With a new School Chancellor taking office this month, there were bound to be changes afoot. Although, in Richard Carranza’s defense, modifications to New York City’s application system for public middle and high schools have been hotly debated topics for years.
Here’s a look at the proposals on deck, whom they will help, and whom they will hurt….
What Will Be Different: Schools will no longer be able to see where students ranked them in order of preference, and so give priority to those who listed them first.
Why the Change: Diversity and equity. According to Eric Goldberg, a Community Education Council Member in District 2, “I believe revealed choice has been at the heart of many inequities of the middle school admissions process. It didn’t give kids the opportunity to reach or aspire to a school that is out of their comfort zone…. (T)his will require each and every school to reevaluate the way they select and assess students and gives us an opportunity to have a good discussion about the values that we believe in and how we want our admissions processes to reflect our values.”
When Will It Take Effect: Fall of 2019
Whom Will It Help: Families who figure out how to manipulate the system.
Whom Will It Hurt: Families who don’t figure out how to manipulate the system.
What Will Be Different: In District 3 on the Upper West Side, 10 percent of seats in all middle schools will be set aside for students who scored a 1, the lowest you can possibly get, on their 4th grade English Language Arts (ELA) and Math tests; 15 percent of seats will be reserved for those who scored a 2, which is considered Below Proficient.
Why the Change: Diversity and equity. Such mixed ability grouping will allow Upper West Side schools to integrate without using race or socio-economics as admissions criteria. Because, according to the proposal’s supporters, certain races and low-income status equal low achievement, naturally.
When Will It Take Effect: Pending. Community Education Council 3 will be holding a meeting on the subject this Tuesday, April 24.
Whom Will It Help: Families who figure out how to manipulate the system.
Whom Will It Hurt: Families who don’t figure out how to manipulate the system.
What Will Be Different: Screened Schools, which look at grades, test scores, attendance, and sometimes portfolios and interviews, will set aside seats for students who test in the bottom 20th percentile, so a mean score of 40th percentile is achieved at every school. Specialized High Schools will automatically accept the top 3 percent of students from every middle school, instead of relying on scores from a single test. No, wait, make that 10 percent. (To read how a similar initiative at the college level worked out in Texas, click here. To read how it went at the high school level in San Francisco, the new Chancellor’s former place of employment, click here.)
Why the Change: Diversity and equity. Despite loudly and proudly touting initiative after initiative, the Department of Education continues to fail to budge the needle on the number of Black and Hispanic students admitted to NYC’s top high schools. (Fortunately, the Mayor’s own children have already graduated from a Specialized school and a Screened school, so the changes won’t affect his family one iota.)
When Will It Take Effect: In discussion now (you can sign the petition, here), but it would take an alteration in state law to change the admissions criteria to Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, and Brooklyn Tech.
Whom Will It Help: Families who figure out how to manipulate the system.
Whom Will It Hurt: Families who don’t figure out how to manipulate the system.
What Will Be Different: Brooklyn Latin, Staten Island Tech, Queens High School for the Sciences, High School of American Studies, and the High School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering will no longer be Specialized Schools which use the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) as the sole means of admission. They will (presumably) become Screened schools (which several of them were previously), or some other hybrid category to be named later.
Why the Change: Diversity and equity.
When Will It Take Effect: In discussion, and would require a vote by the Panel for Educational Policy, which supporters argue is just a rubber stamp for City Hall, so all it would need would be a push from Mayor de Blasio.
Whom Will It Help: Families who figure out how to manipulate the system.
Whom Will It Hurt: Families who don’t figure out how to manipulate the system.
So…. anyone see any patterns, here?
So that means you don’t need to study hard you can get into a best school base on your race! So what is school for now? What is academic perpose now? Do they know what is ACADEMY means?