NEW: @NYCSchools has released preliminary enrollment data for District 15 in Brooklyn, where a diversity plan removed all screens from middle schools. We've previously seen stats on seat offers, but not enrollment.
@NYCSchools This district includes neighborhoods like Park Slope, that tend to be whiter and wealthier, and neighborhoods like Sunset Park and Red Hook, overall less white and less wealthy. For years, some schools in the district served many more non-white, low-income students than others.
@NYCSchools The plan switched to lotteries for entry, and prioritized 52% of sixth-grade seats for students from low-income families, English learners or those in temporary housing. This means some families in Park Slope will wind up sending their kid to a school outside of Park Slope.
@NYCSchools There was lots of buzz about whether this would spur some parents to pull their kids out of public schools altogether. The data shows sixth grade enrollment is down -- 2,194 students, compared to 2,361 last year. Awaiting more context from DOE on whether that's a typical swing.
@NYCSchools But, the stats would seem to indicate there was not the "white flight" some feared -- 31% of this year's sixth-graders in the district are white. That was exactly the same last year -- 31%.
@NYCSchools In addition to the whole white flight narrative not being real, the other big news here is the schools ARE getting more diverse. 8 of 11 met the goal of 40 to 75 percent of students coming from low-income homes, living in temp housing, or learning English. Only 3 did last year.
@NYCSchools There was a drop off from fifth grade to sixth grade for this class -- 2,872 in fifth, 2,194 in sixth. That means the sixth grade class is 76% the size of the fifth grade class. But DOE says that is pretty standard -- it's usually 75-80%, they say.
@NYCSchools I guess a sort of simple way to to put this enrollment dip is:
The number of students enrolled in sixth grade dropped by 7% compared to last year's sixth grade class.
But, the number of fifth graders who left the system before sixth grade is steady compared to recent years.
The number of students enrolled in sixth grade dropped by 7% compared to last year's sixth grade class.
But, the number of fifth graders who left the system before sixth grade is steady compared to recent years.
@NYCSchools I'm not a demographics expert but I imagine that if a large amount of students were leaving due to the plan, the second number would be outside the typical range for drop-off from fifth to sixth grade.
