National Black MBA Association – Metro New York Chapter

Presents

2014 C.A.S.H. Program

Student Case Competition

Factors Impacting the Quality of High

School Education in New York City

(The Students’ Point-of-View)

Written by Program Director, Tyrone Scott

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Research Assistants

The following current college students (former C.A.S.H. students and graduates of the program)

and current returning high school senior students (those who have been in the program

multiple years and now serve in a capacity that assists with the mentoring of underclassmen

peers) contributed tremendously to all of the research that went into this case. In addition to

factual data and research findings, these students felt it was important to add their personal

experience to the case for authenticity.

Team Leaders & College Student Mentors/C.A.S.H. Graduates

Latoya Bethune---Teacher Unions

Monnero Guervil---The Charter School Debate

Ronald Taylor---The Charter School Debate

Returning Senior Students

Louis Galindez---Education (Achievement) Gap

Moriah Blackman---Standardized Testing

Jabari Baker---Financials

Marcus Richards---The Charter School Debate

Jazmyn Fuller---Rankings, Rates and School Report Cards

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Table of Contents

Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pg. 3

Education (Achievement) Gap-------------------------------------------------------------------------Pg. 4

Standardized Testing-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pg. 8

Rankings, Rates and School Report Cards----------------------------------------------------------Pg. 11

Teacher Unions--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pg. 15

The Charter School Debate----------------------------------------------------------------------------Pg. 18

Research Source List-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pg. 21

Case Questions--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pg. 22

Case Competition Instructions-----------------------------------------------------------------------Pg. 23

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Introduction

A group of this year’s returning seniors felt strongly about having a case written about the

quality of high school education in New York City. There has been much discussion about the

state of education throughout all levels of public education in New York, but none has been

under more scrutiny than the education of our high school students. From the raging debate

about whether students in the largest school system in the nation are adequately prepared for

college or the workforce to the ongoing and increasing debate on the impact of charter

schools—there are many factors that our students discussed that they felt has impacted their

lives over the course of the last four years and will continue to impact them through college.

This case, written in five chapters, discusses some the primary factors (from the students’ point

of view) that impact the quality of a high school education in New York City. Please note that

this case primarily deals with the “public” school system and deals with the black and Hispanic

students who are the primary attendees of this system.

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Education (Achievement) Gap

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that black and Hispanic children are faced with an

education gap in this country and in particularly in New York City. This education/achievement

gap is so pervasive that students are aware of it long before they even get to high school. Our

students are no fools. They completely get it when it comes to understanding the

disadvantages they are faced with. They understand the budget deficits that their schools are

faced with compared to their white or Asian counterparts. They are keenly aware of the zoning

issues that impact the choices of schools they go to. They are highly aware of the significant

issue of segregation that they are subjected to. In fact, a recent report showed that the state of

New York has the most segregated schools in the nation. But when one travels to schools in

New York City, it is easy to see how true this can be. The fact is, white kids do NOT go to school

with black kids for the most part in this city. Asian kids do NOT go to school with Hispanic kids

for the most part. Now there are certain “specialized schools” and/or charter schools, or

private schools where there is diversity. But due to “white flight”, the white kids no longer

attend school with black and brown kids. Now add standardized and common core tests to the

mix and the problem our children are faced with are even more exacerbated. And once again,

these kids are not fools—they get it.

Let’s break down some of the achievement gap factors hurting our students and present them

for what they really are—limiting factors that do NOT benefit our children.

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Competitiveness and Zoning

In 2003, the New York Department of Education revamped its high school admissions policy.

No longer (supposedly) would students with high test score and aggressive parents have the

choice of the best schools. But here we are eleven years later and that still remains the case.

So what went wrong? The changed policy had too many assumptions, like assuming that

students had parents who had the ability to tour schools and complete applications to schools.

Another issue was thousands of students were assigned to schools they did not even apply to.

And about half were assigned to schools that simply had space left—the lowest performing

schools. This presents an automatic competitive disadvantage to a kid who thought he or she

was going to be attending a “good” school. Students with special needs are often zoned to

schools that don’t even have the services that they need the most. And students whose

parents speak another language other than English are at a significant disadvantage in the

admissions process; giving these families a “culture shock” beyond the simple language barrier.

