An admittedly biased study done by the pro-charter group, Families For Excellent Schools. have shown that the Renewal Schools have continued to under preform, despite the massive amount of money that went to the schools. Moreover, these schools continue to shed students and excess teachers. Finally, the Renewal Schools have a problem with chronic absenteeism and low student academic achievement.
The DOE tried to limit the influx of "high needs"students by eliminating acceptance of"over-the-counter" students to the Renewal Schools. However, these schools could not attract academically proficient students either. The result was that the Renewal High Schools continued to struggle academically and had trouble keeping students from fleeing the schools, when given the chance to leave.
To make matters worse, veteran teachers, the lifeblood of a properly functioning school, didn't want to work in the highly stressful environment of the Renewal School. despite what Chancellor Carmen Farina claims. The result is that the Renewal High Schools have a majority of inexperienced teachers who are subject to a steep learning curve to master classroom management and curriculum knowledge, not an optimal educational environment for a struggling student population. Furthermore, the Renewal High Schools suffer from high teacher turnover, either because the teachers are excessed or use the Open Market Transfer System to escape the school. This makes the Renewal High Schools an unstable educational environment and hurts students academic achievement.
Adding to the already stressful educational environment, the Renewal High Schools are top heavy with both in school and outside administrators, In fact, the administration of Amiee Horowitz is known to be the dumping grounds for failing or unwanted principals and other out of favor administrators. This top-heavy and highly paid administrators gobble up the lion's share of the extra funding for the Renewal School program.
The Renewal High Schools have only met 24 of the 102 benchmarks set for them and had a chronic absenteeism rate of 44%, almost half of the students. Finally, most Renewal High Schools had a "college and career readiness rate"of the teens or less and are considered "diploma mills", graduating students unprepared for college and careers. Check out the two charts below and the problems stare you in the face.
Renewal High School | Enrollment | Students Chronically Absent |
Academy of Urban Planning | 227 | 49% |
Long Island City High School | 2077 | 44% |
John Adams High School | 2386 | 43% |
Richmond Hill High School | 1950 | 38% |
August Martin High School | 459 | 51% |
Martin Van Buren High School | 1544 | 41% |
Flushing High School | 1812 | 39% |
Pan American International High School | 380 | 26% |
Brooklyn Collegiate: A College Board School | 307 | 40% |
Cypress Hills Collegiate Preparatory School | 232 | 42% |
Multicultural High School | 208 | 36% |
Brooklyn Generation School | 234 | 23% |
Frederick Douglass Academy IV Secondary School | 77 | 49% |
Boys and Girls High School | 383 | 43% |
Automotive High School | 372 | 60% |
Foundations Academy | 73 | 70% |
Juan Morel Campos Secondary School | 622 | 38% |
Peace and Diversity Academy | 125 | 73% |
Monroe Academy for Visual Arts & Design | 416 | 64% |
DeWitt Clinton High School | 1694 | 45% |
Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Techno | 410 | 45% |
DreamYard Preparatory School | 294 | 43% |
Leadership Institute | 180 | 53% |
Bronx High School of Business | 309 | 46% |
Bronx Collegiate Academy | 395 | 45% |
Herbert H. Lehman High School | 1092 | 50% |
Holcombe L. Rucker School of Community Research | 193 | 52% |
Banana Kelly High School | 234 | 60% |
Foreign Language Academy of Global Studies | 105 | 51% |
New Explorers High School | 426 | 60% |
High School for Health Careers and Sciences | 526 | 39% |
Coalition School for Social Change | 232 | 53% |
Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Vis | 377 | 59% |
Henry Street School for International Studies | 185 | 52% |
All Renewal Schools | 20,536 | 44.45% |
Renewal High School | 4-Year College Readiness Index | ||
2015 | 2016 | +/- | |
Academy of Urban Planning | 19% | 11% | -8% |
Long Island City High School | 23% | 25% | 2% |
John Adams High School | 20% | 22% | 2% |
Richmond Hill High School | 16% | 22% | 6% |
August Martin High School | 2% | 7% | 5% |
Martin Van Buren High School | 14% | 18% | 4% |
Flushing High School | 21% | 18% | -3% |
Pan American International High School | 52%[6] | 38% | -13% |
Brooklyn Collegiate: A College Board School | 18% | 16% | -3% |
Cypress Hills Collegiate Preparatory School | 10% | 11% | 1% |
Multicultural High School | 3% | 11% | 8% |
Brooklyn Generation School | 17% | 16% | -1% |
Frederick Douglass Academy IV Secondary School | 11% | 11% | 0% |
Boys and Girls High School | 10% | 7% | -3% |
Automotive High School | 3% | 4% | 1% |
Foundations Academy | 5% | 14% | 8% |
Juan Morel Campos Secondary School | 7% | 3% | -4% |
Peace and Diversity Academy | 3% | 11% | 7% |
Monroe Academy for Visual Arts & Design | 5% | 6% | 2% |
DeWitt Clinton High School | 19% | 19% | 0% |
Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Technology | 6% | 6% | 0% |
DreamYard Preparatory School | 3% | 10% | 7% |
Leadership Institute | 4% | 2% | -2% |
Bronx High School of Business | 19% | 15% | -5% |
Bronx Collegiate Academy | 12% | 14% | 2% |
Herbert H. Lehman High School | 11% | 21% | 10% |
Holcombe L. Rucker School of Community Research | 27% | 6% | -21% |
Banana Kelly High School | 17% | 7% | -10% |
Foreign Language Academy of Global Studies | 2% | 14% | 12% |
New Explorers High School | 20% | 6% | -15% |
High School for Health Careersand Sciences | 10% | 8% | -2% |
Coalition School for Social Change | 4% | 8% | 4% |
Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Vis | 7% | 7% | 0% |
Henry Street School for International Studies | 39% | 5% | -34% |