https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/11/23/push-to-digitize-nyc-entrance-exam-for-specialized-high-schools-reignites-equity-debate ..read more

This year’s eighth graders could be the last class that takes the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test with paper and pencil. A New York City education panel is slated to vote on a roughly $17 million contract later this month that would transition the test to a computer-based model. https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2024/10/17/nyc-specialized-high-school-admissions-test-shsat-could-go-digital ..read more

Across the public school system, 24 percent of students are Black and 41 percent are Hispanic. But at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, often viewed as the city’s most competitive high school, 10 of the 744 offers made this spring went to Black students while 16 went to Hispanic students. Asian students were offered 496 ..read more

Lastly, we must renew the push to scrap the SHSAT in favor of a multifactor admission strategy. Just two years ago, former Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter was shouted down when she called on the state to kill the SHSAT. I strongly support an admissions process that takes into account performance on state-mandated tests, class ..read more

At the city’s eight specialized high schools requiring an exam as the sole basis of admission, students classified with disabilities represent a staggeringly small share of the population, much lower than the average at high schools citywide. In fact, the specialized high schools rank close to the bottom or last, according to the Education Department data from the 2022-23 school year. https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2024/07/19/students-with-disabilities-shut-out-of-nyc-specialized-high-schools ..read more

While about one third of traditional public and charter school 8th grade students took the SHSAT during the 2021-2022 school year, far fewer students received offers of admission and ultimately enrolled. IBO examined admissions rates by disability status and found students with disabilities were less likely than their peers without disabilities to take the SHSAT, to receive offers of admission to a specialized high school—and to enroll. Students with disabilities took the SHSAT three times less frequently (12.4%) than their peers without disabilities (38.3%). The disparity between the two ..read more

“You can’t fix segregation by creating more segregated Stuyvesants, more segregated gifted-and-talented programs. Ultimately, what we’ve always advocated for is that all students in New York City deserve high-quality, diverse, and equitable schools,” Gonzales told me. “There are many policies sitting on the table, literally collecting dust, that can be implemented to decrease segregation in New York City schools.” https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/why-are-new-york-city-schools-still-so-segregated.html ..read more

“We cannot just keep on saying, ‘This problem is too big — there’s nothing we can do about it,’” Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, of the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, told a lawyer for the city at the time. “Meanwhile, thousands and thousands and thousands of children keep on being graduated from a system that’s not teaching them,” she said. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/02/nyregion/nyc-schools-segregation.html ..read more

Although colleges can no longer employ racial preferences in admissions, several legal scholars said they believe schools can still consider race in recruiting strategies. The Supreme Court, in turning away another recent legal challenge, has also signaled — at least for now — that it’s permissible for colleges to pursue diversity as an end goal so long as racial preferences aren’t the means to achieve it. Of the scenarios we’ve shown, an expanded recruiting strategy requires the most work from colleges. But it’s also “the big overlooked gold mine here,” said Richard Sander, a law professor a ..read more

Although I was ranked third in my middle school, I still thought the SHSAT was too biased and I lacked support and tutoring. Had I not been admitted to LaGuardia, I may not have gotten into college and began my path to success. How many others like me have slipped through the cracks? https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-specialized-high-schools-must-open-up-20230730-wgl2ievjrve7bhq5yqmf5grnyu-story.html … The post Make education fairer for all: Specialized high schools must open up appeared first on SHSAT Sunset ..read more