Mid to average students were and are often screened out of the selection process. Often times

getting a B or B- could be the death nail for excluded to a top school. And finally once assigned

to a school, it is almost nearly impossible to switch schools unless under a specific set of criteria

that is often hard to prove.

Common Core Widening the Gap

An article by the Washington Post suggested that the New York Common Core test results are

the fruit of a poisonous tree1. The article goes on to say “what should be useful data about

students learning is, instead, data without value. And as we all know, data without value is by

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definition—useless. Educators are not prepared for common core and a “living under a rock” it

said.

The following tables demonstrate the findings from the black/white achievement gap that

continues to widen.

NOTE: The achievement gap between Hispanic and white students overall grew from 3 points to 22 points from 2012 to 2013. So potentially, students who may already be demoralized knowing what they are up against are even more so after being faced with these kinds of deficits.

GAP MEASURED AREA GAP

Black/White Achievement Gap 3rd grade English Language Arts

12-point gap

Black/White Achievement Gap 8th grade ELA 14-point gap

Black/White Achievement Gap 3rd grade Math scores 8-point gap

Black/White Achievement Gap 8th grade Math scores 13-point gap

GAP MEASURED AREA GAP

Black/White Achievement Gap 3rd grade English Language Arts

19-point gap

Black/White Achievement Gap 8th grade ELA 25-point gap

Black/White Achievement Gap 3rd grade Math scores 14-point gap

Black/White Achievement Gap 8th grade Math scores 18-point gap

2012

2013

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Segregation

Segregation in this country was one of the greatest wrongs of the 19th and 20th century. It

represented the epitome of racial discrimination and mistreatment of blacks through the Civil

Rights Movement. Well now its 2014 and New York State and (City) for that matter has the

most segregated system in the country. That is ahead of Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and

South Carolina. That is a shock that is hard to stomach and it is something that is killing our kids

and not preparing them remotely for the real world that they will face in college, much less in

the real world upon completing their education. Even with all of its own problems, corporate

America even has a specific focus on diversity these days, albeit for not the most altruistic

reasons, but that is a different case for a different day. The point is, how on earth can we be

preparing our students to compete in a global workforce when they attend schools in the 21st

century with only people who look and think like themselves—yet expect them to be a success

at the next education level or to compete with China and other emerging markets? The short

answer is we can’t and we must change this in our city. It makes no logical sense whatsoever

that New York City (State) can be known as the great “melting pot” of America and yet quietly

an almost secretly have the most segregated school system in the country.

TO DO: Teams are asked to present solutions to the growing education gap and for that

matter the (technology gap, financial knowledge gap, access to college gap) and demonstrate

examples across the city or otherwise where the achievement gap is being close. Teams are

also asked to present their solutions to the epidemic of segregated education in New York

City. How does this problem get solved for the next generation of students coming behind

them?

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Standardized Testing

New York City high school students often complain that besides their regular curriculum of tests

for their core classes, they are subjected to a battery of other standardized tests from PSATs,

SATs to regents exams to even the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) which is a

test taken in order to get into one of a select few high schools that supposedly give a student an

added advantage toward being accepted to some of the top colleges in the nation. The list of

these specialized schools is as follows:

Bronx High School of Science Brooklyn Latin Brooklyn Technical High School High School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College High School of American Studies at Lehman College Queens High School for the Sciences at York Staten Island Technical High School (newly designated) Stuyvesant High School

And for better or for worse, admission to this elite list of schools is solely based on the SHSAT.

According to a little known New York State law known as the Hecht-Calandra Act, this is the

only method these schools may use to determine admission. On average about 20,000

students take this test annually. The only remaining specialized high school in New York City

that does not rely on this test but rather an audition is Fiorello H. LaGaurdia High School of

Music & Art and Performing Arts.

Many are now asking the question of the merits of this test and for that matter the other

system-wide standardized tests being utilized to select, self-select, and often times weed out

students of color. It is no secret that many of the standardized tests taken by black and brown

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students are dubbed to be unfair. This has major ramifications on the quality of colleges that

New York City students can attend and can have longer term quality of life impacts as well. If

the deck is stacked against a young man or young woman as early as high school, how can they

ever catch up with their majority counterparts?

