Tag: first-hand
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My son was admitted to a specialized high school. Then the school told us it couldn’t accommodate his disability.
I asked if there was any plan to offer integrated co-teaching in the fall. “Not that we know of,” came the response. I then asked how many special education teachers they had on staff. Despite everything I already knew about Tech and the competitive admissions process to get there, I was still shocked: the answer…
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Program Aims To Level Playing Field For Testing Into NYC’s Specialty High Schools
Parents spend thousands of dollars, students “study to the test” for years. The most popular ( largest ) SHSAT prep program ( Kahn’s Tutorial ) reportedly charges about $2,500 for an 11-month course. Michelle Zhang, a freshman at Stuyvesant High School, knows first hand. “I was in test prep for the SHSAT for three years…
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The burden on elite high schools: They must change their cultures to welcome students of all backgrounds
Over the course of our meetings, many students lamented the lack of diversity at our schools, specifically with regard to black and Latino students. They shared that the lack of representation at their schools created environments that bred racism and other forms of prejudice both inside and outside the classroom. This atmosphere does not foster…
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The WAVE: School Scope – Those SHSAT Tests, Part 1
This opinion piece dates SHSAT test prep to the 1950s. Of course, the entrance exam was not called “SHSAT” back then, and there was one exam per school. When I was an 8th grade student in the 1957-58 school year at George Gershwin JHS, a jewel of a school recently opened on Linden Blvd in…
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NYCLU: Paving the Way
Standardized test scores aren’t a good predictor of whether a student will succeed. No one knows that more than Obrian, an A-student, track star, and activist at Brooklyn Tech.
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Being black at Stuyvesant: Two students on what it’s like for African Americans at the specialized high school
Just because students are intelligent enough to pass a test doesn’t mean they understand people who might be ethnically, racially or culturally different. That’s what happened to Gordon in his freshman biology class when his lab partner blamed him for the AIDS virus. Or when he was told to “go back to Africa” because he…
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How New York’s Elite Public Schools Lost Their Black and Hispanic Students
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/03/nyregion/nyc-public-schools-black-hispanic-students.html
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Video: New York City Students and Alumni on the Specialized High School Test
Powerful testimony on the effect’s of a NYC’s single-measure, high-stakes admissions system. And how the pressure affected the mental health of a group of 12 year-old students.
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Stuyvesant Has 29 Black Students Out of 3,300. How Do They Feel?
The students — members of the school’s Black Students League and Aspira, the Hispanic student organization — recalled painful memories of having heard racist comments behind their backs at school. They reflected on their shared sense of alienation. They said they worried that adults would allow inequities in the system to persist.“It’s frustrating to see…