SHSAT Sunset

Blog

  • Letters: The Test That Changed Their Lives

    I was one of the few kids of Caribbean descent in Stuyvesant and I knew plenty of people who deserved to be there but didn’t test well or didn’t even know about the test.

    The fact that my mother didn’t want me to go because she genuinely didn’t know what the specialized high school test was or what a specialized high school was, is indicative of the larger problem at hand — that there isn’t enough outreach done in these communities that they want to pull “diverse” students from, and that the public and elementary schools serving these communities are underfunded and woefully under-prepare students for high school, much less a specialized one.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/nyregion/nyc-specialized-high-school-shsat.html

  • Failing The Stuyvesant Test

    In bringing its federal complaint against the Specialized High Schools admissions policy, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (to which I am an unpaid advisor) is challenging both the effect of the test in diminishing opportunities for bright black and Latino youth and shining a light on the arbitrary nature of the admissions process. How peculiar, to have the state legislature determine these procedures! Normally, such technical matters are left to educators versed in psychometrics and professional judgment. Here, a 40 year-old law trumps everything we know and otherwise practice about academic merit.

    That SHSAT scores are highly sensitive to test prep is beyond dispute. Rigid rank ordering creates hair’s-breadth distinctions without substance. The test has never been validated to determine its consistency with actual high school performance so the city Department of Education cannot even demonstrate a relationship between admitted students’ test results and those of others who might have been more successful meeting elite high schools’ demands. Discounting the use of middle school grades, portfolios of student work, and (after substantiated widespread cheating at Stuyvesant) character diminishes merit to a narrow gauge of tutored test-taking proficiency on a given day in an adolescent’s life.

    https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2013/01/11/failing-the-stuyvesant-test/

  • Does Admissions Exam for Elite High Schools Measure Up? No One Knows

    Many parents and teachers have long contended that the SHSAT is an assessment of students’ test-taking skills, honed by extensive test preparation, more than their potential to succeed at the specialized schools.

    Pian Rockfeld, an English teacher at the High School of American Studies at Lehman College in the Bronx, one of the smaller specialized schools, has proctored the SHSAT. She said she could always tell who had taken prep courses. The students would draw diagrams to decipher confusing questions that left others stumped, or if they were good in math, they would start midway through the test on the math section to take advantage of a quirk in the scoring process that rewards students who score extremely high on one part of the exam rather than those with high but more balanced scores across subjects.

    “The test does not assess at all how hard a student works, or the creative and independent thinking that a student would need to thrive in our high school,” Ms. Rockfeld said. “I’m always wondering what kids we’re missing by using this test.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/18/nyregion/shsat-new-york-city-schools.html

  • To integrate specialized high schools, are gifted programs part of the problem or the solution?

    “We’re working to raise the bar for all kids,” Carranza said in a statement to Chalkbeat. “We also have to think about access and barriers to entry, and that includes whether we’re creating unnecessary barriers by tracking students at the age of 4 or 5 years old based on a single test.”

    https://chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2018/07/17/to-integrate-specialized-high-schools-are-gifted-programs-part-of-the-problem-or-the-solution/

  • Diversify elite schools, for all: Asian-American students have to learn better lessons

    As test prep for the SHSAT exam has become more widespread, diversity has plummeted. Schools like Stuyvesant have wound up in highly public cheating scandals. Without greater student-body diversity, schools like Stuyvesant may never be able to curb cheating because it becomes too commonplace; students will continue to do it until they get caught. Students who have taken test prep who may not otherwise meet the criteria for admissions to these elite schools may feel pressure to succeed at all costs.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-diversify-elite-schools-for-all-20180716-story.html

  • High Stakes, but Low Validity? A Case Study of Standardized Tests and Admissions into New York City Specialized High Schools

