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Showing posts with label SHSAT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SHSAT. Show all posts

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Great News: City Council is Looking at Legislation That Will Provide City-wide Tutoring For the Specialized High Schools Test (SHSAT)

Richard Parsons

 Great news for New York public school students interested in getting into a Specialized High School -Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, and five other excellent educational institutions: a group of City Council members, Justin Brannan, Keith Powers and Oswald Feliz, have submitted legislation that offers educational opportunities such a test prep to more than 90% of NYC middle schools that do not currently have access to publicly funded test prep.

Ronald S. Lauder

We agree with Mr. Lauder and Mr. Parsons that "By making tutoring more widely accessible, this package has the potential to revolutionize the education public students receive."

We also firmly support giving all students access to excellence rather than lowering educational standards to fit everyone. Kids of all ages need challenges and higher-level problems that require creativity and ingenuity. 

Let's hope that the City Council passes this legislation quickly so that all those interested can apply in the fall.

But I think we should all stop worshipping the Specialized High Schools and instead seek to raise the level of ALL schools in NYC. Two of my daughters got into Stuyvesant, and it is a terrific place for many reasons, but certainly not the right place for many students who could not, or didn't want to, handle the intense workload and competition.

One of my other daughters got a spot in La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts. That was the right place for her, an artist and opera singer.

Parents, don't fit your child into a school. Find a school that fits your child's individual skills and needs.

 Betsy Combier

How to build educational equity and excellence

By Ronald S. Lauder and Richard Parsons
New York Daily News
•


As New York City strives to build a more equitable public education system, beginning at our most vaunted educational institutions, one universal truth that educators, parents and students alike all know is that the key to ensuring that every New York student has access to the city’s specialized high schools is preparation.

Now, to our elation, it appears a group of City Council members understand this truth, too. A legislative package introduced in the Council last month marks a major step forward toward making education more accessible and equitable by improving preparation for and access to the SHSAT — the admissions test for Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech and five other less famous but also outstanding public schools — for students across the five boroughs.

Councilmen Justin Brannan, Keith Powers and Oswald Feliz, who introduced the legislation, are working to ensure that every New York student receives a first-rate public education. We congratulate them on this critical step, stand with them in their campaign for improved education equity, and encourage the full Council to pass the package and Mayor Adams to sign it into law.

We have long fought to ensure that all students, especially students of color, have access to opportunities that will help them achieve their full potential.

Recent SHSAT data underscore the need for improved equity. In the past school year, Black and Latino students made up 21% and 26% of students who took the SHSAT, respectively, but received only 3% and 6% of offers to enroll in specialized high schools for this fall. In the same cycle, Asian-American students were 31% of test-takers and 53% of offers, while white students were 17% of test-takers and 28% of offers.

We know that test prep is one of the most effective ways to address the disparity. The Education Equity Campaign, which we co-founded, spent more than $1.2 million on free test prep for underserved communities in the academic year that just ended. Of 204 total students from underserved communities who received free tutoring from EEC in this past year, 54 of them, or 26.5%, were offered admission to one of the specialized high schools.

Since 2019, EEC has funded $4 million for free test preparation for the SHSAT, resulting in tutored students being four times more likely to gain admission than their peers.

This legislative package expands on EEC’s success by providing long-awaited resources for test-takers attending the more than 90% of New York City middle schools that do not currently have access to publicly funded test prep. By making tutoring more widely accessible, this package has the potential to revolutionize the education public-school students receive.

But the proposed legislation doesn’t stop at test prep. It will also broaden the pool of SHSAT takers. Black and Latino students currently make up almost 70% of all New York City public school children but only a third of all specialized high school applicants. By moving the test to a school day, we will have immediate and lasting effects on equity in the city’s schools.

In total, this legislative package is a historic step toward ensuring the historically disparate SHSAT outcomes are improved. Moreover, these bills build on the progress already underway in this new administration led by Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks.

Earlier this year, the pair announced a long-overdue expansion of the gifted and talented programs throughout the city, a move essential to addressing the inequalities afflicting the public schools. The disparities between the privileged districts, mainly in Manhattan, and communities of color in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx are blaring, and this expansion addressed just that. We are incredibly thankful that Adams and now the Council continue to answer our call to take action against this injustice, but we must now turn our focus to the future, and where our most gifted students arrive in secondary education.

While some believe that the SHSAT should be eliminated or that the city should move toward a system that includes other admissions criteria, those critics overlook the true problem of education inequity, doing nothing to improve the education system or help prepare students for secondary education. Through the Council’s education package, students who have been neglected by the public school system because of their background or race will be afforded educational opportunities to achieve their true potential.

We know the future of public education in New York is brighter because of this legislation, and we look forward to its speedy enactment. And we hope this effort will serve as a model for continued partnership between city government and civic organizations in our fight toward advancing equity in education. By working together, we can make the New York public education system accessible, equitable, and the best in the country.

Lauder is a philanthropist, business leader and graduate of Bronx Science. Parsons is the former CEO of Time Warner and a graduate of John Adams High in Queens.

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Friday, January 8, 2021

Shaun Donovon's Run For NYC Mayor Proposes Changing The SHSAT As Well as Removing Middle School Screens

 

Shaun Donovan speaks during a virtual announcement of his candidacy for the 2021 New York City mayoral campaign in the Bronx. | Bebeto Matthews/AP Photo

We are in favor of validating a policy of school choice - public or charter - and allowing kids with Special needs - autism, ADHD, 2e Twice Exceptional, etc - to have the right learning environment and support. Thus, we believe in the Specialized High Schools' existence and that the test to get must remain, but be given to all students, and not denied to anyone. When I was President of the PTA at Booker T. Washington MS 54, I did a small amount of research into who took the exam at any of the middle schools in Harlem, and we found that Guidance Counselors told students that the SHSAT was "not for them".

