Over the almost 50 years of Hecht-Calandra act being law, we now have decades of research detailing the problems with high-stakes testing as the sole measure of student ability. Yet Hecht-Calandra and the exam it authorizes continue to be New York State law.
Denying the harm in using a single multiple-choice exam as the sole measure of a child’s academic worth with the mountains of scientific evidence we now have is similar to denying global warming.
No other district in the nation uses a single exam for screening a public high school. No red state or GOP-led State has a single-measure entrance exam.
Replace Hecht-Calandra act to allow modern psychometric testing practices that aren’t subject to the above issues.
How you can help
We have a hard time getting NY Assembly and Senate elected members to give on-record opinions on the test. Call your Assembly and Senate representatives to ask for their opinion on the test. And let us know their opinion.
Posts, News & Articles
Interested in learning more? We’ve collected [total_posts] articles on Hecht-Calandra, SHSAT, and related topics.
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 …
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 …
These notoriously difficult questions sometimes include material that isn’t covered in public school curricula, Lee said, lending an unfair advantage to students with access to private tutoring. He added that while it was “a personal choice” for parents and children …
after 4,050 test takers received an offer based on their test scores, the city extended offers to 855 students to participate this summer in the Discovery program. (Not everyone who gets invited into the program will accept the offer or …
Gaps at many of the other schools were also stark: Out of 287 offers made at Staten Island Technical High School, for example, two Black students were accepted — up from zero last year — along with seven Latino students …
While talent helps, students also need knowledge, expertise and polish to get into dozens of New York City public school arts programs that use auditions and portfolios to screen applicants. Although these schools have largely escaped the rancorous debate over …
Assuming Massey is right that segregation is the vehicle “through which Black poverty is transmitted and reproduced,” policymakers of good will face the enormous and perhaps insuperable task of restoring integration to center stage while somehow avoiding the political and …
But perhaps the most consequential feature of Black segregated schools in the United States is that they are mostly high-poverty schools. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a staggering 72.4 percent of Black eighth graders attend a high-poverty school, …
Despite these grim odds, young Indians continue arriving in Kota, and the coaching institutes have become a big business, encompassing 300 or so centers that generate $350 million to $450 million in revenue every year, according to one estimate. The …
It shouldn’t have been so difficult to feel welcomed in my own school. Something is wrong when students feel alienated in the space where they spend the majority of their time. My experience is part of a bigger problem. Black …
