York City Students Research Articles

Ever English Learner 4-Year Graduation: Toward an Intersectional Approach

This brief analyzes 4-year graduation rates among students ever classified as English learners (ever-ELs) and those never classified as English learners (never-ELs) at the intersections of gender, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood income. We follow two cohorts of New York City students who entered ninth grade in 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 ( N = 127,931). We find substantial variations in 4-year graduation among these subgroups, with differential predicted probabilities depending on the student’s ever-EL status, race/ethnicity, and neighborhood income. These findings reveal important intersectional disparities in this diverse group of ELs—nuances that are lost when analyzing across a single social dimension and that push us to adopt an intersectional lens in quantitative research on ELs.

A Chance at the Arts: Assessment of NYC Department of Education’s ArtsCount as a Violation of Title VI Implementing Regulation

A Chance at the Arts: Assessment of NYC Department of Education’s ArtsCount as a Violation of Title VI Implementing Regulation

Caring to know a name: An examination of New York City student attitudes towards knowing a tree's name

Societal Impact StatementAs the world becomes more urbanized, people place less value on knowing the biodiversity that surrounds them. Engagement with trees is hindered by an additional barrier, plant blindness, the tendency of people to ignore plants entirely. To help educators make tree diversity learning meaningful to students, this research aims to understand whether observing trees improves student dispositions towards knowing and observing trees, whether positive dispositions improve student learning about trees, and the reasons why urban middle school students care or do not care to know tree names.Summary To improve student engagement with local plant diversity, we developed a curriculum for New York City (NYC) students (Grades 6–8, ages 11–14) to help them scientifically observe the trees they pass daily. This study reports results from preassessments/postassessments that explore students' dispositions towards knowing and observing trees and how these dispositions relate to learning. Participants included 150 intervention and 100 comparison students. In addition, 19 students were interviewed at three different time points. Findings indicate that a tree observation and identification curriculum positively influenced students' dispositions towards knowing and observing trees, but 6 months after implementation, student interest had returned near to where it had begun. In addition, socioeconomic status had little impact on students' dispositions, and no relationship was found between dispositions and learning. Findings also show that as a baseline, about 25% of students care about knowing a tree's name. We grouped the reasons students provided into 17 categories, 10 for caring and 7 for not caring. The most frequently stated categories for caring were liking to know, knowing a name helps me know more, and knowing a tree's name helps me know my surroundings. The most stated categories for not caring were that knowing a tree's name is unimportant for my day‐to‐day life and all trees look the same. Student reasons for caring and not caring are a compelling guide to the difficult task of making trees meaningful for students, an important step for empowering students to learn more about the trees that surround them.

The Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science: Engaging Marginalized Students in STEM Fields through Data Acquisition and Computational Thinking

In an increasingly data driven world, the need for a qualified STEM workforce is essential. Increasing the diversity of this workforce increases the social and economic possibilities for the individual as well as national economic status and global prominence in innovation and technology. The Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science has created a nexus between STEM education and possible college and career pathways in data science through ecological experiences in the classroom and in the field. Focusing on data collection and interpretation, New York City students from underserved communities are exposed to the local marine environment and efforts to restore aquatic species as well as the water quality in New York Harbor. The use of an innovative and motivating curriculum for both students and teachers bolstered confidence in acquired skills and content. By introducing students to these heretofore untapped STEM areas of interest, the BOP CCERS + STEM C Project has created opportunities in college and career options for underrepresented populations and the possibility of growing a more diverse STEM workforce.

Aligning the Curriculums for College Success: High School and College Library Collaborations

In today’s highly competitive global economy, City University of New York (CUNY) graduates need strong critical thinking skills. More New York City students than ever before are applying to college...

A day at the museum: The impact of field trips on middle school science achievement

AbstractField trips are an important feature of the United States’ education system, although in the current context of high‐stakes tests and school accountability, many schools are shifting resources away from enrichment. It is critical to understand how field trips and other informal learning experiences contribute to student test scores, but little research has explored the impact of field trips on standard measures of academic learning. In this study, I used 6 years of student‐level data to estimate the impact of field trips to informal science education institutions on New York City students’ performance on the state's standardized eighth‐grade science exam. Using a rigorous identification strategy with school fixed effects to capitalize on variation in field trip participation within schools over time, I found small positive effects of exposure to field trips on students’ science test scores and proficiency. Effects were largest for Hispanic students and those who qualified for free or reduced‐price lunch. This evidence that field trips can contribute positively to student achievement is meaningful for policymakers and administrators, as it suggests schools can provide enrichment experiences that families desire without sacrificing student test scores. The study suggests that field trips might be an effective tool for reducing achievement gaps. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 53:1036–1054, 2016

Staying Active

Staying Active

O-15 - Latent class analysis of ptsd symptoms among 6,733 New York City students exposed to 9/11

