It is true that NYC has hundreds of new high schools, with a catalog so thick it resembles the phone book.
Yet this report ignores that there is nothing more despised by NYC parents than the demanding and complicated HS "choice" process, as reported on in many places, including here.
See also the chart at right from the excellent New Schools study, The New Marketplace, which shows how ridiculously complex the process is.
It also doesn't mention how many of the new schools have no record of success and indeed several have already landed on the failing list.
The Brookings report also fails to mention the fact that over 8,000 NYC students were rejected from all of their top 12 high school choices last year.
Finally, it ignores the reality that once a student is accepted to a high school, DOE has made it almost impossible to transfer out, no matter how unhappy the student and inappropriate the placement turns out to be, as reported on here.
Some system of choice! DOE would do better to focus on improving and supporting the high schools we have, so that every 8th grader can be guaranteed a seat in a good high school, rather than continuing to spin off new high schools each year with little or no attempt at quality control, no place to put them, and no guarantee that NYC students will end up in a school that offers them a decent education.
