Case Study: Reimagining Education Through Transfer Student Voices
Many NYC students face systemic challenges like language barriers, learning differences, and responsibilities beyond the classroom, which traditional schools often overlook. Eskolta’s research helps transfer schools build systems that support every learner.
Quick Facts
Transfer schools serve over 13,000 students across 50 NYC campuses, making education personal and supportive. To get it right, Eskolta surveyed 800+ transfer students to hear their challenges and find ways schools can make the experience better.
- New York City
- 13,000+ transfer student across New York City
- 800+ transfer students surveyed
Overview
Opportunity
Standardized tests and traditional school models reduce students to data points. This rigid format ignores the lived experiences of students and turns structural inequality into a personal failure. These systems also disproportionately impact Black, Latinx, and disabled youth.
Insight
Eskolta surveyed 800+ transfer students and found 3 consistent challenges: disengaging curriculum, little support for tests, and unmet needs. Beyond numbers, students shared struggles with financial strain, violence, housing instability, mental health, and family caregiving.
Intervention
The report highlights key priorities: addressing systemic barriers with personalized support, aligning with students’ postsecondary goals, recognizing diverse success paths, and measuring progress beyond standard tests. Combined with city data, it helps schools identify gaps and tailor support.
Transfer Schools Deliver Tailored Support to Drive Student Success
Eskolta’s survey of 800+ students, alongside 19 alumni stories, reveals how transfer schools address real-life challenges, giving a deeper view of the student experience. This study links personal stories with citywide data to expose systemic inequities and highlight what drives long-term success.
“This model challenges traditional accountability by valuing diverse paths to success and showing what’s possible when schools prioritize individualized support and student voice.”
Elevating Student Voice Unlocks Lasting Change
Insights from 800+ transfer students revealed what test scores couldn’t: humanizing environments, flexible pathways, and real belonging lead to better outcomes—and longer-term success.
transfer students surveyed resulting in a clear pattern that demonstrated the unmet needs of students who had challenges beyond the classroom.
key findings in the report, rooted in alumni stories and citywide data: transfer schools offer humanizing environments, support strong post-high school pathways, and recognize nonlinear progress. Traditional schools maintain systemic barriers and overlook meaningful growth, mirrored in postsecondary systems, as well.
6-year graduation rates for underserved students were higher at transfer schools than traditional schools.
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