Most New York City high schools see fewer than half of their students who graduate ready to do college-level work, according to data released on Monday by the city's Department of Education.
In 299 of the high schools that received report cards this week, the college readiness rate was less than half the graduation rate.
The city measures students' ability to do college-level work by looking at their scores on their math and English Regents exams, as well as their SAT scores. Students who score above an 80 on the math exam and above a 75 on the English Regents are thought capable of earning at least a C in a college course. If they fall below this bar, they are likely candidates for remedial, not-for-credit classes, according to data collected by state and community colleges.
Currently, a student needs to score a 65 on four of the state’s five required Regents exams to graduate. Beginning next year, they will need a 65 on all five.
This is the first time city education officials have released data on how well individual high schools are preparing their students for college. And at some schools, the gap between their graduation rate and their college-readiness rate is immense.
Last June, the Academy for Young Writers high school in Brooklyn graduated over 85 percent of its students who entered in 2007, but only 1.3 percent of them qualified as prepared for college-level work.
At New Heights Academy Charter School in Manhattan, more than 80 percent of students graduated and 1.1 percent were found college-ready.
Below are city high schools that graduated more than 80 percent of their eligible students, but where less than 20 percent were ready for college, according to their progress reports for the 2010-11 school year.