I’ve pointed out in articles or blog entries about half a dozen times over the last half year how New York City has an abysmally low graduation rate for ELLs.
So it’s only fair that I report that the graduation rate for ELLs increased 10 percentage points for the class of 2008 over the class of 2007, according to data that was just released this week.
Here’s an excerpt from a post by Gotham Schools about the city’s graduation rates:
The most remarkable increase came in the form of a 10-percentage point boost for the city’s English Language Learners—students who are still learning English. In 2008, the graduation rate for these students was about 36 percent, up from 25 percent in 2007. Schools chancellor Joel Klein attributed this jump to the growth of small schools that cater to ELL students.
The ELL graduation rate in the Big Apple now matches the ELL grad rate in New York state as a whole.
A 10 percentage point increase in a year for a large urban district for a group of students who are challenging to teach is nothing to sneeze at.