The heterogeneity in the manifestation of PSTD symptomatology has never been described in a developmental period spanning from middle childhood through adolescence. The examination of developmental influences on PTSD symptomatic expression is a high priority for DSM-V and could inform research on the etiology and treatment of PTSD. To examine the symptom structure of PTSD across different age, gender, and exposure groups, and in association with impairment and other disorders. To identify homogeneous latent classes of PTSD symptoms in children and adolescents. Latent class analysis (LCA) was applied to 6,733 New York City students (4 th –12 th grades) exposed to 9/11-related potentially traumatic events. LCA was first applied to PTSD symptoms only, stratified by age, gender and empirically defined exposure groups, and then in combination with impairment indicators. The resultant classes were studied in association with other disorders. LCA identified 4 classes that vary in severity and symptom configuration. Only the most severe profile, qualitatively characterized by the presence of traumatic memories in combination with avoidance and sleep-related problems, showed high levels of impairment and high rates of other disorders. Girls after puberty and subjects indirectly exposed to 9/11 are at increased risk of severe disturbance. The 4-class model describes quantitative and qualitative differences in the structure of PTSD across age, gender and exposure. These findings support the inclusion of developmental considerations into DSM-V PTSD diagnostic criteria and suggest that also gender and the nature of traumatic exposure inflence PTSD phenomenology in children and adolescents.

Media use by children and adolescents from New York City 6 months after the WTC attack

Six months after the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11), a representative sample of New York City students (N = 8,236) in Grades 4 through 12 reported their use of TV, Web, and combined radio and print media regarding the WTC attack. Demographic factors, WTC exposure, other exposure to trauma, and probable posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were used to predict intensive use of the 3 types of media. Intensive use was associated with direct exposure to the WTC attack (with the exception of Web use) and to having reported symptoms of PTSD. Stratified analyses indicated that the association between probable PTSD and intensive media use was more consistently present among those who had no direct or familial exposure to the WTC attack. As well, media, particularly TV, was intensively used by children after the WTC attack. Variations existed in the factors associated with intensive media use, which should be considered when planning postdisaster media coverage and advising families.

Estimating the Cost of an Adequate Education in New York

The New York State Board of Regents and Commissioner of Education have identified a set of clear performance standards for students in New York State that matches the knowledge and skills they will need to function successfully as productive citizens in the 21st century. To match these standards, the New York State Department of Education has developed new Regents Examinations, which all students will be required to pass to graduate from high school, and new examinations in 4th and 8th grades that serve as important intermediate checkpoints in assessing student progress. Justice Leland DeGrasse wrote in Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. State of New York (719 N.Y.S.2d 475, 150 Ed. Law Rep. 834, January 9, 2001) that, [T]he court holds that the education provided New York City students is so deficient that it falls below the constitutional floor set by the Education Article of the New York Constitution. (P. 4) He continued, “In the course of reforming the school finance system, a threshold task that must be performed by defendants is ascertaining, to the extent possible, the actual costs of providing a sound basic education in districts around the State.” (P. 115)The objective of this study is to develop estimates of the costs of financing the achievement of higher standards. The key tools employed to estimate the cost of adequacy are education cost functions and cost of education indexes. The cost function approach uses statistical methods to extract from actual data the relationship between characteristics of students, the cost of living in an area, and the spending required to meet different performance standards. As long as recent history is a good predictor of the near future, the cost function approach should provide reasonably accurate estimates of the cost of adequacy.

Commentary: Reparations for Educational Malfeasance

They tell me there's no money for schools, But I think they're telling me tales 'Cause [Michael] Bloomberg funded our [surveillance] cameras. And they always got money for jails. See what they fund schools with, and then times that by more than three, And you'll still get less than half of what they fund prisons. Huh! Wonder where they want me to be. Jorman Nunez, student, DeWitt Clinton High School, New York City Students tell me that overcrowding at Fremont [High School] makes them think that they are worthless because they rarely get any individualized attention or feedback from their teachers. ... I have seen many of the brightest students at Fremont High become emotionally withdrawn because they have to spend long periods of time waiting to get their teachers' attention. Mary Hoover, teacher, Fremont High School, Los Angeles, California The common sense made by the expert ... has given currency to one-dimensional and devastating perceptions of young people of color as anti-intellectual. In doing so, this common sense draws the public's gaze away from racially segregated, physically decaying, and crowded places where ... instruction continues to occur. ... It is the students, the expert voices emphasize, that are dysfunctional and in need of fixing rather than the school system or the social structures in which students find themselves. Gaston Alonso, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Brooklyn College, co-author with Noel S. Anderson, Celina Su, and Jeanne Theoharis, Our Schools Suck: Students Talk Back to a Segregated Nation on the Failures of Urban Education (2009). At the recent April 2009 meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), I attended the Presidential Session devoted to Bringing Education Research to Policymakers: The Academy Speaks to the New President. The panelists included former elected officials and current members of the National Academy of Education and the National Research Council. University of Pittsburgh's Lauren Resnick declared that now that the new science of reading is emerging, we would soon be able to guarantee that even would learn to read and develop proficiency. University of Michigan's Maris Vinovskis, who also has worked for several federal educational research agencies, as part of his presentation made the statement, After all this research, we still don't know how to teach disadvantaged I have heard these types of statements all too often in educational research circles so when the time came for questions and answers, I asked from the floor, Clearly, we know how to teach people to read, we don't need a new 'science of reading' for that, as witnessed by the hundreds of people in this room who taught to read by somebody! And there are numerous examples of successful educational programs with so-called disadvantaged students. Why don't we take the money now being expended on additional educational research and use it to implement those programs that have proven successful with disadvantaged children? Both Vinovskis and Resnick quick to point out that we could not possibly do that. And besides, those programs were implemented on a small scale and had a unique set of characteristics with highly motivated, specialized staff, and thus could not be implemented on a mass scale. This is a massive problem and those programs successful in a very limited application. On hearing this response, I was reminded of the statement Tonto would often make to the Lone Ranger: White man (and in this case white woman) speak with forked tongue. Here we have members of the National Academies making declarations ex cathedra, and they are sending out two opposing messages: We don't know how to teach disadvantaged children to read and achieve academically, but there are successful programs, which through some alchemical formula manage to produce high levels of academic achievement among disadvantaged children. …

