Prepared for:

The evaluation of the New Century High Schools (NCHS) initiative examined operations and student outcomes in 75 schools from 2002-03 through 2005-06. This report, the final in a series of annual evaluation reports, presents data collected over those years, with a focus on school year 2005-06. The NCHS initiative grew out of a program theory that emphasized small school enrollments, instructional rigor and focus, youth development and positive relationships, and the mobilization of supplementary educational resources. The initiative’s central method for promoting these school features was through frameworks and supports for disciplined innovation, which relies on informed problem-solving to address student needs within broad, agreed-upon boundaries and which emphasizes continuous data-driven feedback and tailored assistance. The evaluation used the percent of students in the Class of 2006 who graduated on time as its prime indicator of success. The study’s central finding is that NCHS schools graduated more students on time than did larger New York City schools with comparable youngsters, by 18 percentage points (78.2 percent versus 60.6 percent), and more students than did New York Cit