http://educationnext.org/exam-schools-from-the-inside/
Exam Schools from the Inside
By Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Jessica Hockett
Education Next
FALL 2012 / VOL. 12, NO. 4

Stuyvesant. Boston Latin. Bronx Science. Thomas Jefferson. Lowell. Illinois Math and Science Academy. These are some of the highest-achieving high schools in the United States. In contrast to elite boarding and day schools such as Andover and Sidwell Friends, however, they are public. And unlike the comprehensive taxpayer-funded options in affluent suburbs such as Palo Alto and Winnetka, they don’t admit everyone who lives in their attendance area.

Sometimes called “exam schools,” these academically selective institutions have long been a part of the American secondary-education landscape. The schools are diverse in origin and purpose. No single catalyst describes why or how they began as or morphed into academically selective institutions. Some arose from a desire (among parents, superintendents, school boards, governors, legislators) to provide a self-contained, high-powered college-prep education for able youngsters in a community, region, or state. Others started through philanthropic ventures or as university initiatives. A number of them were products of the country’s efforts to desegregate—and integrate—its public-education system, prompted by court orders, civil rights enforcers and activists, or federal “magnet school” dollars.

Exam schools are sometimes controversial because “selectivity” is hard to reconcile with the mission of “public” education. Even school-choice advocates typically assert that, while families should be free to choose their children’s schools, schools have no business selecting their pupils. Other people are troubled by reports of insufficient “diversity” among the youngsters admitted to such schools.

With such criticisms in mind, we set out to explore this unique and little-understood sector of the education landscape. Wanting first to determine how many there are and where they are located, we also wondered whether the “exam school” could be a worthy response to the dilemma of how best to develop the talents of our nation’s high-performing and high-potential youth in a climate consumed with gap closing and leaving no child behind. Could the selective public high school play a larger role in educating our country’s high-achieving pupils?

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The table of contents of the authors' forthcoming book on exam schools is at http://press.princeton.edu/TOCs/c9811.html . Here is a list of chapters featuring individual schools.

Chapter 4: Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, Aurora, IL 61
Chapter 5: School Without Walls, Washington, D.C. 71
Chapter 6: Central High School Magnet Career Academy, Louisville, KY 79
Chapter 7: Liberal Arts and Science Academy, Austin, TX 88
Chapter 8: Jones College Prep, Chicago, IL 96
Chapter 9: Benjamin Franklin High School, New Orleans, LA 106
Chapter 10: Townsend Harris High School, Queens, NY 114
Chapter 11: Pine View School for the Gifted, Osprey, FL 122
Chapter 12: Oxford Academy, Cypress, CA 131
Chapter 13: Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ 140
Chapter 14: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Annandale, VA 149

That's the theory our county uses. A few high school magnets have admission requirements. Most obviously the IB program, which is the district's default option for kids coming out of the gifted programs, despite the fact that it really only serves a narrow segment of gifted kids overall.

One of the things our district does with 8th graders is sit down with them in spring and map out the classes they're required to take to graduate, in order to make sure they'll actually manage to do so. I think a better approach at least for gifted kids (who are mostly unlikely to fail and need a redo) would be to do this in the fall of 8th grade, before magnets and charters are applied to, so that they can see what's out there and what their options are. If you have a child who's a traditional scholar, she may be perfect for something like IB-- but her best friend, who is equally academic but is also a natural linguist and wants the latitude to take Spanish AND Chinese AND French AND German, might be better served in a traditional and less-elite high school with a really good world languages department.

More from Finn:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/opinion/gifted-students-deserve-more-opportunities.html

"Public education�s neglect of high-ability students doesn�t just deny individuals opportunities they deserve. It also imperils the country�s future supply of scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs."

By the way, I read the book. It was a little disappointing, at least in terms of matching my interests.

The authors go out of the way to point out that exam schools are racially diverse in ways you might not expect (more African-Americans than the population as a whole).

OK, that's surprising. But it turns out its very driven by how they define an exam school -- Louisville Central High Career Academy gets lumped in with TJ.

The discussions of the schools are also a bit cursory. The question I wanted answered was: are TJ and/or the Illinois Math and Science Academy so special that it's worth moving so my kids can attend them? What are outcomes like for kids at those schools? The only thing resembling outcome data were cursory mentions of the number of AP tests taken, which the reader could then divide by class size.

(Granted there's a big distance between outcomes and a causal effect of attendance, but outcomes would at least tell you about a combination of that effect and the peer group).

Lightly used copy for sale -- PM me if interested (actually I guess that wasn't the best sales pitch!)

Yes, and that's why the NAACP filed a lawsuit today:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...ity-elite-high-schools-article-1.1169240
NAACP claims discriminatory admission practices at city's elite high schools
BY BEN CHAPMAN / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

The NAACP has filed a bombshell complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, alleging discriminatory admission practices at the city’s elite high schools.

In a blistering document delivered to the feds Thursday morning, the NAACP accused the city of barring black and Latino students from eight of its “best public schools,” including Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, where only 1% of students are black. “Black and Latino students don’t see opportunity at places like Stuyvesant because of the admissions process,” said NAACP attorney Rachel Kleinman. “It’s not fair and it’s bad policy.”

The city’s Specialized High Schools Admissions Test is the only method that is used to judge students for admission to the eight elite high schools.

The NAACP believes the grueling exam is unfair to black and Latino students because they are denied admission “at rates far higher than other racial groups.” Nearly 31% of white students and 35% of Asian students who take the test are offered seats at the top schools, compared with just 5% of black students and 6.7% of Latinos.

The NAACP doesn’t specify how the test discriminates against blacks and Latinos, but Kleinman said those students may lack tutoring and other resources. Education officials hit back against the NAACP’s complaint, arguing the test is color-blind.
“We want all of our students to have opportunities to prepare for the test,” said agency spokeswoman Deidrea Miller.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/another-nobel-for-bronx-science-this-one-in-chemistry/
Another Nobel for Bronx Science, This One in Chemistry
By ANDY NEWMAN
New York Times
October 10, 2012

The Bronx High School of Science has churned out slightly more than its share of Nobel Prize winners in physics over the years: seven, going back to 1972, more than any high school in the country.

But the public school had never been able to boast a Nobel in chemistry until today, when Dr. Robert J. Lefkowitz, class of ’59 and a professor at Duke University‘s medical center, was one of two American scientists awarded the prize for their work figuring out how the human body’s cells respond to external signals — for example, speeding the heart when danger approaches.

This is good news for the Bronx and Bronx Science. I used to live near Bronx High School of Science and run around Jerome Park there.

I've heard from teachers that it's good but still doesn't compare to Scarsdale or Irvington. You're still dealing with a lot of city kids that automatically comes with urban issues. Still, kids from all five boroughs of the city attend Bronx Science and there's a reason why. Parents in NYC kill and jump many hurdles to get their child a slot in a high-performing, high-stakes school.