I would expect the school to have collected statistics about the relationship between the scores *of those admitted* and their performance at school. If the test is an appropriate one, I would expect there to be a clear positive correlation at least towards the bottom of the scale of marks...
But the interesting general issue is: this seems to basically be an achievement test, not an aptitude or IQ test. ... People asking for a test that can't be tutored for are asking for (the impossible, and) admission by IQ test. But at some point, what makes for a coherent class that can all be taught at the same level isn't just aptitude, it's some combination of aptitude and achievement. So it wouldn't work just to replace this test by an IQ test (whose questions are miraculously kept secret so noone can prepare for them :-); that would weaken the school.
I disagree, though I wasn't phrasing my ideas optimally when I wrote "can't be prepped for." I should have said, "Serious prep isn't a realistic option." As I mentioned, the Miller Analogies test and CTY's SCAT are relatively prep-resistant. This is because the test makers don't really release previous versions of the test. You can purchase access to three former Miller Analogies tests, but you can't save or print and they also don't tell you how the scoring system works. AFAIK, no SCAT tests are available. CTY just provides a page or two of practice questions. Likewise, the entrance exam for Thomas Jefferson is in this group (see
this link). To the best of my knowledge, there was a pretty strong correlation between test scores and performance at Thomas Jefferson before they changed the admissions process. Today, 65% of the admissions decision is based on
recommendations and writing samples. I don't know if they've studied correlations between test scores and other factors in their admissions process, but the remediation rate skyrocketed after they changed the process. But the number of minority students didn't change.
But the real problem is that focusing on the the admissions process ignores the root of the issue, which is that New York City 1) doesn't provide enough seats for gifted students and 2) NYC has some really crappy schools.
