The Hard Facts

  • Most students in NYC don’t graduate from high school ready for college and the world of work.
  • Only 41% of NYC high school students graduate in four years with a Regents diploma, which will be the only diploma available for current 9th and 10th graders.
  • It is worse for students of color. 30% of Latino students and 32% of African-American students, compared to 62% of white students, graduate in four years with a Regents diploma.
  • Less than one in five students citywide graduate with an Advanced Regents diploma, which is widely considered to be the standard for college readiness.
  • Only half of NYC’s Black and Latino 8th graders can read and write at the state standard. In many schools in East Brooklyn, Harlem, and the South Bronx, the numbers are even worse.
  • National tests show only modest progress since 2003, and closing of the achievement gap.