nutrition, mental health, and physical activity. It also improved several key behavioral domains, which are targets of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines to address obesity in youth.

With Their Union's Help, Nontraditional Remediation Instructors at CUNY Make Strides toward a More Equitable Contract

This article examines an underreported and mislabeled form of part‐time labor at The City University of New York (CUNY), and uses CUNY's own data, an overview of recent history, and interviews with faculty and staff to demonstrate the need to change the status of the CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP) and CUNY Start instructors. Despite teaching more hours than full‐time professors, instructors in CLIP and CUNY Start are classified as part‐time, continuing education teachers, and as such are not covered by many of the contractual provisions that apply to CUNY faculty and professional staff. But CLIP and Start instructors are essential to the functioning of CUNY since they help bridge the permanent “skills gap” between New York City public high schools' academic standards and the requirements to be deemed proficient by CUNY, and CLIP instructors in particular help students overcome significant language barriers. Over the past two years, CLIP and Start teachers have begun to organize, and with the help of their union, the Professional Staff Congress, hope to improve their status in years to come.

Abstract P310: Impact of HealthCorps Program on Participating New York City High School Students' Knowledge of Nutrition, Mental Health and Physical Activity

Introduction: HealthCorps provides school wellness programming using curricula to promote changes in nutrition, mental health and physical activity behaviors. The research objective was to evaluate the effect of implementing its curricula on nutrition, mental health and physical activity knowledge and behavior. Hypothesis: That the HealthCorps program has positively effects on student knowledge and health behaviors in 14 public New York City high schools. Methods: Pre- and post-survey data were collected (N=2255) during 2012-13 academic year from New York City public high schools (N=14). An 18-item knowledge survey addressed three domains; 26 behavioral items were analyzed by factor analysis to identify 6 behavior domains, breakfast being a seventh one-item domain. We examined the effects stratified by gender, applying multi-level mixed-effects models to take into account clustering effects of schools and participants adjusted for age. Results: The HealthCorps program significantly increased all three knowledge domains (p&lt;0.05). HealthCorps curricula significantly changed several key behavioral domains. Specifically, among boys, curricula significantly increased fruits/vegetables intake (p=0.03). Among girls, it increased acceptance of new fruits/vegetables (p=0.03), decreased sugar-sweetened beverages and energy dense food intake (p=0.03), but decreased breakfast consumption (p=0.04). The associations between knowledge and behavior were stronger in boys than girls. Conclusion: The HealthCorps program significantly increased participants’ knowledge on nutrition, mental health and physical activity. It also improved several key behavioral domains, which are targets of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines to address obesity in youth.