Graduation outcomes of students who entered in grade 5 or 6 as English learner students

This companion to a previous REL Northeast & Islands report on reclassification of English learner students in New York City public schools analyzed high school graduation rates of youth who entered school in grades 5 or 6 in the 2003-04 school year as English learner students.

The study found that approximately 64 percent of students in these cohorts graduated from high school on time (within four years of entering grade 9), and an additional 15 percent graduated within six years of entering grade 9. Graduation rates differed based on students’ time to reclassification: 55 percent of long-term English learner students (those who were not reclassified within six years) graduated on time, compared with 76 percent of short-term English learner students (reclassified in less than six years).

Students earned a variety of diploma types, including the standard Regents diploma (41 percent), the less rigorous Local diploma (19 percent), and the more rigorous Advanced Regents diploma (19 percent).