The argument presented by students and other opponents of standardized and specialized tests

is not simply that they add to the education/achievement gap or the segregation gap, but they

take valuable student time away from learning from regular science, math, reading and history

that is not covered on these tests in similar fashions that it is taught by teachers throughout the

year. The problem becomes we have become a society where a student’s lot in life is

determined by his/her test score and not be how well they have truly grasped the material or

been able to retain the material to help them in college. Not only that, teachers are “teaching

to the test” these days where every subject is taught based on the theory of passing a regents

test or getting ready for a PSAT. Colleges are to blame for this as well since the overwhelming

majority of them put more emphasis on these test scores than any other component of a

student’s application; so much so that it’s not even close compared to other factors like grades,

class rank, resume, activities, volunteerism. It is as if we are raising a generation of test robots

who quite often don’t understand basic Reading, Writing and Arithmetic because they have

become drones to standardized testing.

A national report2 just released showed that only 26% of the nation’s high school seniors are

proficient in math while only 38% are proficient at reading. Both of these numbers are

decreases from previous test results four years prior. When thinking about minority students in

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New York City, for which this case is primarily written for, only 7% of black students met the

math standards on this national test, while only 12% of Hispanic students met it. This is

compared to 33% for their white counterparts and 47% for Asians. So the point is despite an

increase in the amount of standardized testing, our children are falling further behind in the

ability to compete globally on just the “basic” subjects, much less on more complicated subjects

such as a science and technology.

TO DO: Students should consider their individual and team experiences at their various

schools. Do they agree that they are being over-tested and to what end do they feel these

tests are helping their educational cause? Students should also present a list presentation of

the different tests involved outside of regular subject matter testing and analyze how much of

the information they honestly retain upon completion of the test. Also what from these tests

do they think they will use in college or in the work force as compared to their subject

knowledge.

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Rankings, Rates and School Report Cards

Rankings

Rankings, rates and grades are what define the education system in this country. It doesn’t

matter if its ranking early childhood development or post college graduate programs,

Americans have a fascination with how things are ranked. The high school education system in

New York City is no different. The city has 458 public high schools and the district has 115

schools that received either a gold, silver or bronze medal in a recent U.S. News & World Report

rankings report3. Listed below is are the best public high schools in New York City, along with

their “scorecard” report based on overall college readiness. College readiness is defined as

based on the percentage of 12th graders who were tested and passed AP exams. The maximum

college readiness index value is 100.0.

Top 10 Best Public High Schools in New York City 1. The High School of American Studies at Lehman College, 95.7 (#32 nationally ranked) 2. Bronx High School of the Science, 94.1 3. Brooklyn Latin School, 93.9 4. High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies, 91.4 5. Townsend Harris High School, 91.1 6. Staten Island Technical School, 89.9 7. Manhattan Bridges High School, 87.5 8. Queens High School for the Sciences at York, 86.3 9. Brooklyn Technical High School, 85.8 10. Stuyvesant High School, 83.0

*The report also showed the worst schools in the system but the writer chose to not show these names. Rates

Despite not listing the “bad” schools, the impact of going to a “good” school versus one that is

dubbed “bad” or worse, a “dropout factory”, cannot be discounted. In 20134, New York City

achieved an all-time high graduation rate of 66%, while at the same time, achieved an all-time

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low dropout rate of 10.6%. In addition, another all-time high of 46.8% of graduates were

deemed college ready. All of these numbers are significant improvement from the 2005

numbers shown in the chart below. However, and I’m not an expert but how bad are things in

our education system when we celebrate the fact that not even 7 out of 10 of our kids don’t

graduation; One out of 10 will drop out; and less than half are ready for college? What kind of

future are we setting ourselves up for? As a society and as a community we must come to

terms that these are dreadful numbers and we MUST do better for our children’s sake.

Figure 1: New York City Graduation and Dropout Rates as of 2005

Although these figures show an improvement, it cannot be mistaken for progress in terms of

black and Hispanic graduates, as the DOE’s own findings show the disparity that black and

brown graduates face compared to the either Asian and white counterparts. In my humble

opinion, we should NOT be celebrating “all-time highs”, when such a large achievement gap

exists for children of color. Any rational person with common sense understands how this gap

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will translate into a lifetime of difficulty, overcoming challenges and dreams and opportunities

unfilled if we continue on this trend.

