[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-586338-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-586338-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","enduring-success-effects-of-new-york-citys-small-schools-of-choice-on-postsecondary-degree-attainment-and-employment","Enduring Success - Effects of New York City’s Small Schools of Choice on Postsecondary Degree Attainment and Employment","","New York City’s Small Schools of Choice (SSCs), created to improve high school graduation and provide rigorous, relevant, and personalized instruction for low-income students, are assessed for longer-term outcomes in postsecondary education and the labor market. Using lottery-based evaluation from the 2005–2006 to 2008–2009 cohorts, researchers track students for six years after high school and measure impacts on postsecondary enrollment, degree attainment, and later employment and earnings, including variation across subgroups.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/enduring-success-effects-of-new-york-citys-small-schools-of-choice-on-postsecondary-degree-attainment-and-employment/586338/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/enduring-success-effects-of-new-york-citys-small-schools-of-choice-on-postsecondary-degree-attainment-and-employment/586338.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Quinn Holloway","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What are Small Schools of Choice (SSCs) in New York City?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"SSCs were created as part of the Children First Initiative to redesign high school experiences and increase graduation rates for low-income students. They typically serve about 100 students per grade and emphasize academic rigor, real-world relevance, and personalized teacher-student relationships.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does MDRC measure the effects of enrolling in an SSC?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"MDRC uses lotteries embedded in New York City’s high school assignment process to form an evaluation sample. Researchers compare outcomes between students who enrolled in an SSC (“won” the lottery) and those who did not (“lost” the lottery), estimating SSC effects.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What impacts do SSCs have on postsecondary outcomes and employment?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"On average, ninth-grade enrollment in an SSC increases immediate postsecondary enrollment and produces small to moderate gains in four-year degree attainment. Despite higher rates of postsecondary enrollment, there is no effect on employment rates or earnings.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},586338,1792210592,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":55,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},2336474466712,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","Enduring Success  \nEffects of New York City’s Small Schools of Choice on Postsecondary Degree Attainment and Employment  \nJANUARY 2026  \nRebecca Unterman Miki Shih  \nN ew York City’s Small Schools of Choice (SSCs) were created as  \npart of the city’s Children First Initiative to redesign students’high school experiences and increase high school graduation rates for students from low-income backgrounds who historically had limited access to small, personalized academic instruction. SSCs typically serve approximately 100 students per grade and emphasize academic rigor, the real-world relevance of learning, and personalized relationships between teachers and their students. Since 2010, MDRC researchers have used the lotteries within New York City’s high school assignment process to rigorously study SSCs’ effects on students and have consistently found large, positive impacts on high school graduation rates, produced year after year and at no additional cost per graduate.1  \nThe positive findings on students’ high school outcomes have helped provide a road map for practitioners looking to transform their city’s highschool landscape and increase high school completion.2 The purpose of this brief is to explore whether students’ enrollment in SSCs continues to help them advance as they move into postsecondary education and the labor market. Toward this end, the project’s rich longitudinal database pro-  \nENDURING SUCCESS: EFFECTS OF NEW YORK CITY’S SSCS ON POSTSECONDARY DEGREE ATTAINMENT AND EMPLOYMENT  \n2  \nvides a unique opportunity to study students who applied to attend an SSC in the 2005-2006, 2006- 2007, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009 academic years. Researchers followed these students for six years after their anticipated high school graduation and measured SSC effects on their enrollment in postsecondary education, their postsecondary degree attainment, and their future employment and earnings—overall and by key student subgroups.  \nOn average, ninth-grade enrollment in an SSC, instead of another type of New York City high school, produced the following effects:  \n• Large, positive effects (of 9.5 percentage points) on students’ enrollment in postsecondary education immediately after graduating from high school.  \n• Small to moderate, positive effects (of 2.5 percentage points) on students’ four-year postsecondary degree attainment rate.  \n• Some variation in effects across students, such as larger increases in postsecondary enrollment and degree attainment rates among students who were already proficient in math before entering high school.  \n• No effect on students’ employment rates or earnings, despite increased rates of enrollment in postsecondary education.  \nThe remainder of this brief describes the SSC reform effort in New York City, the study’s analytic approach, and the findings in greater detail. The brief concludes with a discussion of the meaning of this work for the field of public education and the next steps to be taken in MDRC’s continued research on SSCs.  \nWhat Are SSCsand How Does MDRC Study Them?  \nIn 2002, New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) launched a bold set of reforms designed to transform the educational experiences of all high school students in the city. As part of this effort, NYCPS instituted a district-wide high school choice process that assigned all rising ninth-graders to specific high schools; closed large, low-performing high schools; and created over 100 new small schools—SSCs—focused on “rigor, relevance and relationships” to serve students in the lowest-income areas of the city.3 Among the study’s participants, about 90 percent of students attending SSCs were Black or Hispanic, 83 percent qualified for free or reduced-price lunch (indicating a low-income background), 59 percent did not fully meet eighth-grade math standards on state exams, and 67 percent did not fully meet eighth-grade reading standards on state exams.4  \nThe staff, structure, and mission of each SSC were built “from scratch”","cbCaijslMtv7M2Ug","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaijslMtv7M2Ug","pdf",1362475,14,"English","# What Are SSCs and How Does MDRC Study Them?\n## NYC high school choice reforms and SSC design\n## Lottery-based evaluation approach\n# Effects on postsecondary education and degree attainment\n## Immediate post-high school enrollment effects\n## Four-year degree attainment effects\n## Subgroup differences and labor market outcomes","[{\"question\":\"What are Small Schools of Choice (SSCs) in New York City?\",\"answer\":\"SSCs were created as part of the Children First Initiative to redesign high school experiences and increase graduation rates for low-income students. They typically serve about 100 students per grade and emphasize academic rigor, real-world relevance, and personalized teacher-student relationships.\"},{\"question\":\"How does MDRC measure the effects of enrolling in an SSC?\",\"answer\":\"MDRC uses lotteries embedded in New York City’s high school assignment process to form an evaluation sample. Researchers compare outcomes between students who enrolled in an SSC (“won” the lottery) and those who did not (“lost” the lottery), estimating SSC effects.\"},{\"question\":\"What impacts do SSCs have on postsecondary outcomes and employment?\",\"answer\":\"On average, ninth-grade enrollment in an SSC increases immediate postsecondary enrollment and produces small to moderate gains in four-year degree attainment. Despite higher rates of postsecondary enrollment, there is no effect on employment rates or earnings.\"}]","Enduring Success - Effects of New York City’s Small Schools of Choice on Postsecondary Degree Attainment and Employment | PDF",1792057624,35]