    This is a study of the admissions process at a select group of New York City public high schools. It offers the first detailed look at the admissions practices of this highly regarded and competitive group of schools, and also provides a window into the broader national debate about the use of standardized tests in school admissions. According to New York State law, admission to these schools must
    be based solely on an exam. The exam used is called the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT). This study makes use of the individual test results from 2005 and 2006.
    Several key findings emerge:
    1. The SHSAT has an unusual scoring feature that is not widely known,
    and may give an edge to those who have access to expensive test-prep tutors. Other reasonable scoring systems could be constructed that would yield different results for many students, and there is no
    evidence offered to support the validity of the current system.
    2. Thousands of students who are not being accepted have scores that are statistically indisti nguishable from thousands who are granted admission. And these estimates are de
    rived using the less precise, classical-test-theory-based measures of statistical uncertainty, which may understate the problem. The New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) fails to provide the more accurate, item- response-theory-based estimates of the SHSAT’s standard error of measurement (SEM) near the admi
    ssion cutoff scores, which would offer a clearer picture of how well the test is able to differentiate among students who score close to the admi ssion/rejection line. This omission
    violates generally-accepted testi ng standards and practices.
    3. Students who receive certain versions of the test may be more likely to gain admission than students who receive other versions. No evidence is offered on how accurate the statistical equating of different test versions is. The mean scaled scores vary across versions much more than would be expected given the ch
    ance distribution of ability across large random samples of students, suggesting that the scoring system may not be completely eliminating differences among test versions.
    4. No studies have ever been done to see if the SHSAT is subject to
    prediction bias across gender and ethnic groups (i.e., if SHSAT scores
    predict things for different groups).

  • Who Wins, and Who Loses, in the Proposed Plan for Elite Schools?

    Dr. Caceres, the Bronx principal, said that half of his eighth-grade students already take advanced math and science classes, and have the ability and work ethic to thrive in a challenging school like Bronx Science. His students do not do well on the SHSAT, he said, in part because most of their families cannot afford tutoring. When the results came back this spring, some of the students were so disappointed they cried.

    “Don’t you think it’s embarrassing that Bronx Science is in the Bronx and only a handful of students are from the Bronx?” he asked. “People might think we don’t have the students, but we do have the students.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/29/nyregion/specialized-school-exam-losers-winners.html

  • VALIDITY OF HIGH-SCHOOL GRADES IN PREDICTING STUDENT SUCCESS BEYOND THE FRESHMAN YEAR: High-School Record vs. Standardized Tests as Indicators of Four-Year College Outcomes

    High-school grades are often viewed as an unreliable criterion for college admissions, owing to differences in grading standards across high schools, while standardized tests are seen as methodologically rigorous, providing a more uniform and valid yardstick for assessing student ability and achievement. The present study challenges that conventional view. The study finds that high-school grade point average (HSGPA) is consistently the best predictor not only of freshman grades in college, the outcome indicator most often employed in predictive-validity studies, but of four-year college outcomes as well.

    A previous study, UC and the SAT (Geiser with Studley, 2003), demonstrated that HSGPA in college-preparatory courses was the best predictor of freshman grades for a sample of almost 80,000 students admitted to the University of California. Because freshman grades provide only a short-term indicator of college performance, the present study tracked four-year college outcomes, including cumulative college grades and graduation, for the same sample in order to examine the relative contribution of high-school record and standardized tests in predicting longerterm college performance.

    Key findings are: (1) HSGPA is consistently the strongest predictor of four-year college outcomes for all academic disciplines, campuses and freshman cohorts in the UC sample; (2) surprisingly, the predictive weight associated with HSGPA increases after the freshman year, accounting for a greater proportion of variance in cumulative fourth-year than first-year college grades; and (3) as anadmissions criterion, HSGPA has less adverse impact than standardized tests on disadvantaged and underrepresented minority students. The paper concludes with adiscussion of the implications of these findings for admissions policy and argues forgreater emphasis on the high-school record, and a corresponding de-emphasis on standardized tests, in college admissions.

    https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED502858.pdf

  • Missing Pieces of the Discussion Around Specialized High Schools and City Education

    The results of this test also appear to be gender biased, as girls tend to score significantly higher on state exams and receive better grades, but score lower than boys on the SHSAT. (Girls were only admitted to Stuyvesant and Brooklyn Tech in 1969-1970.) The test is quirky in other ways and is scored to give extra points to students who do exceptionally well on the ELA or the math section – rather than those students who score well on both subjects.

    http://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/7760-missing-pieces-of-the-discussion-around-specialized-high-schools-and-city-education

  • A10427: An act to amend the education law, in relation to admission to the specialized high schools in the city of New York

