An independent guide to New York education
FROM THE CONTRIBUTOR
Explore this contributor’s guides and explainers on New York education.
In New York State, four-year and five-year graduation rates measure the percentage of a ninth-grade cohort that earns a local or Regents diploma within four or five…
Yes. Under federal law and New York State law, a charter school is a public school: it is publicly funded, tuition-free, nonsectarian, and accountable to a public…
NYSED uses a 12-digit institution ID and a 12-digit SED code that is a BEDS code for P-12 schools or the institution ID for other institutions. BEDS…
A school improvement plan is the public document in which a school identified for improvement explains what is going wrong, what it will change, and how it…
In New York State, charter schools are authorized by entities that state law calls charter entities: certain school districts, the Board of Trustees of the State University…
Graduation rates and dropout rates measure different things: graduation rates track how many students in a cohort finish high school with a regular diploma, while dropout rates…
Percentage points measure the arithmetic difference between two percentages, while percent change measures the relative change from the starting value. If a school's proficiency rate rises from…
An enrollment number counts how many students were officially recorded at a school or district during a defined reporting period — nothing more on its own. It…
A graduation cohort is the group of students who enter ninth grade for the first time in the same school year. States track that group, add verified…
Accountability designations are official, legally defined statuses that states assign under federal law and that trigger support and improvement obligations. School rankings are editorial products from publishers…
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