Tag: history

  • Boundary Matters: Uncovering the Hidden History of New York City’s School Subdistrict Lines

    While today’s school subdistrict boundaries were mostly established in the late 1960s, their historical roots are much older, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, when New York City as we know it today was formed by consolidating what are now the five boroughs—the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island—into one unit. In 1902, a centralized board of education took control of the entire city school system, which was divided into 46 geographic school subdistricts, each with their own local board and administrator

    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23328584211038939

  • Brown’s Lost Promise: Segregation & Affirmative Action In New York City Specialized High Schools

    New York City is one of the most diverse cities in the United States. However, its schools remain some of the most segregated. The crown jewel of the City’s public education system, Specialized High Schools, are among the nation’s top public institutions. But in a city where over 60 percent of children are Black or Latinx, less than 10 percent of the students admitted into these prestigious schools come from these communities. Due to a 1971 New York state law, admission into the Specialized High Schools is granted solely on the basis of a standardized exam, the Specialized High School Admissions Test, which students can opt to take during their eighth grade. The statute allows only one exception to this rule, the Discovery program, which allows the City to place “disadvantaged” students near the cutoff score in a preparatory summer program that would grant them admission into a Specialized High School.

    Recently, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio expanded this program to make up 20 percent of the seats at Specialized High Schools and redefined the Discovery program’s parameters to only accept those students who go to high-poverty middle schools. A lawsuit currently before the Southern District of New York alleges that this policy is discriminatory against Asian American students. This Note argues that this lawsuit constitutional challenges is against a facially-neutral affirmative action policy, which undercuts the two major competing Equal Protection frameworks: anti-classification and anti-subordination. Subsequently, this Note contends that Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s ascent to the U.S. Supreme Court tilts the Court’s Equal Protection jurisprudence sharply towards the Court’s anti-classificationist wing, making it even more important to consider other means of reducing racial homogeny that could withstand judicial scrutiny. Further, this Note suggests that the conservative scrutiny facing the revamped Discovery guidelines is due to a distinction between the “deserving” and “undeserving” poor, as the political right’s support of class-based affirmative action has not extended to the present case in New York City.

    Ultimately, this Note contends that the Southern District of New York should rule in favor of New York City to remain consistent with Supreme Court precedent in cases regarding facial-neutrality, such as Fisher v. University of Texas. Should the district court decide otherwise, this Note asserts that it will have “pierced the veil” of facial-neutrality, overturning the Court’s precedent and leaving uncertain the constitutionality of facially-neutral programs.

    In conclusion, the Note holds that even the adapted Discovery program guidelines do not go far enough to ensure inclusive enrollment at these prestigious institutions. More must be done to provide every child in New York City has the opportunity for a better life—the very foundational value upon which the Specialized High Schools were created.

    Full research paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3699190

  • 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 East NY section of Brooklyn, male students were offered an opportunity to take an after school class in prepping for the test for Brooklyn Tech, at the time the only specialized high school that went from 9th-12th grade. The others, Stuyvesant and Bronx Science began in the 10th grade and for those schools the test was taken in the 9th grade.

    Norm Scott

    Now I should point out that at Jefferson I was among an elite group of about 200 students who were in “honor school”, a sub-school of college bound, and over the next three years we received what I considered a college-level education. But Jefferson also wanted to compete for elite status and considered gaining a NY State scholarship a measure of success. Thus we were pulled from gym cycles over the next year and a half to prep us for that test.


    The point is that schools were offering test prep as far back as the 50s but it was free to all students who were deemed as having potential.

    Norm Scott

    https://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-wave-school-scope-those-shsat-tests.html

    https://www.rockawave.com/articles/school-scope-315/

  • The History of New York City’s Special High Schools

    A 2014 timeline of SHSAT related events.

    2014 – New York City Council Introduces Package of Legislation to Promote Diversity in City Schools
    On Wednesday, October 22nd, New York City Council members introduced one bill and two resolutions intended to build momentum around tackling diversity issues in New York City schools. According to recent reports, such as one released by the UCLA Civil Rights Project in March, local schools are among the most segregated in the country. The report states that in 2010, for example, of 32 school districts in New York City, 19 had ten percent or less white students.

    http://www.gothamgazette.com/government/5392-the-history-of-new-york-citys-special-high-schools-timeline

  • Dr. Jon Taylor Testifies at NYS Assembly Hearing on the SHSAT

    Dr. Jonathan Taylor’s testimony, without the following question and answer with elected officials.

    The entire seven hour hearing can be found here…

  • Chancellor Carranza Testifies at NYS Assembly Hearing on the SHSAT

    Here’s the Chancellor’s initial testimony, without the following question and answer with elected officials.

    The entire seven hour hearing can be found here…

  • Segregation Has Been the Story of New York City’s Schools for 50 Years

    It’s important to understand the political climate before the NY State legislature decided to pass Hecht-Calandra in 1971. The New York Times does a great job filing in that context.

    In 2016, a proposal to send some Upper West Side children — who were zoned for a high-performing, mostly white, wealthy elementary school near their homes — to a lower-performing school, attended mostly by low-income black and Hispanic students, about a ten-minute walk away, was met with vitriol.


    A version of the plan — which ultimately impacted a relatively small number of schools — eventually passed after years of negotiations.
    B犀利士 ut the recent push for integration has been led in part by liberal white parents.


    Some of these parents helped force the most comprehensive local desegregation policy yet: the elimination of screened middle schools in Brooklyn’s District 15, which includes upper-middle-class neighborhoods like Park Slope. Some parents there have said the election of President Trump prompted them to combat segregation in their children’s schools.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/nyregion/school-segregation-new-york.html

  • Important Technical Features of the SHSAT Exam

    Recently @akilbello went over some very important open questions regarding the SHSAT. These remind us of how important it is for the NYC Department of Education to immediately release the SHSAT manual.

    Read the lengthy twitter thread here.

    https://twitter.com/akilbello/status/1117287719883898880
  • Why Did New York’s Most Selective Public High School Admit Only 7 Black Students?

    Nearly 900 students have been offered admission to one of New York City’s most elite public high schools. Only seven of those students are black.

    New York Times podcast on the SHSAT issue. Audio program reviews SHSAT history to current politics.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/02/podcasts/the-daily/black-students-nyc-high-school.html

  • NAACP 2012 Case: New York City Specialized High School Complaint

    In school districts across the nation, talented African Americans and other students of color are denied a fair opportunity to gain access to the life-changing educational experiences provided by specialized schools for high-achieving students and gifted/talented education programs.  As a result, elite public schools and programs, which provide key pathways to college and then to leadership locally, regionally, and nationally, are among the most segregated.

    In too many school districts, these racial disparities result in large part from admissions policies that rely too heavily or even exclusively on standardized tests, even though the three leading organizations in the area of educational test measurement—the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education—have concluded that a high-stakes decision with a major impact on a student’s educational opportunities, such as admission to a specialized or gifted/talented program, should not turn on the results of a single test.  There is also a marked failure to provide African Americans and Latinos with opportunities to learn the material or otherwise prepare to meet the admissions standards used to determine whether students will be placed in these specialized programs.

    https://www.naacpldf.org/case-issue/new-york-city-specialized-high-school-complaint/