Results

Overview

For the past 20 years, we at New Visions have worked at all levels of education reform: from policy and advocacy to the creation of new, effective public schools and classrooms with rigorous instruction. We insist upon making data-driven decisions; sharing critical information and data tools with school leaders, teachers and families; and measuring the impact of our work.

Learn more about our history of success.

Small Schools with Great Outcomes

Through the New Century High Schools Initiative, beginning in 2001, we pioneered the small high schools movement in New York City with dramatic results. Our New Century high schools posted dramatically improved graduation rates and significantly narrowed the achievement gap.

• From 2002-2004, 93 percent of New Century High School students were promoted from ninth grade, compared with a citywide average of 68 percent.
• At New Century schools that opened by 2003, 88 percent of students had passed the living environment Regents exam and 64 percent had passed the math Regents exam by the end of their sophomore year.
• In 2007, New Century high school students graduated at a rate of 77 percent, compared with a citywide average of 57 percent.  
• In 2007, when half of the city’s African-American and Hispanic students were not graduating from high school, New Century high schools’ graduation rates for African-American and Hispanic students surpassed the citywide average by more than 20 percentage points.

Achievement in Progress

In 2007, we took on a new role as a Partnership Support Organization (PSO) [link].  Drawing from the expertise gained in developing the New Century high schools, we now work to bring the same level of improvement in student achievement to the 76 schools in our PSO network.

Today, posting steady improvement in attendance, grade-level promotion, exam scores and graduation rates, our schools are working tirelessly to achieve our goal of graduating at least 80 percent of students ready for college or career.

Elementary and Middle Schools

We support 4,706 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade. Our goal is to ensure that each of them builds the fundamental skills they need to do well in high school. Currently, 67 percent of our eighth-grade students are on track or almost on track for high school. 

High School Readiness for 8th Grade Students

Math and English/language arts improvement

New York City’s middle school test scores from 2008 show that the number of our students performing at or above grade level increased by 13.5 percentage points in English/language arts and 11 points in math. 
       
In both math and English/language arts, more than 70 percent of our fourth- through eighth-graders posted scores at or above grade level. Citywide data show that, of students who enter high school behind grade level in math and language arts, more than half will never make it to graduation.

New Visions elementary and middle school math and language arts scores (2008)

High Schools

Across the 42 high schools in our network, about 34 percent of students are currently on track to graduation and another 33 percent are nearly on track. We are working closely with school leaders, teachers, students and their families to improve school and classrooms so that, each year, more students are on track and excelling in school.

High school progress to college readiness

Early Indicators of Improvement: The Ninth Grade

Ninth grade is a pivotal year for students. Our research shows that when students achieve a 92 percent attendance rate, earn 11 or more credits and pass at least one Regents exam in ninth grade, they are far more likely to graduate on time and be ready for entry into a college or career path. Ninth-grade students in our network of schools have shown distinct improvements in attendance, credit accumulation and Regents passage rates.

Our high schools work to achieve an attendance rate of 92 percent or higher. Over the past two years, the number of ninth grade students achieving this goal has risen 10 percentage points.

Achievement of 92 percent attendance rate in ninth grade

In 2009, 65 percent of ninth-graders earned 11 credits or more, an increase of seven percentage points from 2007.

Credits Earned in the Ninth Grade

After one year in a New Visions school, 32 percent of ninth graders passed more than one Regents exam, up from 11 percent in 2007.

Regents passed in ninth grade

Transfer Schools

We work with 12 transfer schools tailored to support more than 2,000 students who are gravely behind in high school. Without the specialized and intensive supports that the transfer schools offer, most of these students would have dropped out high school. After earning few or no credits in their previous schools, New Visions transfer school students earned, on average, 11.1 credits last year. Each year, more students are moving from dropping out to graduating high school.

Transfer school achievement

Building School Capacity

To achieve great student outcomes, we must develop schools’ capacity to meet the needs of all students. Below is a summary of just a few outcomes of our commitment to build school capacity:
 

Scaffolded Apprenticeship Model (SAM)

Through SAM, teams of teachers focus on groups of struggling students to uncover and bridge their learning gaps. As of the fall of 2009, 175 teachers had participated in our SAM program. New York City, Boston and Oakland schools have adopted the model as a result of SAM’s success in New Visions schools.

College Bound

Since its inception, Citi College Bound has brought professional development to high school guidance counselors across the city to help them lead strong college access programs. Each year College Bound publishes the Citi College Guide and the Scholarship Guide, which are distributed citywide and provide critical information to thousands of educators, parents and students.
    

Astor Center for Public School Libraries

This program has revitalized more than 200 school libraries through staff development, library renovation and the improvement of book collections. As a single library often serves as the shared resource center for several small schools, growing the expertise of the librarian and resources of a single library has powerful impacts multiple school communities.  

Urban Teacher Residency

The New Visions-Hunter College Urban Teacher Residency both develops and certifies new teachers and provides meaningful professional development and mentoring opportunities for master teachers. During the 2009-2010 school year, UTR is supporting 20 new teachers with 20 strong mentors in our New Visions schools.

Fund for Teachers

A competitive grant program, the Fund for Teachers has awarded 348 New York City teachers with the funds to pursue summer learning projects that deepen their teaching skills.