School Report Cards

Just about every New York City public high school receives a progress report grade. This is done

on an A through F scale similar to what a student would get in a class. Of the 458 public high

schools, for the 2012-2013 school year, 120 or almost 25%, received an A grade. However, 22

of the schools received a grade of D while 18 received an F grade. Combined, that makes up 40

of the 458 schools or nearly 10%. Isn’t it ironic that this 10% number mirrors the 10% number

of students that dropped out as of 2013? Although not directly related, I just find it really

interesting how those things align. Below is a sample of the Overall Progress Report Card from

one of the top schools in the city, the High School of Fashion Industries. Take note of the 5

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categories that make up the school’s “Overall Progress Report Grade”, as measured by the

Department of Education.

1. Student Progress

2. Student Performance 3. Student Environment 4. College and Career Readiness 5. Closing the Achievement Gap

TO DO: Teams are asked to present how they can individually and collectively overcome the

statistics presented by these findings, the rankings, rates and school report cards. They are

asked to complete an analysis of the “collective” report card of all the schools represented by

the whole team and what they plan to do about it, whether the final outcome is a good grade

or a bad grade.

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Teacher Unions

There primary teacher union in the New York City public school system is the American

Federation of Teachers (AFT). Its New York City affiliate, representing public school teachers in

the city is more commonly known as the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). This one union

represents over 180,0005 teaching professionals in New York City. It has assets of over $120

million and is recognized as one of the most powerful labor unions in the nation. The average

annual salary of one of its members is just over $56,000 per year.

There is no secret the influence that this union has on city, state and federal officials as is the

case with teacher unions across the country. In New York City, the UFT has been accused of

obstructing educational reform to protect its own interests, from blocking a merit pay for

performance model, from blocking increasing teacher evaluations, and for having conflicts of

interest when it comes to teacher “benefits” among other things. With so much negative press

surrounding the unions themselves, often times by default there can be a great amount of

negative light put on the teachers. This fact is not lost on our students who are being educated

in our city’s public system. It is also not lost on their parents, who continue to recognize that

much progress is being prevented due to the perception of stubbornness within the UFT and its

leadership. Parents and students alike want reform. Despite what the media demonstrates,

both parents and their high school children understand that the path to a better life starts with

education. And they also understand that there are a lot of good or great teachers within the

public school system here but they realize too there are a litany of bad ones that continue to be

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protected and sustained by a 20th century model that the UFT represents, with the pretense of

educating 21st century students.

Of course this case is being written

with the view of the student in mind.

And in all fairness, we must try to

present a balanced view so that both

sides of the coin can be taken into

consideration when it comes to teacher unions. Kristin Rawls of AlterNet6 wrote an article in

2012. In this article she acknowledged the reputational hit that teacher unions as a whole have

taken but presented reasons why they are in fact still good for our kids.

1. Teacher unions are the only major educational players still focusing on advancing school quality by leveling the playing field.

2. Teacher union fight to protect teachers First Amendment rights, allowing them to advocate for children and schools without facing retaliation.

3. Schools with unionized teachers often produce higher achieving students. 4. Teacher unions help teachers get better. 5. Teacher unions protect student and teacher safety in schools. 6. Teacher unions oppose school vouchers.

Now to the writer of this case much of this list sounds like something from a horror movie and

personally does not sound like anything that is of true value in terms of improving or advancing

the state of the public high school education of black and brown students in New York City.

Other chapters of this case by themselves have demonstrated that these supposedly positive

facts supporting teacher unions just don’t hold weight. It is up to our students who have voiced

their opinion in coming up with this chapter of the case to be written. They now want to hear

from their underclassmen peers about their views on this topic.

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Teacher Ratings

This case study would be remiss if it addresses teach unions and not address teachers

themselves. No matter what the UFT or any other teacher union says or no matter how much

they try to fight reform, the numbers don’t lie—teacher performance (or lack thereof) impacts

student performance. This is a proven fact across the country and through the decades. If a

student has a teacher who does not care—that student will more than likely fail. It’s basic

“arithmetic”. New York City has a good amount of U-rated (Unsatisfactory rated) teachers in its

system based on a recent report7. In fact, to prove the point of teacher performance directly

impacting student performance, the report goes on to say those students in high schools with

Low College Readiness Rates were more than twice as likely to be taught by a U-rated teacher

as students with High College Readiness Rates.

