Recent Posts

  • Students in Large Upstate Cities Performed Poorly on the Most Recent State Assessments - Source - New York State Education Department. Grades 3-8 Annual Performance Assessment. Grades 3-8 Mathematics, 2022-2023 Historically, economically disadvantaged students have performed poorly on the State's annual Student Assessments. That pattern continued in the 2022-2023 school year. On the State's Grades 3-8 mathematics examination, only 30% of students in districts…
  • COVID-19’s Impact on School Performance in New York State - The COVID-19 Pandemic disrupted teaching and learning at schools nationally and in New York State. School closures and remote learning removed the opportunity for students to interact directly with teachers. National testing shows that this led to significant learning losses. New York State students lost six points on the fourth-grade…
  • Have Charter Schools in Upstate Cities Achieved their Promise? - According to a recent article by Albany Times-Union columnist Chris Churchill, the sponsors of a new Charter school in Schenectady faced a chilly reception from area elected representatives. Churchill wrote, "Before it even opened, the new Destine Preparatory Charter School was denounced by two area politicians, Phil Steck and Angelo…
  • Have Charter Schools In New York City Achieved their Promise? - Although charter schools have operated in New York State since 1998, their effectiveness continues to be disputed. A recent New York Times article, "New York City Schools Face a Crisis, Charter Schools Gain Students, points out, "As traditional public schools in the nation's largest system endure a perilous period of…
  • An Early Look at COVID’s Educational Disruption in New York State - When COVID hit the nation in early 2020, the nation's schools shut down. The disruption continued into the 2020-2021 school year, as most schools offered remote or hybrid learning rather than in-person instruction. Some reopened but suspended in-person instruction because of COVID in classrooms. These decisions became contentious, with critics…
  • New York’s Uneven Economy - Although the COVID pandemic caused double-digit unemployment levels in 2020, the nation's recovery has been rapid. Unemployment decreased quickly in New York and the country, dropping to 4.4% percent in New York and 3.5% in the nation in July 2022. The recently announced July number for the United States is…
  • The Continuing Racial and Ethnic Income Gap in New York and the Nation - Race has been a defining aspect of American society since Europeans came to this continent. Although racial identification reflects where people's ancestors lived, not biological differences between people, it gained a connotation of superiority or inferiority as a justification for actions by dominant settlers of European descent to subjugate non-Europeans…
  • New York’s Census Population Roller Coaster – A Follow-up - Estimates of New York's population have recently been on a roller coaster. The Census Bureau's Annual Population Estimate for 2020 for New York was 19,382,373, increasing only 4,271 since 2010. In 2021, the Census Bureau released its 2020 Decennial Census of the nation's population. The decennial Census showed that New…
  • Census Surveys, Data Limitations, and Household Income Change in New York State - On the surface, finding the answer to how household median incomes changed over the decade from 2010 to 2020 is simple. At the national level, data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey is sufficiently robust to allow us to know the incomes of each group for each year and…
  • The Economic Value of College Depends upon Where You Live - College graduates enjoy a substantial income premium over those with a high school degree. In New York State, the median income in 2019 for people aged 25 or older with a Bachelor's degree was $62,699. The median income for high school graduates was only $33,491. For those with advanced degrees,…
  • Look Deeper – Much more to New York exodus than tax rates - An opinion piece for the Albany Times-Union: https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Look-deeper-Much-more-to-New-York-exodus-than-16920413.php?IPID=Times-Union-opinion-centerpiece
  • A Caution About the Use of Census Population Estimates - Note - An updated post on this subject may be found here: New Yorkers were surprised when the Census Bureau announced that instead of gaining 4,271 residents between 2010 and 2020, as reported in the Census Bureau's Annual Population Estimate, the Decennial Census showed that the state's population had grown…
  • With a New Governor, New York Faces Economic Challenges - For decades, New York has had substantial disparities in economic performance. Although some parts of the State are doing relatively well, much of it has declining employment, higher levels of poverty, lower household income levels, and fewer adults working than the nation. Over most of the past decade, job growth…
  • COVID-19 erased New York’s Employment Gains over the Past Decade - From June 2011 to June 2019, New York saw employment increase by 388,440 - 4.4%. But by June 2021, the pandemic had erased all those gains. In June, the state's employment was lower than in 2011 - by 72,916 jobs or 0.8%. Both before the COVID pandemic and in June…
  • New York’s Population Increased by 823,147 between 2010 and 2020 while Upstate’s Declined - Based on the newly released 2020 Census data, New York's population grew by 823,147 residents - 4.25% - between 2010 and 2020. The State's performance was similar to others in its region and not far from the median growth rate for all states - 5.9%. But, more than three-quarters of…