My school, the High School of Language and Innovation, is a school for newcomer immigrant English Language Learners that was founded in 2011. We had our first graduating class in 2015. This week, we graduated our fourth class, the class of 2018.
As I listened to the students’ speeches at graduation, I was struck by how many of the students had experienced our intended vision for the school: “We learned to work together as a team in order to learn English,” “We got to make friends with people from diverse cultures.”
However, even as I enjoyed the graduation, something was on my mind: 90% of our girls graduated. 51% of our boys graduated.*
When I drilled down even further, less than 40% of our Latino boys graduated. Latinos make up a little over 50% of our school’s population, while the other 50% consists of Yemeni, Bangladeshi, African, Albanian, and East Asian students.
The day after graduation, I went to another graduation: the Young Adult Borough Center (YABC), an evening school for older students who don’t graduate in four years in their original high school. Six of my former students had been attending the YABC over the past year, all Latino, four of them boys.
All six of the students graduated this June with particularly strong scores in English, the exam my own school had struggled to get them to pass.
I wondered: What was the difference at the YABC?
The assistant principal who leads the YABC is a Latino man. He is a strong, kind, dynamic man, a constant presence, greeting the students as they walk in, patrolling the hallways, talking with students and teachers. He gave a speech: “You may not know this, but I got my GED (General Equivalency Diploma) when I was 27 years old. When I started college after that, I needed bilingual classes because I didn’t speak English yet.”
The YABC assistant principal then called on all of my students to stand up, as well as their YABC English as a New Language teacher. He described the students’ and their teacher’s perseverance.
The YABC assistant principal publicly thanked my school for our partnership. What I recalled, though, was feeling discouraged when these six students did not graduate on time at my own school. I was struck by the strong success rate this man had achieved with our Latino boys.
I’m sure there are many factors that contributed to the success of the six students this past June. It may be that the students matured in a new school with older students. The evening school schedule also worked for them, as they could hold down jobs during the day and go to school at night— something which had been a conflict for them at my school. Time could also have been a factor: the students had another year to get more proficient in English.
However, I also wondered if the YABC assistant principal and the English teacher had communicated an unshakable, unwavering belief in the students which somehow, my school had not communicated to them. Having done an excellent training on implicit bias by Dr. Bryant T. Marks, I also wondered about my own biases and the biases of my staff towards Latino boys. I wondered about the impact of having a Latino male role model heading a program.
Part of me would like this blog entry to have a different report: “This blog is about how my school figured out how to close the achievement gap and got 100% of our Latino boys to graduate on time.”
But we’re not there. Yet. This blog is about my school’s journey, and the intention is honesty.
Sometimes after a June graduation, I feel exhausted and ready for a break. This year, I don’t want to stop. I don’t feel discouraged. I feel ownership of our statistics, not resistance. I’m inspired and motivated by the YABC graduation and by the persistence of the young men and women who graduated. I’m inspired by how my own school can learn from the YABC, graduate our Latino boys earlier, and let the world experience their greatness.
*Update: by August 2018, we increased the graduation rate of boys to 60%.
Photo credit: Julie Nariman
Classroom 325 
Hi Julie:
Great blog, as usual.
You look at the data honestly and ask great questions. Now, how do we go from question to study?
Perhaps interviews with families, students, staff?
Maybe start analyzing situation from beginning? Before they leave they transfer? Or even better, from the moment the symptoms show up. Beside the role model and culture, what does the structure look like? Do you have a ‘manager of progress’? Where to look for this symptoms? System in place before things are irreversible?
Since you said you don’t want to stop, here is your assignment. What does your plan of action look like?
I would love to see it.
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Hi Fausto, these are great questions and next steps. Love the idea of interviewing families– that is probably a great place to start, especially in summer as we prepare for the next year. Also love the idea of a “manager of progress” and developing a system to “catch” problems earlier on, in 9th and 10th grade, before we’re surprised by it. Would love to talk more with you about it.
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Hi Julie:
Great blog, as usual.
You look at the data honestly and ask great questions. Now, how do we go from questions to study?
Perhaps interviews with families, students, staff?
Maybe start analyzing situation from beginning? Before they transfer? Or even better, from the moment the symptoms show up. Beside the role model and culture, what does the structure of academic paths in your school look like? Do you have a ‘manager of progress’? Where to look for these symptoms? What system is in place to catch and intervene before things are irreversible?
Since you said you don’t want to stop, here is your assignment. What does your plan of action look like?
I would love to see it.
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It might also be worth speaking to the teacher(s) with whom these young men worked at YABC, as well as the relevant administrators. Since there was mention of a partnership between your two schools, though, I suspect that this has either already happened or is in the queue.
Something to consider, though, beyond “ownership of [your] statistics”, is that most efforts of any significance involve a team. I know you know this; collaboration is fundamental to your school’s approach. But do consider that you and your school set these young men up for the success that they later achieved at YABC.
Our schools are, in my opinion, too highly structured for many of our “outlier” students on either end of the curve. Sometimes, in some circumstances, some students just need more time. It could be something internal to them, whether emotional or mental, or it may be something external (such as the need to work which you described in the article as a known issue). That programs such as YABC exist to finish the fine work that you’ve begun is an excellent thing. Together, your schools have provided great value to these graduates.
As I write this, I also wonder about those possible external circumstances might play a role. You mentioned employment, for example. How does employment correlate with your graduation statistics? You cite a higher graduation rate among your girls; do they also spend less time on outside employment?
…Andrew
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I cannot begin to tell you how helpful I find your insights. I had not been looking at this grauation as teamwork between myself and the YABC, and instead was seeing it as their success and my own failure. But you’re right: it was a team effort between the two programs. And yes, I’ve started speaking more with the YABC to learn more about their approach, and also partner with them. We have a very positive relationship.
And you’re also right to not overlook the external circumstances that affect graduation, like employment. Girls feel very little pressure to work, but culturally, our boys do feel a pressure from their families or themselves to work. I believe there’s a way we can include and honor their urge to work while also making it obvious how education can enhance work.
Thank you Andrew, keep up your insightful comments!
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