Small Schools, Large Districts: Small-School Reform and New York City's Students

Background/Context High school reform is currently at the top of the education policy making agenda after years of stagnant achievement and persistent racial and income test score gaps. Although a number of reforms offer some promise of improving U.S. high schools, small schools have emerged as the favored reform model, especially in urban areas, garnering substantial financial investments from both the private and public sectors. In the decade following 1993, the number of high schools in New York City nearly doubled, as new “small” schools opened and large high schools were reorganized into smaller learning communities. The promise of small schools to improve academic engagement, school culture, and, ultimately, student performance has drawn many supporters. However, educators, policy makers, and researchers have raised concerns about the unintended consequences of these new small schools and the possibility that students “left behind” in large, established high schools are incurring negative impacts. Research Design Using 10 years (1993–2003) of data on New York City high schools, we examine the potential systemic effects of small schools that have been identified by critics and researchers. We describe whether small schools, as compared with larger schools, serve an easier-to-educate student body, receive more resources, use those resources differently, and have better outcomes. Further, we examine whether there have been changes in segregation and resource equity across the decade contemporaneous with small-school reform efforts. Findings/Results We find that, although small schools do have higher per-pupil expenditures, lower pupil-teacher ratios, and a smaller share of special education students than larger schools, their students are disproportionately limited English proficient and poor, and their incoming students have lower test scores. Thus, the evidence is mixed with respect to claims that small schools serve an easier-to-educate student body. Systemwide, we find that segregation is relatively stable, and although there have been some changes in the distribution of resources, they are relatively modest. Conclusions/Recommendations If small schools do eventually promote higher achievement (considering their student mix and other factors that differentiate them from larger schools), many more will be needed to house the 91.5% of the students still attending large schools. Otherwise, strategies that work for the vast majority of students who do not attend small schools will need to be identified and implemented.

Immigrant and Native-Born Differences in School Stability and Special Education: Evidence from New York City

Using the literature on achievement differences as a framework and motivation, along with data on New York City students, we examine nativity differences in students' rates of attendance, school mobility, school system exit, and special education participation. The results indicate that, holding demographic and school characteristics constant, foreign-born have higher attendance rates and lower rates of participation in special education than native-born. Among first graders, immigrants are also more likely to transfer schools and exit the school system between years than native-born, yet the patterns are different among older students. We also identify large variation according to birth region.

School Finance Court Cases and Disparate Racial Impact

Although analyses of state school finance systems rarely focus on the distribution of funds to students of different races, the advent of racial discrimination as an issue in school finance court cases may change that situation. In this article, we describe the background, analyses, and results of plaintiffs’ testimony regarding racial discrimination in Campaign for Fiscal Equity Inc. v. State of New York. Plaintiffs employed multiple regression and public finance literature to show that New York State’s school finance system had a disparate racial impact on New York City students. We review the legal basis for disparate racial impact claims, with particular emphasis on the role of quantitative statistical work, and then describe the model we developed and estimated for the court case. Finally, we discuss the defendants’rebuttal, the Court’s decision, and conclude with observations about the role of analysis in judicial decision making in school finance.

Social Workers and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Social Workers and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Computers, Education and the Library at The Bronx High School of Science

The Bronx High School of Science is a unique public high school open to all New York City students who pass a competitive entrance examination. The library's collection reflects the diversity of the school's programs. A special feature of the library's program is a basic library skills mini-course for all freshmen and incoming sophomores taught by the librarians. The library's computer has been used in such areas as ordering, creation of bibliographies, overdues, catalog card generation, serials, word processing and data base searching. Additional computers will be used in the 1987-88 school year to automate the library's card catalog and circulation records as part of a pilot project.