Education

Student Performance in Upstate Cities in 2022-2023: Combined Data - The academic performance of disadvantaged students has long been of concern. In district-operated schools outside New York City, only 31% of disadvantaged students passed the state's grades 3-8 student evaluations in mathematics and English language arts in 2022-2023. Sixty-one percent of students who were not disadvantaged passed. In schools with…
The Poor Performance of Disadvantaged Students on New York’s English Language Exam at District-Operated and Charter Schools in Upstate Cities - The poor performance of economically disadvantaged students, particularly those in schools with high percentages of needy students, has long been a concern. In my first post, I examined the performance of disadvantaged students on the state's grades three through eight mathematics exam at district-operated and charter schools in large upstate…
Charter Schools in Upstate New York Cities – How Well Do Their Students Perform? - This post evaluates the post-pandemic performance of schools with high percentages of economically disadvantaged students and charter schools in 2022-2023, compared with district-operated schools and schools with few disadvantaged students.
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…
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
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…
Don’t Make Poor Districts Shoulder the Burden - An opinion piece written for the Albany Times-Union: https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Viewpoint-Don-t-make-poor-districts-shoulder-the-15573324.php
New York’s School Aid Cuts Will Disproportionately Harm Poor Districts - A recent Albany Times-Union report "recently warned officials they should expect state aid payments to be reduced by 20 percent." The source of the report was the Questar III Board of Cooperative Educational Services State Aid and Financial Planning. The Times-Union article went on to report that "Freeman Klopott, a…
A Closer Look at Student Performance in Upstate City Schools - Parents in central cities seeking good educations for their children face the disconcerting reality that relatively few city school children pass standardized tests required by New York State, suggesting that the schools are failing. In Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and Schenectady, less than 20% of students passed state required English Language Arts…
Education, Economic Status and Student Performance in New York School Districts - Note: A more recent, closer look at this subject may be found here: https://policybynumbers.com/a-closer-look-at-student-performance-in-upstate-city-schools In 1966, James S. Coleman and associates wrote the report, "Equality of Educational Opportunity," for the United States Department of Health Education and Welfare, as required by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The report was…
Rochester’s Broken School System - Kent Gardner argues forcefully in the Rochester Beacon that Rochester’s school system is broken and in need of radical change. Gardner’s post highlights the efforts of a local organization, ROC the Future, to bring about reform of the city’s school system. Gardner is correct – students in the city’s schools…
School Segregation is Increasing in New York’s Cities and Suburbs - Recent articles in the New York Times and The Nation have focused on efforts to resegregate schools in the South, by carving new predominantly white school districts out of larger county-wide school districts that are predominantly black and Hispanic. The articles examined a recent federal court decision that permitted the creation…
More Regional Diversity but a Larger Racial/Ethnic Divide in New York Schools - This post examines changes in the ethnic and racial compositions of kindergarten through twelfth grade schools in New York State metropolitan areas over the past 25 years. During that period, the student population, like the general population has become more diverse, with the percentage of students identified as white decreasing,…

Share this: