school. >> reporter: stefanie seagle is a long time teacher at robeson high. >> one of the things we've always been proud of is that even though we have young people who come with lots of challenges, we're able to keep them here. they won't graduate in four years for a variety of reasons: learning disabilities, or such challenges in their home life, it's just hard for them to have a good attendance. so it ends up taking them longer for those reasons, but they stay. >> reporter: robeson is not the only new york school dealing with low graduation rates. the international school in prospect heights, where rosie fresecella teaches, is experiencing similar issues. >> you know, my school is special because they are all english language learners. >> reporter: in fact, students who speak english as a second language have a 4-year graduation rate of less than 40%. teachers at prospect also disagree with the label dropout factory. >> it's another cliche name. i know what i do, i know about my...