SHSAT Sunset

Category: opinion

  • Why Are New York City Schools Still So Segregated?

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    “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…

  • Make education fairer for all: Specialized high schools must open up

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    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

  • How I found my voice as a Black student at Brooklyn Tech

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    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 students remain vastly underrepresented at New York’s elite specialized high schools. https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2022/12/15/23487044/black-at-brookyn-tech-student-union-step-voice

  • Adams & Banks are putting lipstick on a pig: Separate gifted-and-talented classes are bad educational practice that drive segregation

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    Integration researchers and advocates like us have been recommending for years that all students in all classrooms deserve access to opportunities to challenge and stimulate their learning and creativity. Rather than telling kids that they’re in G&T or they’re out, the city should implement a gifted-for-all approach, shifting to a system focused on differentiation within…

  • Ending the Exploitation of Asian Parents

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    These days, however, many Asian parents are unfortunately wasting hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on expensive tutoring and preparatory classes. This industry’s sole purpose is to train children to ace standardized admissions tests, which bar the entrance to many magnet high schools and colleges across the country. “Enroll your child, and we’ll virtually guarantee…

  • My SHSAT scores didn’t show what I could achieve at Brooklyn Tech

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    Although I am about to enter my senior year and doing well at Brooklyn Tech, I don’t think my eligibility for getting into any school should be based on one test. In fact, I excel in community leadership and have started my own organization to raise awareness about racism and hate crimes. I get good…

  • Why I Support Reforming New York City’s Elite High School Admissions

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    The usage of examples of Asian success to justify our current high school system harms all communities of color. This rhetoric reduces the Asian American community to a monolith by focusing on a subset of its population. Educational inequity affects all minority groups, and we need to recognize the ways in which it comes into…

  • The Mayor has shifted blame to state lawmakers. But he can take action now if he wants to.

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    If the DOE wants to get rid of the test, it can, at least for the majority of specialized schools. At five of eight specialized high schools, the City has the sole authority to end the use of the test for enrollment. In its place, the City could develop a more equitable model of assigning…

  • Reopen Schools, and Reform Them

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    Instead of allowing the pandemic to worsen longstanding inequities, New York could seize on the disruption to fix its broken high school admissions practices at all its schools. Several promising proposals have emerged in recent years. Instead of a single exam, Albany could allow the city to use state test scores, class rank and other measures. These important reforms…

  • Nobody’s Special PLACE

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    But if schools are “good” and “bad” based on who enrolls, then what function does a school itself serve? The SHSAT conversation has crystalized into who is worthy of the “best” education, and who is not. A dyslexic student who excels on projects but not tests; a student juggling multiple caregiving demands; a high-performing student who…