                                    10427--A

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                             April 20, 2018
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M. of A. BARRON, BLAKE, DAVILA, MONTESANO, PERRY, SIMON,
  STECK, PICHARDO, COOK, HOOPER, TAYLOR,  RIVERA,  PRETLOW,  DE LA ROSA,
  TITUS,  DICKENS,  WRIGHT,  VANEL,  BICHOTTE,  JOYNER, SOLAGES, ARROYO,
  WOERNER, THIELE, FERNANDEZ, ERRIGO, ESPINAL, WEPRIN, MOSLEY, GOTTFRIED
  -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education  --  committee
  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
  to said committee

AN  ACT  to  amend  the  education  law, in relation to admission to the
  specialized high schools in the city of New York

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.    Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the
education law, as amended by chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, is amended
to read as follows:
  (b) all specialized [senior] high schools. The  [special]  SPECIALIZED
high schools shall include the [present] schools known as[:]
  The  Bronx  High  School  of Science, Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn
Technical High School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of  Music  [and
the  Arts  in  the  borough of Manhattan] & ART AND PERFORMING ARTS, and
such [further] ADDITIONAL schools [which the city board  may  designate]
AS  MAY BE DESIGNATED BY THE CHANCELLOR from time to time. The [special]
SPECIALIZED HIGH schools shall be  permitted  to  maintain  a  discovery
program  in  accordance with the law in effect on the date preceding the
effective date of this section; PROVIDED THAT  THE  REQUIREMENT  THAT  A
STUDENT  WHO  IS  CONSIDERED FOR THE DISCOVERY PROGRAM ATTEND AND PASS A
PREPARATORY PROGRAM ADMINISTERED BY THE SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL,  DEMON-
STRATING  THEREBY  HIS  OR  HER  ABILITY  TO  SUCCESSFULLY COPE WITH THE
SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM, SHALL REFER TO A PROGRAM THAT CAN  TAKE
PLACE  DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR OR THE SUMMER; admissions to the [special]
SPECIALIZED HIGH schools shall be conducted in accordance with [the  law
in  effect  on  the  date  preceding the effective date of this] section
TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED NINETY-H-L OF THIS ARTICLE;

