The late shall enter first — at the city's struggling schools

Every school year brings recent immigrants along with homeless or previously jailed students who do not go through the high school selection process.  

These are some of the city’s highest-needs students.

Still, for the last three years the Department of Education (DOE) has enrolled a disproportionately high percentage of these so-called “over-the-counter” (OTC) students in schools that are struggling or slated for closure, including John F. Kennedy High School, according to a study by the educational non-profit Annenberg Institute.

In a recent report, called “Over the Counter, Under the Radar,” the institute, which is part of Brown University, said the higher a school’s eighth-grade test scores for incoming freshmen, the lower the school’s OTC assignment rate.

Analyzing data on 45,000 total OTC students assigned to schools between 2008 and 2011, the report found that John F. Kennedy High School had an annual OTC assignment rate of 29 percent — more than twice the average rate for other schools with medium-sized student bodies. The report calculated the rate by dividing a school’s annual number of OTC students by its total enrollment as of June 30 for the school years in question. OTC students frequently enroll later than their peers.

John F. Kennedy Principal Lisa Luft declined to comment on her school’s OTC students in detail. However, she looked to the next mayor for answers to the situation.

“It’s interesting that these things are coming out and it gives a great opportunity for the next administration to tackle issues that have not been tackled before,” Ms. Luft said.  “Those are problems that they deal with at the central-level office.  My concern is giving the students who are here the best education I can.”

While area officials have long said DeWitt Clinton High School receives large numbers of OTC students, the Annenberg Institute did not mention the school in its report.

Among its recommendations, the institute called for the DOE to stop assigning OTC students to schools slated for closure. It also said education administrators should evenly distribute OTC students throughout city schools and called for the DOE to perform a study identifying which schools are most conducive to high academic performance by OTC students.