Transforming the High School Experience - How New York City’s New Small Schools Are Boosting Student Achievement and Graduation Rates

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aladdin

Since 2002, New York City has closed more than 20 underperforming public high schools and opened over 200 new secondary schools, supported by a centralized admissions process where students submit ranked preferences. The reforms include 123 new small schools of choice (SSCs) intended as viable alternatives. This report uses unusually large, lottery-based evidence to assess SSCs’ impact, showing improved four-year on-track graduation prospects, higher overall graduation rates, and benefits for diverse student groups over multiple years.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages189

Reading Time7 h 56 min

AccessFree to download

Overview

Chapter 1 Introduction

Only in New York

Contributing to the Evidence Base Around Small Schools

Studying New York City’s Small Schools of Choice

Chapter 2 Research Design and Analysis

How HSAPS Creates SSC Lotteries

How Effects of Winning an SSC Lottery Are Estimated

Size of the Sample, Its Data Availability, and Implications of Missing Data

Chapter 3 The Effects of Enrolling in Small Schools of Choice on Students’ High School Academic Progress

Schools Attended by Target SSC Enrollees and by Their Control Group Counterparts

Effects of SSC Enrollment on High School Academic Success

Chapter 4 Conclusions and Next Steps

Interpreting the Findings

Implications of the Findings

Appendixes

More About the Study’s Research Design and Analysis

Effects of Winning an SSC Lottery

Baseline Characteristics of SSC Lottery Participants with Follow-up Data

Transforming Experie ee HighSchool How New York City’s New Small Schools Are Boosting Student Achievement and Graduation Rates Howard S. Bloom Saskia Levy Thompson Rebecca unterman JuNE 2010 Transforming the High School Experience How New York City’s New Small Schools Are Boosting Student Achievement and Graduation Rates By Howard S. Bloom Saskia Levy Thompson Rebecca Unterman with Corinne Herlihy Collin F. Payne June 2010 Funding for this report was provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dissemination of MDRC publications is supported by the following funders that help finance MDRC’s public policy outreach and expanding efforts to communicate the results and implications of our work to policymakers, practitioners, and others: The Ambrose Monell Foundation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Kresge Foundation, Sandler Foundation, and The Starr Foundation. In addition, earnings from the MDRC Endowment help sustain our dissemination efforts. Contributors to the MDRC Endowment include Alcoa Foundation, The Ambrose Monell Foundation, Anheuser-Busch Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Ford Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, The Grable Foundation, The Lizabeth and Frank Newman Charitable Foundation, The New York Times Company Foundation, Jan Nicholson, Paul H. O’Neill Charitable Foundation, John S. Reed, Sandler Foundation, and The Stupski Family Fund, as well as other individual contributors. The findings and conclusions in this report do not necessarily represent the official positions or policies ofthe funders. For information about MDRC and copies of our publications, [see our Web site: www.mdrc.org](see our Web site: www.mdrc.org). Copyright © 2010 by MDRC.® All rights reserved. Overview Since 2002, New York City has closed more than 20 underperforming public high schools, opened more than 200 new secondary schools, and introduced a centralized high school admissions process in which approximately 80,000 students a year indicate their school preferences from a wide-ranging choice of programs. At the heart of these reforms lie 123 new“small schools of choice” (SSCs)— small, academically nonselective, four-year public high schools for students in grades 9 through 12. Open to students at all levels of academic achievement and located in historically disadvantaged communities, SSCs were intended to be viable alternatives to the neighborhood high schools that were closing. SSCs are more than just small. They were authorized through a demanding competitive proposal process designed to stimulate innovative ideas for new schools by a range of stakeholders and institutions, from educators to school reform intermediary organizations. The resulting schools emphasize strong, sustained relationships between students and faculty. Each SSC also received start-up funding as well as assistance and policy protections from the district and other key players to facilitate leadership development, hiring, and implementation. The first step in New York City’s high school admissions process is to require eighthgraders to select in rank order of priority up to 12 high schools that they want to attend; when an SSC has more applicants than spaces, the district uses a lottery-like process to randomly assign students to the SSC or to another school in the district. These lotteries provide the basis for an unusually large and rigorous study, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, of the effects of SSCs on students’ academic achievement. This report presents encouraging findings from that study, providing clear and reliable evidence that, in roughly six years, a large system of small public high schools can be created and can markedly improve graduation prospects for many disadvantaged students. Specifically: 􀂷 By the end of their first year of high school, 58.5 percent of SSC enrollees are on track to

FAQs

What are small schools of choice (SSCs) in New York City’s high school reforms?

SSCs are small, academically nonselective four-year public high schools for students in grades 9–12. They are intended as alternatives to neighborhood high schools being closed and are located in historically disadvantaged communities.

How does the admissions process create lottery-based evidence for the study?

Students rank up to 12 high schools, and when an SSC has more applicants than spaces, the district assigns students using a lottery-like process. These lotteries support a rigorous, large-scale study of SSC effects.

What impact does enrolling in SSCs have on graduation outcomes?

By the end of the first year, 58.5% of SSC enrollees are on track to graduate in four years versus 48.5% of non-SSC counterparts. By the fourth year, SSCs increase overall graduation rates by 6.8 percentage points, with sustained improvements and benefits across a broad range of students.

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aladdin