More Good News from Small schools in NYC

More good news from NYC:

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein today announced that  the June graduation rate for new small schools exceeded 70% for the second  consecutive year, according to preliminary data from principals. Forty-seven  new small schools graduated classes, including 15 that first graduated classes  last year and sustained their high level of achievement for a second year.  More than two-thirds of students in this year’s graduating class entered these  new schools performing below grade-level, and more than 90% are Black or  Hispanic. Thirty of these schools are located in the buildings of schools  previously marked for closure, where the collective graduation rate in 2002  was 35%. The new small school initiative is the centerpiece of the Department  of Education’s secondary school reforms.

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CHANCELLOR KLEIN ANNOUNCES THAT PRELIMINARY JUNE GRADUATION RATE OF NEW SMALL SCHOOLS TOPS 70% FOR SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR, EVEN AS MANY MORE NEW SMALL SCHOOLS GRADUATED SENIOR CLASSES
 
New Schools Nearly Double the Graduation Rates of Historically Underperforming High Schools They Replaced
 
Carnegie Corporation Contributes $10 Million Grant to Support New Small Secondary Schools in Preparing Graduates for College

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein today announced that the June graduation rate for new small schools exceeded 70% for the second consecutive year, according to preliminary data from principals. Forty-seven new small schools graduated classes, including 15 that first graduated classes last year and sustained their high level of achievement for a second year. More than two-thirds of students in this year’s graduating class entered these new schools performing below grade-level, and more than 90% are Black or Hispanic. Thirty of these schools are located in the buildings of schools previously marked for closure, where the collective graduation rate in 2002 was 35%. The new small school initiative is the centerpiece of the Department of Education’s secondary school reforms.
“I am enormously proud of what students, teachers, and school leaders are achieving in new small schools,” Chancellor Klein said. “These graduation results are remarkable by two measures: when compared to the graduation rates in the very same school buildings just four years ago and for the fact that the schools that graduated their first classes last year are maintaining their exceptional success in helping our students to graduate.”
The preliminary June 2007 graduation rate of the 47 new small schools is 73% according to the City’s traditional criteria, and 71% using the State’s methodology. Neither figure includes students who will graduate in August, which is expected to add four percentage points to the total. The preliminary June graduation rate of the 15 small schools that graduated classes last year increased by one point this year, from 73% to 74%. The graduation rate, for these schools tallied using the City’s criteria rose to 77%, after summer graduates were included.  
Since 2002, Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein have overseen the creation of more than 200 new secondary schools that provide New York City families with better high school choices. The new school initiative under Children First began as a replacement strategy for large, failing high schools and quickly expanded to address low graduation rates and poor college-preparedness in historically underserved communities throughout the City. These secondary schools embody three critical principles: rigorous college-preparatory instruction, personalization, and partnership with community-based organizations and non-profit or university-run intermediary groups, which are supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, and Open Society Institute and focused on new school development and support.
In order to improve even further upon the achievements of the new small schools, the Carnegie Corporation of New York announced today a $10 million grant dedicated to deepening and expanding a data-driven model of instruction already used by many new secondary schools in the City.
“The bar must be set higher, and these schools must not only work to maintain high graduation rates, but push for even higher achievement,” said Vartan Gregorian, President of Carnegie Corporation of New York.
A key goal of the Carnegie Corporation in furnishing this grant to public high schools is to double the number of students graduating and being accepted to the City University of New York (CUNY) without requiring remedial education. This year, CUNY received applications from approximately 29,000 City public school graduates, more than a 10% increase over the number of public school graduates applying in 2006.