Contact: John Hutchins, john.hutchins@mdrc.org

(January 27, 2026) — MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy research firm, released new results today from its rigorous multiyear study of small public high schools in New York City. The findings show that these district schools, which serve mostly disadvantaged students of color, boost postsecondary enrollment by 9.5 percentage points and college degree attainment by 2.5 percentage points.

Earlier MDRC research found that these schools increased high school graduation rates by nearly 10 percentage points. NYC’s small high schools achieved these gains at a lower cost per graduate than that of the high schools attended by students who had applied to these schools but were randomly assigned to other public high schools when small school slots were full.

“Our study confirms that the important leg-up provided by New York City's small public high schools continues beyond high school for a wide range of disadvantaged students, making them more likely to access and succeed in postsecondary education,” said Virginia Knox, President of MDRC. “It is rare, and exciting, to have evidence of sustained impact for such a large-scale high school reform.”

More Detail on the Study and the Findings

The creation of small schools by the New York City Public Schools began in the 1990s. In 2002, the city instituted a district-wide high school admissions process that emphasized student choice and began establishing over 100 new academically nonselective small public schools. Each enrolling approximately 100 students per grade in grades 9 through 12, these schools were created to serve some of the district’s most disadvantaged students. Besides being small, they emphasize academic rigor, personalized relationships among teachers and students, and real-world relevance of learning.

MDRC’s study takes advantage of the lottery-like features in New York City’s high school admissions process that kick in when schools have more applicants than seats available to compare over time the academic outcomes of students who won their first lottery and enrolled in the small schools with those who sought admission, lost a lottery, and enrolled in other New York City high schools. The study includes 16,000 students who enrolled in high school in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008, and the new findings follow them for six years after their scheduled high school graduation. The analysis does not compare the small high schools to the large, failing high schools they replaced but, rather, to the other public high schools operating in the reform-rich atmosphere in New York City.

The study’s new findings include:

• Large positive effects (9.5 percentage points) on students’ enrollment in postsecondary education immediately after graduating from high school.
   
• Small to moderate positive effects (2.5 percentage points) on students’ four-year postsecondary degree attainment rate.
   
• Some variation in effects across students, such as larger increases in postsecondary enrollment and degree attainment rates among students who were already proficient in math before entering high school. A separate analysis examines the effects of NYC’s small high schools on math performance.
   
• No effect on students’ employment rates or earnings. However, it may be too early for a positive effect to have emerged since many sample members were still in school at follow-up.

Background on Small Schools of Choice

Small schools of choice (SSCs) — a term coined by the researchers to emphasize the fact that these nonselective district schools are open to and chosen by students of all academic levels — are more than just small. They were developed and approved through a competitive proposal process administered by the New York City Public Schools and designed to stimulate innovative ideas for new schools by a range of stakeholders and institutions, from educators to school reform organizations, led in part by New Visions for Public Schools and including the Urban Assembly, the Institute for Student Achievement, the College Board, and others. The resulting schools emphasize academic rigor; strong, sustained relationships between students and faculty; and community partnerships to offer relevant learning opportunities outside the classroom. Each SSC also received start-up funding as well as assistance and policy support from the district and other key players to facilitate leadership development, hiring, and implementation.

These reform efforts were supported by a consortium of funders, led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Open Society Foundations, and were implemented in collaboration with the United Federation of Teachers and the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators. Prior research by the Research Alliance for New York City Schools suggests that teachers and principals at SSCs strongly believe that academic rigor and personal relationships with students contribute to the effectiveness of their schools.

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MDRC’s study is funded by the Gates Foundation and has also benefitted from support from the Walton Family Foundation and the Spencer Foundation. All publications from the study, including the new one, Enduring Success: Effects of New York City’s Small Schools of Choice on Postsecondary Degree Attainment and Employment, by Rebecca Unterman and Miki Shih, are available on MDRC’s website.

MDRC was founded in 1974 on the idea that high-quality research and evidence can play a vital role in reducing poverty and expanding opportunity in the United States. We hold true to that vision today. A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, MDRC conducts rigorous studies of programs and policies that affect people with low incomes, actively disseminates the lessons to policymakers and practitioners, and works directly with programs and agencies to help improve their effectiveness and efficiency.