TO DO: The teams should think critically about the ways they feel that teacher unions, in

particular the UFT are helping or hindering their education. Are there facts about the UFT,

not presented in the case do the students feel play a major role on the quality of education

that public high school teachers provide in New York City public?

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The Charter School Debate

Ever since New York mayor Bill De Blasio became the front runner in last year’s mayoral race,

the debate has raged about the future of charter schools in the city. The new mayor-to-be

made it clear while campaigning that he would put an end to charter school funding of public

money. The then-candidate ran on this platform with the help of the powerful UFT who made

no secret its opposition for just about everything that the charter school model represents—

significant education reform, hiring of non-union teachers, firing teachers based on non-

performance, merit-based pay, to name a few issues. Now that Mayor De Blasio is firmly

entrenched to lead the city for the next four years at least, the charter school debate has come

front and center. It has culminated in a very public battle between the mayor and fellow

Democratic, governor Cuomo. The two men are on completely different sides of the coin with

respect to charter schools with De Blasio and the UFT opposing them and the governor fully

supporting them.

A heated debate ensued shortly after De Blasio became mayor. Three of the newest charter

schools were set to open their doors in the fall of 2014 but the mayor pulled the plug of their

funding sparking a huge public outcry from parents of students slated to attend those schools

and from advocates of charter school education. The central issue was that under the mayor’s

plan, charter schools would have to “pay rent” for the space they use in public school buildings.

Based on the number of students attending a given school, this could present several thousands

of dollars to the budgets of charter schools across the city, causing them to eliminate much of

the model they feel make them a success compared to regular public schools.

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Advocates of charter school education point to the following pros of charter schools8 over

regular public high schools as the very reason why they should be continued to grow and

prosper.

Pros

1. Charter schools present families with options. The neighborhood school is not necessarily a good option for a child and a charter school presents options.

2. Charter schools foster competition. It is this competition that some feel keep parents, students and educators on their toes.

3. Charter schools foster innovation. Some of the most exciting innovation in American education is occurring in charter schools. Examples of this include the KIPP network of schools or the Harlem Children’s Zone founded by Geoffrey Canada.

4. Charter schools carve out a niche. Whereas regular public schools try to be all things to all people, charter schools are able to focus on a specific vision.

Cons

1. Charter schools are fiscally inefficient. The very existence of charter schools takes away funding from regular public schools which based on today’s numbers, the majority of high school students in the city still attend regular high schools.

2. Charter schools present an unfair playing field. Charters can target who exactly they want to attend their school, and opponents feel that this is an open door to filter out low income or special education families.

3. Charter schools are less transparent. Charter schools are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act since they are public schools run by “private” institutions.

4. Charter schools have less local control and accountability. Charters have appointed boards instead of elected ones. Opponents say when problems occur, this means parents have less avenues to protest. And this also leads to favoritism coming into play.

5. Charter schools are less diverse. Opponents say charters create more racial and economic segregation since they usually have a target market.

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The charter school battle continues to rage in the city of New York. A bill presented earlier this

year from the city council calls for more scrutiny to be put on charter schools9. It addresses

some of the cons presented below like calling for more reporting about demographics and

academic performance at co-located schools. Co-location is the primary model being used

currently by charter schools in the city. This occurs when charter schools co-late in the same

building as a regular public school. Often times the regular school at some point was one very

large building with thousands of students that has now been reduced in size and the building

“zoned” out to various different schools, including charters. The following chart shows the

growth of charter schools in New York City since 199510.

TO DO: Teams are asked to do further research on the charter school model, in particular as it

relates to high school education in New York City. For example, how many and what

percentage of high school students attended charter five years ago vs. how many do so

today? Also, teams are expected to provide a point of view of charter schools since some of

the team members attend regular public schools as well as charter schools.

