SHSAT Sunset

Opinion

  • Specialized High Schools – some comments should not matter

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    Educator blog post: The current admissions system is based on a single test, on one day. That’s the way it’s been, for a long, long time. But in 1970 or 1971, someone decided to study the admissions policy for the schools (at that time the Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School, and…

  • UFT: The Specialized High School Controversy is a Political Sideshow

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    UFT Michael Mulgrew’s opinion The United Federation of Teachers has made repeated suggestions for improving the admission process in the “exam” schools, including using multiple measures and prioritizing the highest-level performers from every middle school. But however that debate turns out, the real focus of the DOE and our local political leaders should be on…

  • Why I Support Multiple Measures of Admission to New York’s Specialized High Schools

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    First, I support multiple measures of evaluation for colleges, jobs, sports teams and anything else I can think of, why should I support a single test as the sole standard of admission to specialized high schools. Secondly, at a time when more and more colleges are becoming SAT/ACT Optional, it is in no one’s interest,…

  • Why Gifted and Talented Schools are the Wrong Approach: To diversify schools, reimagine G&T: A bill to expand segregated programs moves in exactly the wrong direction

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    But we’ve already tried this, and it didn’t work. Back in 2009, Mayor Bloomberg tried to expand gifted programs and switched from multiple measures to a single test score for gifted admission. The result was actually more segregation, and reduced access for black and Latino students: The percentage of black and Latino students entering such programs in kindergarten was cut…

  • Best schools shouldn’t be determined by a test

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    Kaplan Inc., is probably one of the most famous companies students turn to when they need help taking a test. Their preparation courses for tests like the SAT and ACT are part of an industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars (if not in the billions). In fact, the company offers a prep course starting…

  • Educators For Excellence: Open Letter to Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza on Desegregating NYC Schools

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    Opponents of school desegregation argued in 1977 that “either we have to lower the standards for everybody so the special nature of the schools would disappear, or we would have to allow these students to be subjected to failure.” It is eerie how today’s opponents repeat these same arguments.  This argument assumes that black and…

  • Asian Americans should embrace reform of specialized high school admissions

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    Not all communities view testing in the same light, and aversion to change is natural. Still, SHSAT supporters have yet to persuasively explain away decades of social-science research. Contrary to the belief that scrapping the SHSAT would lower the quality of students, education experts such as Amy Hsin, associate professor of sociology at CUNY, have argued that grades…

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

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    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…

  • Brooklyn President Eric Adams states his SHSAT position

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    I believe Eric Adams wanted to do the right thing with the SHSAT exam.  He understands how detrimental it is, but ultimately didn’t think it was worth the fight. we have to meet the demand of highly capable candidates who want a specialized high school seat by expanding seats overall. I am expanding on my…

  • NYT Editorial Board: It’s Time to Integrate New York’s Best Schools

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    New York’s elementary and middle schools do not prepare children for the test, all but ensuring that students seek out extensive test preparation. Many Asian and white students have done so for thousands of dollars apiece. Black and Latino students are likely to walk in with little or no test preparation. Of all elite public high…