Historically, most New York City high school students have been eligible to earn Local or more rigorous Regents diplomas. But reforms set in motion over a decade ago by New York State Regents now require all high school students, beginning with the current freshman class, to meet the more stringent Regents standards for graduation -- a challenge the city's schools, and students, are ill-equipped to meet, according to areport released today by the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice.

While overall graduation rates have been inching upward, Regents diploma rates fall far short: 52 percent of students graduate in four years, according to the DOE, but only 37 percent earn Regents diplomas. Among students of color, Regents rates are lower still: 28 percent of African-American and 26 percent of Hispanic teens earn Regents (with boys consistently earning fewer Regents credentials than girls).

Schools that serve struggling communities, which the report describes as high-poverty schools, graduate many fewer Regents students than do low-poverty schools (32 percent vs. 58 percent) and offer only about half the advanced-study opportunities, limiting options for even the most ambitious, motivated students. Small high schools post comparatively higher grad rates (78 percent, according to a New Visions reportreferenced in the CEJ study) -- but less than half of their grads, or 36 percent, earn Regents credentials.

Big picture: 10,000 recent graduates would not have qualified for diplomas, under the new, more rigorous standards. Approximately 22,000 current high school students attend schools where three-quarters of the student body do not graduate with Regents diplomas. These students are predominantly poor; their economic and personal futures, without sufficient academic preparation for college or "promising jobs," are bleak. (Graduation and Regents-diploma rates are lower still for students with disabilities and those learning English, but the CEJ report primarily addresses the mainstream population.)

The report recommends that the DOE "redesign and expand time for learning," including a longer school day and broad enrichments for high school students. It also endorses remaking low-performing schools into "community schools," which would provide academic instruction as well as medical, social, and emotional supports to students and families. (How communities would access their schools in the climate of citywide school choice, where zoned schools are at a minimum, is a puzzle for another time.)

The CEJ, under the auspices of the Annenberg Institute, knits together a broad coalition of parent and advocacy groups and has had marked success in prior efforts to improve science instruction (securing $444 million for middle and high school science labs), middle-school reform (a $30 million DOE grant to address low-performing schools) and improving teacher quality and mentoring. One can only hope that the powers that be attend to the group's current publication -- before it is too late to prepare tens of thousands of New York City students to meet the high standards set by the city and state.