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD00247-04-8

    A. 10427--A                         2

  S 2. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the education
law, as amended by chapter 720 of the laws of 1996, is amended  to  read
as follows:
  (b)  all  specialized [senior] high schools. The [special] SPECIALIZED
high schools shall include the [present] schools known as[:]
  The Bronx High School of Science,  Stuyvesant  High  School,  Brooklyn
Technical  High  School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music [and
the Arts in the borough of Manhattan] & ART  AND  PERFORMING  ARTS,  and
such  [further]  ADDITIONAL schools [which the city board may designate]
AS MAY BE DESIGNATED BY THE CHANCELLOR from time to time. The  [special]
SPECIALIZED  HIGH  schools  shall  be  permitted to maintain a discovery
program in accordance with the law in effect on the date  preceding  the
effective  date  of  this  section; PROVIDED THAT THE REQUIREMENT THAT A
STUDENT WHO IS CONSIDERED FOR THE DISCOVERY PROGRAM ATTEND  AND  PASS  A
PREPARATORY  PROGRAM ADMINISTERED BY THE SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL, DEMON-
STRATING THEREBY HIS OR  HER  ABILITY  TO  SUCCESSFULLY  COPE  WITH  THE
SPECIALIZED  HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAM, SHALL REFER TO A PROGRAM THAT CAN TAKE
PLACE DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR OR THE SUMMER; admissions to the  [special]
SPECIALIZED  HIGH schools shall be conducted in accordance with [the law
in effect on the date preceding the  effective  date  of  this]  section
TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED NINETY-H-1 OF THIS ARTICLE;
  S  3. The education law is amended by adding a new section 2590-h-1 to
read as follows:
  S 2590-H-1. ADMISSIONS TO THE SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS.  1. ADMISSIONS
TO THE SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS SHALL BE CONDUCTED  IN  ACCORDANCE  WITH
THIS  SECTION,  PROVIDED  THAT  STUDENTS  MAY  ALSO  BE  ADMITTED TO THE
SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS FOR THE  TWO  THOUSAND  NINETEEN--TWO  THOUSAND
TWENTY AND THE TWO THOUSAND TWENTY--TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-ONE SCHOOL YEARS
PURSUANT  TO  THE  DISCOVERY PROGRAM AS SET FORTH IN SECTION TWENTY-FIVE
HUNDRED NINETY-H OF THIS ARTICLE.
  2. FOR THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS CONDUCTED DURING THE TWO THOUSAND  EIGH-
TEEN--TWO  THOUSAND  NINETEEN SCHOOL YEAR TO DETERMINE ADMISSIONS TO THE
SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS FOR THE  TWO  THOUSAND  NINETEEN--TWO  THOUSAND
TWENTY  SCHOOL  YEAR,  STUDENTS  WHO MEET THE CRITERIA SET FORTH IN THIS
SUBDIVISION SHALL BE OFFERED ADMISSION TO THE SPECIALIZED  HIGH  SCHOOLS
IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER:
  (A)  STUDENTS ATTENDING PUBLIC SCHOOLS LOCATED IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
WHO ARE IN THE TOP THREE PERCENT OF THEIR EIGHTH GRADE CLASS, AS  CALCU-
LATED  BASED  ON  MULTIPLE  MEASURES  OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT PURSUANT TO
SUBDIVISION FIVE OF THIS SECTION, AND  WHO  ACHIEVE  A  COMPOSITE  SCORE
ABOVE  OR  AT  THE  CUT-OFF COMPOSITE SCORE FOR THE SCHOOL SUCH STUDENTS
HAVE COMMITTED THEMSELVES TO ATTEND, PURSUANT  TO  SUBDIVISION  FIVE  OF
THIS  SECTION,  PROVIDED  THAT  SUCH STUDENTS SHALL ALSO RANK IN THE TOP
QUARTER OF PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE EIGHTH GRADE CITYWIDE BASED  ON
SUCH MULTIPLE MEASURES OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, AND PROVIDED FURTHER THAT
OPENINGS  SHALL  BE  RESERVED FOR SUCH STUDENTS AT EACH SPECIALIZED HIGH
SCHOOL AS SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISION SEVEN OF THIS SECTION;
  (B) STUDENTS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK WHO TAKE A COMPETITIVE, OBJECTIVE
AND SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT EXAMINATION IN THE EIGHTH GRADE AND ACHIEVE A
SCORE ABOVE OR AT THE CUT-OFF SCORE FOR THE OPENINGS THAT REMAIN IN  THE
SCHOOL FOR WHICH SUCH STUDENTS HAVE TAKEN THE EXAMINATION; AND
  (C) STUDENTS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK WHO TAKE A COMPETITIVE, OBJECTIVE
AND  SCHOLASTIC EXAMINATION IN THE NINTH GRADE AND ACHIEVE A SCORE ABOVE
OR AT THE CUT-OFF SCORE FOR THE OPENINGS THAT REMAIN IN THE  SCHOOL  FOR
WHICH SUCH STUDENTS HAVE TAKEN THE EXAMINATION.

