SHSAT Sunset

  • High-Stakes Standardized Testing Supporter: Jumaane D. Williams

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    Name: Jumaane D. WilliamsPublic Advocate Link: https://advocate.nyc.gov/Ballotpedia: https://ballotpedia.org/Jumaane_WilliamsPhone Hotline: (212) 669-7250 Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams strongly supports the SHSAT as the sole measure of academic merit.  He argues that the only reason he got into a specialized high school was that he was good at taking tests, and not particularly good in class. Jumaane Williams…

  • High-Stakes Standardized Testing Supporter: Andrew Gounardes

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    Name: Andrew GounardesSenate Link: https://www.nysenate.gov/senators/andrew-gounardesBallotpedia: https://ballotpedia.org/Andrew_S._GounardesPhone: (718) 238-6044 Senator Andrew Gounardes defends the use of the single SHSAT multiple-choice test as the SOLE measure of a student’s ability without any reservation.  Senator Gounardes has a classic “Resource Hoarding” position.  His constituents are over-represented by the exam, hence he defends it. Senator Gounardes also claims the typical “the…

  • CityViews: Equitable Admission to High Schools Must Start with Middle School

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    recent actions by the Trump administration strongly suggest that attempts to increase representation of African American and Latinx students at schools with competitive admissions processes could invite investigation from the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice. It is safer just to eliminate competitive processes wherever possible. https://citylimits.org/2019/01/21/cityviews-equitable-admission-to-high-schools-must-start-with-middle-school/

  • Asian Test-Prep Centers Offer Parents Exactly What They Want: ‘Results’

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    At GPS, as with its competitors, one of the most popular courses focuses on New York City’s Specialized High School Admissions Test, an entrance requirement for eight of the city’s nine specialized high schools. (LaGuardia High, a performing-arts school, has an audition system.) Less than 20 percent of eighth graders who take the exam clear…

  • Wallack Declaration – Christa McAuliffe I.S 187 vs NYC

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    Case 1:18-cv-11657-ER Document 50 Filed 01/17/19 Some interesting sections from the full declaration. Notes… Deputy Chancellor for Early Childhood Education and Student Enrollment in the New York City Department of Education (“DOE”). As such, the DOE Office of Student Enrollment, which among other things is responsible for enrollment in the Specialized High Schools, reports to…

  • Pro-SHSAT Activists have Spent over Quarter Million Dollars Lobbying NY Democrats

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    Some advocates for keeping the test have decided to invest in lobbyists. The alumni foundation for Bronx High School of Science, one of the elite high schools, signed a $96,000 contract with lobbying firm Bolton-St. John, according to public filings. Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation, which renewed a $120,000 contract with firm Yoswein, has lobbied for…

  • The problem with high-stakes testing and women in STEM

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    Overall, the correlation was a loose one. Test scores predicted only 20 percent of the variation in students’ GPAs.  In other words, students with the same test high scores had wildly different GPAs at school the following year. At first glance, the test doesn’t seem very good at discerning A students from B students. Seventh-grade…

  • My journey shows why specialized high school admissions must change

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    With a sense of tragic déjà vu, reactionary forces are once again pushing back against any proposed integration of prestigious, but largely segregated, schools. This development is so predictable that it would be comical – were it not for the terrible consequences. Already, several irate New Yorkers have called my district office to voice their…

  • Response: De Blasio’s attempt to reduce the number of Asian-American students in the Discovery Program is unconstitutional

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    Recently, Attorney “Chris Kieser” wrote an opinion on the SHSAT, Specialized High Schools, and the Discovery Program.  Sadly, being an opinion piece, there was little fact-checking.  Mr. Kieser’s comments are quoted below. New York City’s specialized high schools are the envy of the nation. The above statement seems to be the standard opening to the…

  • Challengers of Affirmative Action Have a New Target: New York City’s Elite High Schools

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    This week, the Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative, libertarian-leaning law firm that has a history of challenging affirmative action policies, filed the first lawsuit against his admissions reform proposal, which he announced this summer. But the suit does not take on the part of Mr. de Blasio’s proposal that has provoked the most controversy: a plan that…