As dropout rate hits record low in New York City, these schools struggle to hang on to students

New York City’s dropout rate hit an all-time low in 2016: 8.5 percent.

But at a handful of schools, the number of dropouts — students who have left and are not enrolled elsewhere — is still much higher. At 22 high schools, at least one in four students who started in fall 2012 had dropped out four years later, according to data the city released Friday.

Most of those schools exclusively serve students who have a hard time reaching graduation: new immigrants learning English, students who have already been held back, and students who have already left traditional high schools.

A few, though, are traditional high schools: August Martin, Banana Kelly, Bronx Collegiate Academy, Coalition School for Social Change, DreamYard Preparatory, and Herbert H. Lehman. All six are in the city’s “Renewal” turnaround program.

Four others have already closed: Bread and Roses Integrated Arts High School, where 39 percent dropped out, Foreign Language Academy of Global Studies, where 35 percent dropped out, and Foundations Academy, where 30 percent of those students dropped out. Peace and Diversity Academy, a tiny school where more than half of its original ninth graders dropped out, was merged into another school.

Here’s the list:

  • Crotona Academy HS (64.3 percent dropout rate, transfer school)
  • Peace and Diversity Academy (64.3 percent dropout rate, merged)
  • Brooklyn Frontiers HS (52.8 percent dropout rate)
  • Providing Urban Learners Success in Education HS (44.1 percent dropout rate, transfer school)
  • ELLs and International Support Preparatory Academy (42.7 percent dropout rate, transfer school)
  • Bread & Roses Integrated Arts HS (39.4 percent dropout rate, closed)
  • Crotona International HS (36.3 percent dropout rate)
  • Foreign Language Academy of Global Studies (35.3 percent dropout rate, closed)
  • Liberty HS Academy for Newcomers (32.9 percent dropout rate, transfer school)
  • August Martin HS (32 percent dropout rate)
  • DreamYard Preparatory School (31.9 percent dropout rate)
  • Lower East Side Preparatory HS (31 percent dropout rate, transfer school)
  • Queens Satellite HS for Opportunity (30.9 percent dropout rate, transfer school)
  • Foundations Academy (30.8 percent dropout rate, closed)
  • Leadership Institute (30.4 percent dropout rate)
  • Coalition School for Social Change (28 percent dropout rate)
  • New Explorers HS (27.5 percent dropout rate)
  • Brooklyn HS for Leadership and Community Service (26.9 percent dropout rate, transfer school)
  • Herbert H Lehman HS (26.1 percent dropout rate)
  • Banana Kelly HS (26.1 percent dropout rate)
  • Bronx Collegiate Academy (25.3 percent dropout rate)
  • WEB Du Bois Academic HS (25 percent dropout rate, transfer school)