09.10.2014 | Chalkbeat | Nearly a quarter of the city’s middle-school students — or more than 50,000 pupils — have been held back from moving to the next grade at least once in their school careers, according to a new report by Advocates for Children of New York, which provides free legal and advocacy services for families. Last school year, more than 8,600 middle-school students were, like Daniel, three or more years older than most of their classmates…For a new schools chancellor who has made middle schools a priority, these older middle-school students present a daunting test. Like Daniel, they are more likely than other students to have a disability, to be black or Hispanic, and to attend a school in a low-income area, according to the report, which analyzed demographic data from the 2011-12 school year. The path to graduation for these students can look bleak: They have lower attendance rates than their peers and are two to 11 times more likely to drop out of school, according to statistics cited in the report. Read article