English Language Learners Pushed Out of NYC Schools

New York, NY —

More than 63 thousand students were supposed to graduate from New York City high schools last year. 20 percent of them dropped out. Not counted in that statistic though are the ones who were told to leave school when it became apparent they were falling behind. Advocates say foreign-born kids who have not mastered English are the ones most likely to be pushed out before they graduate. WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports:

Students who get pushed out of the school system are not a new phenomenon. But advocates believe the problem has grown worse as schools are pressured to meet higher standards. Sonal Patel is an attorney for Advocates for Children:

Patel: There is a lot of pressure on principals and on schools to really create a demographic of student within the school that reflects well on the school and to shed any student that will harm the number, I mean this is really a numbers game.

Advocates For Children has filed lawsuits against two New York City high schools for discharging students improperly. A student has a right to remain in high school until the age of 21. But 20 year old Sugiedi who came to the United States 2 years ago says her counselor at the Bronx High School she attended briefly never told her this.

Sugeidi: Ellos me dijieron que yo tenia que trasladar a otra escuela ya que estaba pasaba de edad. entonces cuando me dijieron eso le informe a mi padre. Pero ellos dijeiron que la consejera no podia hacer nada porque ella dice que la principal de ella le dijo que tenia sacar todos que tenian ese edad.

Translation: They told me I had to transfer to another school because I was already too old to be there. So when they told me this I told my father. But they told him there was nothing they could do. My counselor said that the principal had told her to remove all the kids that were my age.

Sugiedi who preferred not to give her last name, attends Manhattan Night and Day Comprehensive. Many who attend with her say they were either pushed out of neighborhood high schools, or were stopped at the door and never allowed to enroll in the first place. More than 15 hundred 17 to 22 year olds go to Manhattan Comprehensive each year. Most were born outside the United States. It is a diploma granting public high school in high demand. The principal says about 200 people are almost always on the waiting list. Those who attend are lucky to get in. For those who do not, the last resort is a GED program. Sugiedi says at first, that's what her counselor suggested she do:

Sugiedi: Yo no lo queria hacer porque para mi no es el mismo que uno esta dando a escuela. Ademas la escuela mia prepara mas. Por ejemplo si yo cojo el GED entonces tengo como quiera estudiar Ingles y otra material para que me fuera mejor en el Universidad.

Translation: I didn't want to do it because for me it's not the same as getting a regular education. For me regular school prepares you better. For example, if I took the GED I would still have to take more English Classes and classes in other subjects too so that I would be ready for college.

The city's Department of Education has acknowledged the problem of kids getting pushed out of school before they are able to graduate. Diana Lam is the Deputy Chancellor of schools. She says keeping track of students like Sugiedi, who are called English Language Learners by the school system, will help hold school administrators accountable:

Lam: If I am conferencing with a principal and have the data in front of me I will say if you started with 50 ELL students and now we only have 10 and you cannot really account for the forty there has got to be some accountability at all levels for students that don't stay in school.

But Patel says the way students are tracked makes it impossible to tell if they left by their own choice:

Patel: For example if a student is told you have to leave, you have to leave you can't stay you're told you have to go to a GED program, then that student can be designated as having transferred to an alternative program but really that student is sitting at home because he does not want to go to a GED program can't get into a program and really just wants to be in high school and get a diploma but did not think that was an alternative for them.

A diploma remains elusive for English Language Learners. In New York you must pass 5 Regents exams in order to graduate. Groups who oppose testing, point out the English exam is detrimental for those who have not mastered the language. And according to Department of Education statistics more than 9 thousand students who were supposed to graduate last year were foreign born and entered the school system in the 9th grade or later. Some advocates believe these students should be tested on their progress and not on their proficiency. Howard Friedman,Principal of Manhattan Comprehensive for over a decade agrees. He says he often sees students passing all the required tests, except the English Regents:

Friedman: To hold a kid back who is making progress working hard because they got here after they are, you know in our case probably 18 to 21 is not fair because many of our students might get 5, 600 on the SAT but score much lower on the English portion. But after a year or two in college they are doing fine.

But the state believes proficiency in English is necessary if a student is to succeed after high school. Tom Dunne is a spokesman for the New York State Education Department:

Dunne: I think that the idea of student being able to listen to the English language, read it, write it competently and thoroughly is a good standard. It's reasonable, it's not demanding fluency. 55 is certainly an attainable score for an English Language Learner.

Dunne also supports tracking students but denies testing requirements have caused the drop out rate to increase or that more students are settling for GED's instead of high school Diplomas.

Sugiedi says she's never dreamed she would find herself struggling to get her diploma. She says back in the Dominican Republic she did very well in school and calls coming to the United States before graduating a big mistake:

Sugiedi: Me senti tan mal porque yo dije wow, si yo estuvia en mi pais, ya mi companeros se graduaron. Yo fui en diciembre y ellos estaban planeando lo que era el graduacion y yo todovia aqui luchando.

Translation: I felt so bad because I said to myself, Wow, If I was in my country right now .my friends they all already graduated. I was there in December and they were all making plans for graduation. And me I'm still here fighting to make it through.

Sugiedi must hurry up and finish school before she reaches 22 and can no longer stay at Manhattan Comprehensive. She has passed two Regents exams and plans to take the remaining three, including English by the end of the school year.

Principal Freidman says all of his students understand Manhattan Comprehensive is their last chance to receive a diploma and it is that reality that motivates many of them too succeed.

For WNYC: I'm Cindy Rodriguez in New York