De Blasio wants to scrap admissions testing for elite high schoolsby Selim Algar
New York Post
June 2, 2018
Backstory: In a Policy Brief dated March 2015 and titled
Pathways to an Elite Education: Exploring Strategies to Diversify NYC’s Specialized High Schools, data analyzed from 2004-2005 and 2012-2013 showed that "nearly a third of New York City’s 8th graders opted to take the SHSAT. Approximately 19 percent of those who did scored high enough to receive an offer of admission to a specialized high school. And, of those offered admission, 72 percent accepted the offer."
This 14-page Policy Brief report is well worth reading, as it includes the results of simulations of various admissions rule models which have been proposed as policy changes. Among our key findings:
- Offers based on state test scores, grades, and attendance would increase the share of Latino and White students in specialized high schools, and reduce the share of Asian students (who would remain significantly over-represented).
- These rule changes would not appreciably increase the proportion of Black students admitted, and, alarmingly, several of these alternative criteria would actually decrease the number of Black students offered a specialized school seat.
- A simulated rule based on test scores and grades that also enforces proportional representation by borough would moderately increase the share of Black students.
- All simulated admissions rules based on state test scores, grades, and attendance instead of the SHSAT would tip the gender balance in specialized high schools in favor of girls.
- A little over half of the students who would receive offers under these simulated rules were actually admitted based on their SHSAT score, suggesting that there is considerable overlap in students who would be admitted under different criteria.
- Admissions rules that rely on test scores, grades, and attendance would not significantly reduce the concentration of offers in a small number of middle schools. This largely reflects the uneven distribution of high-achieving students across schools...
- The only simulated admissions rule that would substantially change the demographic mix of the specialized high schools and reduce the concentration of offers in a small number of middle schools is a rule that guarantees admission to all students across the City who are in the top 10 percent of their middle school.
This rule would have a large impact on diversity, but at the cost of reducing the average achievement of incoming students, particularly in math. Under this rule, the average math achievement of admitted students would be about 0.12 standard deviations (or 7.2 percent) lower, a potential concern for the math- and science-oriented specialized schools.
This Policy Brief report was issued while
Carmen Farina was Chancellor of NYC Public Schools. She was recently replaced with
Richard Carranza,
former superintendent of Houston, TX public schools for 18 months; prior to that Carranza was
superintendent in San Francisco. He has been no stranger to controversy.
Unfortunately, the current
article summarizing the proposals of Carranza and DeBlasio appears to conflate three groups when discussing admissions:
- low income
- Black and African American
- Latino
Asian students are described as being over-represented in the NYC elite public high schools.
State Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky, a former Brooklyn Tech teacher, ripped de Blasio’s plan.
“To assume African-American and Latino students cannot pass the test is insulting to everyone and educationally unsound,” she said. “Many Asian-American students come from families who live in poverty.”
At least 60 percent of kids at three of the specialized schools are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, according to DOE data.
By contrast, the Policy Brief report appears to share statistics for each of these demographics individually, as well as considering the gender demographic.
While pubic school reforms may be sorely needed, when considering admissions to elite high schools, it may be wise to look toward sports and emulate their choices in draft picks, qualifying for Olympic teams, etc.