A. 10427--A                         3

  3.  FOR THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS CONDUCTED DURING THE TWO THOUSAND NINE-
TEEN--TWO THOUSAND TWENTY SCHOOL YEAR TO  DETERMINE  ADMISSIONS  TO  THE
SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS FOR THE TWO THOUSAND TWENTY--TWO THOUSAND TWEN-
TY-ONE  SCHOOL  YEAR,  STUDENTS  WHO MEET THE CRITERIA SET FORTH IN THIS
SUBDIVISION  SHALL  BE OFFERED ADMISSION TO THE SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS
IN THE FOLLOWING ORDER:
  (A) STUDENTS ATTENDING PUBLIC SCHOOLS LOCATED IN THE CITY OF NEW  YORK
WHO  ARE  IN THE TOP FIVE PERCENT OF THEIR EIGHTH GRADE CLASS, AS CALCU-
LATED BASED ON MULTIPLE MEASURES  OF  STUDENT  ACHIEVEMENT  PURSUANT  TO
SUBDIVISION  FIVE  OF  THIS  SECTION,  AND WHO ACHIEVE A COMPOSITE SCORE
ABOVE OR AT THE CUT-OFF COMPOSITE SCORE FOR  THE  SCHOOL  SUCH  STUDENTS
HAVE COMMITTED THEMSELVES TO ATTEND PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION FIVE OF THIS
SECTION,  PROVIDED THAT SUCH STUDENTS SHALL ALSO RANK IN THE TOP QUARTER
OF PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE EIGHTH GRADE  CITYWIDE  BASED  ON  SUCH
MULTIPLE  MEASURES  OF  STUDENT  ACHIEVEMENT,  AND PROVIDED FURTHER THAT
OPENINGS SHALL BE RESERVED FOR SUCH STUDENTS AT  EACH  SPECIALIZED  HIGH
SCHOOL AS SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISION SEVEN OF THIS SECTION;
  (B) STUDENTS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK WHO TAKE A COMPETITIVE, OBJECTIVE
AND SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT EXAMINATION IN THE EIGHTH GRADE AND ACHIEVE A
SCORE  ABOVE OR AT THE CUT-OFF SCORE FOR THE OPENINGS THAT REMAIN IN THE
SCHOOL FOR WHICH SUCH STUDENTS HAVE TAKEN THE EXAMINATION; AND
  (C) STUDENTS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK WHO TAKE A COMPETITIVE, OBJECTIVE
AND SCHOLASTIC EXAMINATION IN THE NINTH GRADE AND ACHIEVE A SCORE  ABOVE
OR  AT  THE CUT-OFF SCORE FOR THE OPENINGS THAT REMAIN IN THE SCHOOL FOR
WHICH SUCH STUDENTS HAVE TAKEN THE EXAMINATION.
  4. FOR THE ADMISSIONS PROCESS CONDUCTED DURING THE TWO THOUSAND  TWEN-
TY--TWO  THOUSAND  TWENTY-ONE SCHOOL YEAR AND SUBSEQUENT SCHOOL YEARS TO
DETERMINE ADMISSIONS TO THE SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS FOR THE  TWO  THOU-
SAND  TWENTY-ONE--TWO  THOUSAND  TWENTY-TWO  SCHOOL  YEAR AND SUBSEQUENT
SCHOOL YEARS, STUDENTS WHO MEET THE CRITERIA SET FORTH IN THIS  SUBDIVI-
SION  SHALL  BE OFFERED ADMISSION TO THE SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE
FOLLOWING ORDER:
  (A) STUDENTS ATTENDING PUBLIC SCHOOLS LOCATED IN THE CITY OF NEW  YORK
WHO  ARE  IN  THE TOP FIVE TO SEVEN PERCENT OF THEIR EIGHTH GRADE CLASS,
SUCH PERCENTAGE TO BE DETERMINED TO ALLOW OPENINGS TO REMAIN FOR  ADMIS-
SION  PURSUANT  TO  PARAGRAPH  (B) OF THIS SUBDIVISION AND AS CALCULATED
BASED ON MULTIPLE MEASURES OF STUDENT  ACHIEVEMENT,  DETERMINED  AS  SET
FORTH  IN  SUBDIVISION FIVE OF THIS SECTION, AND WHO ACHIEVE A COMPOSITE
SCORE ABOVE OR AT THE  CUT-OFF  COMPOSITE  SCORE  FOR  THE  SCHOOL  SUCH
STUDENTS HAVE COMMITTED THEMSELVES TO ATTEND, DETERMINED AS SET FORTH IN
SUBDIVISION FIVE OF THIS SECTION, PROVIDED THAT SUCH STUDENTS SHALL ALSO
RANK  犀利士
IN  THE  TOP QUARTER OF PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE EIGHTH GRADE
CITYWIDE BASED ON SUCH MULTIPLE MEASURES  OF  STUDENT  ACHIEVEMENT,  AND
PROVIDED  FURTHER  THAT  OPENINGS SHALL BE RESERVED FOR SUCH STUDENTS AT
EACH SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL AS SET FORTH IN SUBDIVISION SEVEN  OF  THIS
SECTION; AND
  (B)  STUDENTS  IN  THE CITY OF NEW YORK WHO HAVE A MINIMUM GRADE POINT
AVERAGE OF 3.7, PROVIDED SUCH STUDENTS SHALL BE  ADMITTED  BY  A  RANDOM
SELECTION PROCESS FOR THE OPENINGS THAT REMAIN IN EACH SCHOOL.
  5.  THE  CHANCELLOR  SHALL  DETERMINE THE MULTIPLE MEASURES OF STUDENT
ACHIEVEMENT AS REFERENCED IN THIS SECTION, AND THE WEIGHT OF  EACH  SUCH
MEASURE,  PROVIDED  THAT  SUCH  MEASURES  SHALL  INCLUDE ACADEMIC COURSE
GRADES AND STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES. A DESCRIPTION OF SUCH MEASURES  AND
THE  WEIGHT ACCORDED TO EACH SHALL BE MADE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE, INCLUDING
ON THE WEBSITE OF THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT. A STUDENT WHO  IS  EVALUATED
BASED  ON  SUCH  MEASURES  FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL BE