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Sources of Research:

1 Common Core tests widen achievement gap in New York, Valerie Strauss, August 25, 2013. Page 5 of case.

2 CBS News Report on National Assessment of Educational Progress. Page 9 of case.

3 U.S. News & World Report, Education Best High Schools: New York City Public Schools. Page 11 of case.

4 New York City Department of Education website. Page 11 of case.

5 Office of Labor Management Standards. Page 15 of case.

6 6 Reasons Teacher Unions Are Good for Kids, by Kristin Rawls, AlterNet. Page 16 of case.

7 StudentsFirstNY, “Unsatisfactory: The Distribution of Teacher Quality in New York City”, StudentsFirstNY.org, May 4, 2014. Page 17 of case.

8 Weighing the pros and cons of charter schools, Julie Mack. Page 19 of case.

9 New York City Council Seeks More Scrutiny of Charter Schools, Wall Street Journal, May 6, 2014. Page 20 of case.

10 Charter School Performance in New York City, by Credo at Stanford University (Center for Research on Education Outcomes). Page 20 of case.

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Case Questions

The following are a few questions your team needs to take into consideration when analyzing

the case. During your presentation you will be judged on how well you grasp the material

presented plus how creative you are in thinking outside the box without rehashing the details

of the case. You have to present your own ideas in a thought-provoking manner. You don’t

have to present answers to every single question, but you want to choose which questions help

your team to come to the conclusion that allows you to present your interpretation of the case

in the best way possible. Remember there is NO right or wrong answer unless you don’t try.

Questions that your team should answer research, analysis and presentation include:

1. Each team must choose a minimum of two of the chapters of the case with which to present its opinion on the case. Of those two, EVERY team must address the “EDUCATION/ACHIEVEMENT GAP” chapter as part of their presentation. Teams are asked to look at the “To-Do” from that chapter and present what they would and plan to do to close this gap. THIS ONE QUESTION IS A MUST FOR EVERY TEAM!

2. Each team can choose to present a “research-based”, statistical facts and figures presentation no matter which topics of the case the team decides to present. These are not expected to be boring numbers presentations but creative representations of what all of the statistics and ratings and percentages are showing about New York City high school students prospects for the future.

3. Each team can present thought leadership on the chapters of the case in terms of the past, present and future and demonstrate its take on what all of this means for high school education in New York City public.

4. For the question, teams can choose to add their own chapter(s) to the case. A team tackling this would think critically about what the case does not discuss and what other factors are also important to address. This does NOT mean that every chapter of the case should be ignored, they should still be demonstrated in the presentation, in particularly the mandatory one from Q.1 above, but what else did the author or student researchers not consider that is just as important a factor in quality of high school education in New York City?

NOTE: ALL 4 QUESTIONS DO NOT AND SHOULD NOT BE ANSWERED IN THE PRESENTATION.

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Case Competition Instructions

1. Take a few minutes to read over the case individually then begin discussing as a team.

Think “outside the box” and consider college considerations that are not presented in

the case. This is your chance as young people to fully and completely understand how

the economics of college and the impact these economics will have on your life. There

is no right or wrong answer—it’s how your team interprets the case.

2. Be sure to consider the case questions at the end of the case to support your team’s

theories on how different economic and financial scenarios play out.

3. This part is very important. Your team can choose which of the case questions to

answer and you do not have to answer ALL of them, nor are you expected to. You must

however submit a PowerPoint presentation with any number of pages, as you make

your live presentation.

4. Choose a format to present your case. Your team can choose any format including

video, debate, skit, surveys, on-stage props, sitcom, serious analysis, audience

discussion, etc. Whatever you feel is appropriate to get your team’s point across as long

as you adhere to the case competition protocols.

5. Be sure to cite your sources of research no matter what format your team chooses to

present in. This will be very important in your score.

6. Also, you need to have a page on screen or verbal announcement or something

introducing your team and the members of the team who are presenting to the

audience.

7. Each of the four teams will present their case in a maximum of 20 minutes each. You

can present in less than 20 minutes with no penalty but if you go over 20 minutes you

will be penalized 5 points for each minute over.

8. This year, only the winning 1st place team will be awarded prizes as there are only four

teams presenting. Winners will be announced during the graduation ceremony on June 20th. However, each team will receive feedback on their performance.