UNEQUAL OPPORTUNITIES: GRADUATION RATES IN NEW YORK CITY UNDER NEOLIBERAL REFORM

Abstract

This research will examine graduation rates from the 1999-2000 school year until the 2012-13 school year, which will shed light on the long-term impact of neoliberal policy on inequality. I begin with a discussion of the history of school reform in NYC, starting with the Brown v. BOE verdict and finishing at the current neoliberal reform era, to understand how various reform strategies have aimed to reduce segregation and inequality. I then use a dissimilarity index to examine changes in racial segregation by performance between 2000 and 2013, using high school graduation rate quartiles to measure performance. In the last empirical chapter, I use growth curve modeling to understand the factors that are associated with changes in graduation rates. I model the impact of several factors that measure the presence of neoliberal reform and inequality on graduation. These measures include: racial and socioeconomic composition, the impact of mandatory regents, being a small school and failing on NYC school accountability report. This research finds that policies aimed at desegregation have been unaggressive and poorly implemented, and this has resulted in persistent segregation. Neoliberal policies assume that by increasing individual choices and accountability, that all students will make the choices that are in their best interest, and inequality will be reduced. This indirect strategy proves to be ineffective. White students have experienced increased access and isolation amongst the best performing schools, while Black students have become increasingly segregated in the worst performing schools. Growth curve modeling shows a consistent increase in graduation rates over this time. This increase is lessened for schools that serve above average black, Hispanic, and free-lunch eligible students. These schools have the lowest graduation rate.