SHSAT Sunset

prep

  • Nix this admissions test: A recent Stuyvesant grad makes the case against the SHSAT

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    Student argument against the SHSAT Defenders of the current system, hailing the test as establishing a level playing field, argue that if more black and Latino students truly wanted to attend specialized high schools, they could just study harder. I have repeatedly heard my classmates champion this mindset, implying that black and Latino students are…

  • Everyone needs help getting into Stuyvesant: What it really takes

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    Now that I mention it, I don’t think I was all that good at the test questions at the beginning. But my mother, a math teacher, had a blue shoulder bag of “manipulables”: toys, essentially, that she used to explain concepts in geometry and probability. The blue bag was always in the foyer, as if…

  • ‘So there I was, figuring it out myself’: A Brooklyn teen on why the city’s specialized high school prep wasn’t enough

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    My family wasn’t well off financially. Often times, we struggled and there was constant worry over whether we had food in the fridge or we had school supplies. I wasn’t expecting to enroll in a Kaplan or a Princeton Review course like my fellow affluent classmates. Nevertheless, I persisted. I sought out a free program…

  • Assessing the Assessment: SHSAT

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    Don’t assume that because your student does well in school that they will do well on any other test or in any other setting. Kids who do the best on the test are those who go into confident and prepared. Don’t make assumptions your kid will do well. If you’re thinking of a Specialized High…

  • A Summer of Test Prep Means More Asians in the City’s Elite Schools

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    Those involved in the tutoring business believe the deck is stacked because too many smart kids don’t even know about the importance of test prep. While certain Asian immigrants have created a pipeline of tutoring centers, educators say black and Latino students often don’t have the same networks in their communities. https://wnyc.org/story/certain-immigrants-tutoring-key-specialized-high-schools-test/ (August 10, 2015)

  • Bangladeshi families prep for controversial specialized high school exam

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    About 40 middle school children—all but one from Bangladeshi immigrant families in the Bronx—sat quietly inside a stark classroom at Khan’s Tutorial in Parkchester on a Sunday afternoon in September. Barely audible from the upstairs classroom were the sounds of children playing at a nearby park as the 12 and 13-year-olds reviewed fractions, greatest common…

  • Failing The Stuyvesant Test

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    In bringing its federal complaint against the Specialized High Schools admissions policy (archived copy), 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…

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

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    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…

  • Admission Test’s Scoring Quirk Throws Balance Into Question

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    Mr. Feinman had stumbled on a little-known facet of the test: because of the complex way it is graded, a student scoring extremely high on one part of the exam has a sharp advantage over a student with high but more balanced scores in each subject. “As taxpayers and parents, we should know how the…

  • Special Classes Help Gifted in Ghettos

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    OUTSIDE, there is a burned‐out tenement, a symbol of a devastated inner‐city neighborhood. Inside, a teacher is working on algebra problems with a class of gifted children, preparing them for entrance to specialized high schools. Of the 16,800 pupils in District 7, 400 are in special progress classes. The district is about 68 percent Hispanic,…