NYC transfer high schools have a track record of successfully engaging and graduating students who are over-age for grade and under-credited. Although all may not meet the Every Student Succeeds Act requirement of a 67% graduation rate for public high schools, their track record of graduating students who have failed to make progress in traditional high schools is impressive.
Recent data build upon the messages conveyed in Metis’s 2015 rigorous evaluation of Good Shepherd Service’s transfer high school model. Metis’s evaluation concluded that students attending the study schools, in which students receive personalized support to build on individual strengths, were significantly more likely to graduate than the comparison group; they also earned more credits and had better attendance.
In the transfer school model, students receive personalized support to build on individual strengths. The model’s core components include a small school environment; consistent support from advocate counselors; and appropriate youth development and leadership opportunities.