Tag: taylor
-
FAIRNESS TO GIFTED GIRLS: ADMISSIONS TO NEW YORK CITY’S ELITE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS
A SHSAT research paper published in the Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering.
Jonathan Taylor
Hunter College Gender Equity ProjectABSTRACT
The use of test scores in school admissions has been a contentious issue for decades. In New York City’s elite public high schools, it has been particularly controversial because of disproportionate representation by ethnicity. Underrepresentation of girls has received less attention. This research compared the predictive validity and gender bias of the admissions criterion, the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), with that of seventh grade GPA, a possible additional criterion. SHSAT (r2 = 0.20) predicted high school grades less precisely than GPA7 (r2 = 0.44) and underpredicted girls’ grades in all academic domains and specific courses analyzed. Girls were overrepresented in the upper tail of STEM course grades. Simulated admissions using an index combining SHSAT and GPA7 suggest that different admissions criteria might improve the quality of the admitted cohort, increase diversity, and be gender-fair.
http://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/00551c876cc2f027,294b56436594090b,2e036b8a364ae7df.html
-
SHSAT Invalid: I’ve spent years studying the link between SHSAT scores and student success. The test doesn’t tell you as much as you might think.
First, that requires defining merit. Only New York City defines it as the score on a single test — other cities’ selective high schools use multiple measures, as do top colleges. There are certainly other potential criteria, such as artistic achievement or citizenship.
However, when merit is defined as achievement in school, the question of whether the test is meritocratic is an empirical question that can be answered with data.