A. 10427--A                         4

ASSIGNED A COMPOSITE SCORE BASED ON SUCH WEIGHTED  MEASURES.  OFFERS  OF
ADMISSION  TO  THE SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH (A) OF
SUBDIVISIONS TWO THROUGH FOUR OF THIS SECTION  SHALL  BE  DETERMINED  BY
ARRANGING  THE  COMPOSITE  SCORES  OF ALL STUDENTS WHO ARE ASSIGNED SUCH
SCORES AND WHO THEN COMMIT THEMSELVES TO ATTEND A PARTICULAR SPECIALIZED
HIGH SCHOOL IN DESCENDING ORDER FROM THE HIGHEST SCORE AND COUNTING DOWN
TO THE CUT-OFF COMPOSITE SCORE, WHICH SHALL BE THE  COMPOSITE  SCORE  OF
THE LAST STUDENT WHO RECEIVES AN OFFER OF ADMISSION TO SUCH SCHOOL BASED
ON  THE  NUMBER  OF  OPENINGS  AVAILABLE IN SUCH SCHOOL PURSUANT TO SUCH
PARAGRAPH.
  6. OFFERS OF ADMISSION TO THE SPECIALIZED  HIGH  SCHOOLS  PURSUANT  TO
PARAGRAPHS  (B)  AND  (C)  OF SUBDIVISIONS TWO AND THREE OF THIS SECTION
SHALL BE DETERMINED BY ARRANGING THE SCORES OF ALL  THE  CANDIDATES  WHO
TOOK  THE COMPETITIVE, OBJECTIVE AND SCHOLASTIC EXAMINATION AND WHO THEN
COMMIT THEMSELVES TO ATTEND A  PARTICULAR  SPECIALIZED  HIGH  SCHOOL  IN
DESCENDING ORDER FROM THE HIGHEST SCORE AND COUNTING DOWN TO THE CUT-OFF
SCORE,  WHICH  SHALL  BE THE SCORE OF THE LAST CANDIDATE WHO RECEIVES AN
OFFER OF ADMISSION TO SUCH SCHOOL BASED ON THE NUMBER OF OPENINGS AVAIL-
ABLE IN SUCH SCHOOL.
  7. THE NUMBER OF OPENINGS RESERVED AT EACH SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL FOR
STUDENTS WHO MEET THE CRITERIA SET FORTH IN PARAGRAPH  (A)  OF  SUBDIVI-
SIONS  TWO THROUGH FOUR OF THIS SECTION SHALL BE DETERMINED BY MULTIPLY-
ING: (A) THE TOTAL NUMBER OF NINTH  GRADE  AVAILABLE  OPENINGS  AT  SUCH
SCHOOL; BY (B) THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS WHO MEET THE CRITERIA SET FORTH IN
PARAGRAPH  (A)  OF SUBDIVISIONS TWO THROUGH FOUR OF THIS SECTION DIVIDED
BY THE AGGREGATE NUMBER OF NINTH GRADE AVAILABLE  OPENINGS  IN  ALL  THE
SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS.
  8.  NOTWITHSTANDING  ANY  PROVISION  TO THE CONTRARY, ADMISSION TO THE
FIORELLO H.  LAGUARDIA HIGH SCHOOL OF MUSIC & ART AND  PERFORMING  ARTS,
AND  OTHER  SCHOOLS  OF  THE  ARTS  THAT  MAY BE ESTABLISHED PURSUANT TO
SECTION TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED NINETY-H OF THIS ARTICLE,  SHALL  BE  DETER-
MINED BY A STUDENT'S DEMONSTRATED ABILITIES IN MUSIC OR THE ARTS AS WELL
AS SUCH STUDENT'S SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT.
  S  4.  This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
the amendments to paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of  section  2590-h  of
the  education  law  made by section one of this act shall be subject to
the expiration and reversion of such section pursuant to subdivision  12
of  section  17 of chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, as amended when upon
such date the provisions of section two of this act shall take effect.

    http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&leg_video=&bn=A10427&term=2017&Summary=Y&Actions=Y&Committee%26nbspVotes=Y&Floor%26nbspVotes=Y&Memo=Y&Text=Y