Study: Students From Low Income Neighborhoods Less Prepared For College
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Parents are demanding the city make changes to ensure their children are ready for college.
The Anneberg Institue for School Reform, a nonpartisan research group, released a report on Wednesday on college readiness among students in low income neighborhoods in the city.
The study found that after a decade of expanded high school choices, including 500 new small schools and 100 new charter schools, African-American and Latino residents still have the lowest college readiness rates.
EXTRA: Click Here To Read The Report
Natasha Capers, a mother from Brownsville, said it is time for the city to do something to address the situation.
"We're here to demand what's rightfully ours -- a quality education for our children," Capers said. "We call on the DOE, we call on Speaker Quinn, we call on Mayor Bloomberg to give us what our children rightfully deserve, what we all deserve and what every child in this city deserves."
At a rally outside Pace University, outraged parents held 100 balloons, 13 green and 87 red, to symbolize the 13 percent of African-American and Latino students graduating prepared for college.
Former New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson said students aren't getting the tools they need to succeed.
"Those students who are trying to get in the City University system are winding up in the two-year community colleges where they're burning up their grant money on remediation, getting work and getting the support that they should've gotten earlier in school," Thompson said.
The study, titled "Is Demography Still Destiny?," found that the racial composition and average income of a student's neighborhood can greatly influence their chances of being prepared for college.
For example, the study found that 8 percent of students from Mott Haven graduate ready for college, compared to 80 percent of students from Tribeca.
"These are sobering numbers. Parents and students deserve a school system that overcomes racial disparities," Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said in a statement. "We need sustained investment — beginning with truly universal early education and quality after-school programs for middle school students — to better equip every student to succeed in college or in the workplace. The economic future of our kids and our city depends on it."
The Coalition for Educational Justice has created an interactive map showing the percentage of students graduating college-ready in every neighborhood of the city.
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