Beating the Odds

High schools that have “beaten the odds” and succeeded in improving graduation and college-going rates share practices that contribute to their success.

Across the nation, urban districts struggle to raise what are often abysmally low high school graduation rates. New York City, with a four-year graduation rate of 57 percent, is no exception. Yet, some high schools in New York, as elsewhere, succeed beyond expectations in bringing ninth-grade students with low academic skills and high needs to graduation in four years, followed by enrollment in college.

This article describes a study, conducted in 2006 by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, of a small group of New York City high schools that have demonstrated success in preparing low-performing ninth-grade students, who generally lack collegegoing supports in their families, for timely high school graduation and college going. Our study was designed to understand how these high schools are able to “beat the odds” and suggest how the success of these schools can be maintained and scaled up. The study was inspired by New York City high school students in the Urban Youth Collaborative, a citywide high school organizing group that raised demands for improved college-going rates in their schools and communities

Carol Ascher and Cindy Maguire, Voices in Urban Education, Annenberg Institute for School Reform, Number 19, Spring 2008