Fewer than one in five students graduate from most local high schools prepared for the rigors of college, according to annual graduation data released by the state.
The state Department of Education tracked how many students graduated within four years and earned a Regents diploma with an “advanced designation,” meaning the student earned 22 credits, passed at least seven Regents with a score of 65 or higher, and took an advanced course in career and technical education, the arts or a second language.
Grads who receive an advanced diploma are on track to succeed in college, according to the state. But except for Community Education Council District 10’s specialized high schools — which screen applicants — no local schools met the overall District 10 rate of 23.1 percent of students graduating with the advanced diploma.
According to state data, 20.2 percent of the Marble Hill School for International Studies’ class of 2011 left with an advanced designation. Other local schools with a relatively high number of advanced diploma earners included the Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy (BETA), at which 18.6 percent of students met the state’s standard. Just over 14 percent of 2011 graduates of The David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy, MS/HS 141 earned the advanced diploma.
The state Education Department released college-readiness data along with graduation rate statistics earlier this month and began documenting the advanced designation rates in 2010.
Besides the advanced diploma, the state tracked how many graduates scored a 75 or higher on the English Language Arts Regents and an 80 or higher on the Math Regents. This “ELA/Math aspirational performance measure” has been called the “college readiness” gauge by the city since most graduates who fail to meet those scores need to enroll in remedial courses in college.
In district 10, most schools graduated more students who met the “ELA/Math” threshold than those who earned the advanced diploma.
