Giving Compass' Take:

• Social Programs That Work has determined that New York City's Small Schools of Choice (SSCs) are a good opportunity for expanding and scaling impact, contingent on a confirming replication study. A study found that for approximately the same price as a traditional public school, SSCs provide statistically significant improvements. 

• How can philanthropy support further research? What other factors need to be considered when looking at school choice results? 

• Find out what one report determined to be the cost of charter schools for California districts. 

Between 2002-2008, New York City created Small Schools of Choice (SSCs) to replace large public high schools with graduation rates below 45 percent located in disadvantaged communities. SSCs are small (roughly 100-120 students per grade, as compared to the usual 350 or more in traditional city high schools), academically nonselective, and designed to ensure students receive individualized attention from teachers. The schools were newly created through a competitive process, in which the city invited applications from prospective school leadership teams.

Additional SSC features include: (i) new principals and teachers (as opposed to transfers from a large high school that the SSC replaced); (ii) start-up funding from the city’s Department of Education and philanthropic organizations (such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation); (iii) assistance with leadership development, staff hiring, and program start-up from intermediary organizations (such as New Visions for Public Schools); and (iv) partnerships with local businesses or nonprofit organizations that offer students learning opportunities inside and outside the classroom.

Effects of SSCs four years after random assignment, compared to the control group:

  • A 6 percentage point increase in the four-year high school graduation rate (69.6% of the SSC group graduated from high school in four years, versus 63.6% of the control group).
  • A 4 percentage point increase in the rate of four-year graduation with a New York State Regents diploma, requiring proficiency on each of five state Regents exams in various subjects (44.9% of the SSC group versus 41.3% of the control group).
  • A 4 percentage point increase in the rate of students scoring high enough on the Regents exam in English to be considered college-ready by the City University of New York (CUNY) system (39.5% of the SSC group versus 35.4% of the control group).
  • No significant effect on the percent of students graduating in four years with an Advanced Regents diploma (awarded to exemplary students), or on the percent scoring high enough on the Regents math exam to be considered college-ready in math by the CUNY system.