RCSD Strategic Plan - Rochester City School District

SNAPSHOT OF OUR DISTRICT TODAYWe are far from where we need to be to truly prepareeach of our students for success in college,work, and life.• Nearly half of our students do not graduate highschool in 4 years.• Nearly half of our students do not graduate highschool in 5 years.• We have significant achievement gaps that impactparticular groups of students. For example, gaps ingraduation rates are as follows:- African American and White students: 4 percentagepoints- Latino and White students: 9 percentage points- English Language Learners (ELL) and non-ELLs: 19percentage points- Students with Disabilities and General Educationstudents: 33 percentage pointsWHAT THIS MEANS TODAY AND TOMORROWIf we don’t change for the better, we are effectivelysaying to ourselves, our country, and the world that itis okay to have lower expectations for minorities andlower-income students.If we don’t equip every student for college, work, and life,we are saying that it is okay for our children to be worseoff than we are. We are contributing to a future in whichour children will grow up to:• Suffer from health issues as much or more than we do• Struggle to find employment and be very likely to endup in poverty• Earn hundreds of thousands of dollars less in their lifetimethan their better educated counterparts• Be more likely to engage in criminal behavior that willmake our city and county a less safe and desirableplace to live• Lack the ability to take full advantage of their rights andfreedoms as democratic citizens• Be ill-equipped to understand and change the worldaround them for the betterWhere we are as a cityRochester faces mounting challenges, from povertyto a declining population to health issues.• Rochester ranked 11 th in the nation for child poverty.36.9% of children under the age of 18 are inpoverty and that number increases to 37.2% forchildren under the age of 5.• We have the highest rate of poverty among NYSBig 5 districts; 50% of our schools are at 90% povertyor higher.• Between 2000 and 2006, the population of Rochesterdeclined by 5.3%. Enrollment in our schooldistrict has continued to shrink over the past tenyears.• In the 2000s, 14-15% of incoming RCSD Pre-K andK students were hospitalized in a Neonatal IntensiveCare Unit (NICU) at birth. That figure increasedto 19.7% in 2007-08. This represents a changefrom every 1 in 7 to every 1 in 5 children.• In 2007-08, over 15% of incoming Pre-K studentshad a parent who was incarcerated.• In that same year, over 27% of incoming Pre-K studentshad experienced the death of a close familymember.• The estimated 2007 median household income inRochester was $29,329, over 45% lower than theNYS median of $53,448.How will better educating our studentshelp our city today and tomorrow?If we drastically improve the education we provide toour students, we will:• Give the families who will leave us for jobs and a bettereducation in the suburbs a reason to stay• Attract new families, increase our city’s population, andincrease our tax base• Improve the quality of our workforce and ability to attractbusinesses that will create jobs• Reduce the rate of poverty• Reduce the scope and severity of health issues we face• Improve the safety of our city, making it a more pleasantplace to live, work, and go to school• Spend our taxes on public health and education insteadof incarceration• Improve the health, well-being, and academic readinessof our next generation of incoming students• Fulfill a moral, civic, and economic duty to improveourselves, our children, and our society• Prove that an urban education that provides every childwith the opportunity to excel, regardless of race/ethnicity,disability, language proficiency or income level, canwork.8