Additionally, kids starting kindergarten and through middle school should have the same opportunity to take classes with Gifted Education curricula similar to other students already in a G&T or Honors Program. The segregation starting in kindergarten has to stop. The standard of excellence should be raised for all students, not lowered or dumbed down so that all students are "equal" at a common level of accomplishment.

Every child is unique and deserves his or her path to his/her personal best.

I don't believe that the huge entity known as the NYC Department of Education values individual achievement and the needs of students over the desire to silence and retaliate against employees and parents who are too outspoken and/or who make complaints about anything happening/not happening in their schools. Sadly, this won't change soon enough.

Applying for the SHSAT

End Mayoral control of the Department of Education.

Mayoral Control of the NYC DOE Denies Rights to All Parties

SHSAT Test

Betsy Combier

Donovan would remove middle school screens as mayor, but would revise SHSAT

By 

 


Shaun Donovan is the latest mayoral candidate to call for permanently eliminating middle school admissions screens but said he wants to change the Specialized High School Admissions Test instead of scrapping it.

Admissions screens, which include high-stakes tests among other metrics, can have an outsize impact on a student’s academic career. But they are increasingly seen as among the worst culprits in perpetuating notorious segregation in New York City schools. While less prevalent than middle school screens, the SHSAT has become a symbol of the type of test that has historically helped bar Black and Latino students from the city’s eight elite high schools.

The de Blasio administration is removing admissions screens at all middle schools for a year and plans to administer the Specialized High School Admissions Test at the end of this month. Donovan said, as mayor, he would end the middle school screens permanently.

"I think fundamentally we do need to ensure that the screens are permanently lifted but we also have to recognize that eliminating screens is the first step," Donovan told POLITICO. "An open lottery alone isn't gonna lead to more diverse schools without more intentional efforts beyond that and so the screens is only, from my perspective ... a first step."

As part of his education plan, which POLITICO previewed and will be released today, Donovan said he would put in place district-wide policies at the middle school level such as the weighted lottery approach currently being used in District 15 in Brooklyn — which is among a handful of districts that has a school diversity plan in place, while several others are in the process of developing those programs.

At the high school level, Donovan would continue the elimination of geographic priorities — tying a student to the area they live in — which the city is also abandoning temporarily this year. He also said he would change the high school admissions system to include mechanisms like weighted lotteries to ensure schools are more representative of students from all demographic groups.

As to the admissions process at the city’s specialized high schools, Donovan said the specialized high schools represent eight of roughly 400 public high schools, arguing there needs to be a much broader policy and change to address a broader set of schools.

The SHSAT has become a focal point of the fractious debate over segregation in city schools. Opponents argue it’s led to abysmal admission rates for Black and Hispanic students compared to their white and Asian counterparts. Supporters say eliminating the test will blunt the academic rigor of the elite schools.

Last year only 470 Black and Hispanic students were admitted to the eight schools, compared to 1,072 white students and 2,305 Asian students. Black and Latino students make up 70 percent percent of the city’s 1.1 million students.

"I am open that there could be a revised test, I don't know that we necessarily need to get rid of it completely,” Donovan told POLITICO. “But clearly there have to be changes and I think that needs to be done in partnership with students, teachers, families and make sure... that we're creating metrics that really look at the ways that the changes are driving greater integration at other specialized schools.”

Donovan, who grew up in Manhattan, said he went to private school but said he has had experiences working and volunteering in other schools.

"I started volunteering in a homeless shelter in college and working in housing and homelessness and came back to the city and worked in the South Bronx, in Central Brooklyn and a whole range of other communities that really were deeply challenged in the 1970s and 80s," he said.

Donovan, who worked in the Obama White House and Bloomberg mayoral administration, pointed to his work at the national level, including efforts with former Education Secretary Arne Duncan and John King around the "Promise Neighborhoods" program that supports cradle-to-career efforts in low-income communities, as well as his work with Geoff Canada of Harlem Children's Zone.

Donovan is not the first 2021 candidate to call for an end to middle school screens, but his early adoption of the position signals the weight his campaign is placing on education policy.

After the city announced it would temporarily eliminate admissions screens at middle schools, mayoral candidate Dianne Morales, who served as CEO of Phipps Neighborhoods, a social services nonprofit in the Bronx, said she would permanently abandon screens if elected mayor as a first step to desegregating schools.

Another mayoral candidate, Council Member Carlos Menchaca, also previously expressed opposition to the use of screens.

Former de Blasio official Maya Wiley co-chairs the city’s School Diversity Advisory Group, which recommended getting rid of “exclusionary” middle school admissions screens like attendance and grades. The group also called for phasing out gifted and talented programs and replacing them with "non-selective magnet schools" based on student needs and interests.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams recently released a policy book outlining his plans but his education agenda does not mention admissions screens or other school integration issues. Other mayoral candidates like Comptroller Scott Stringer and former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia have not yet indicated where they stand on admissions screens.

As part of his plan, Donovan also wants to establish a School Diversity and Integration Office within the city’s Department of Education to come up with a comprehensive integration approach. He wants to add diversity, integration and inclusion metrics to annual school quality reports and create a new publicly available equity report card for the city and each community school district.

He also called for expanding the number of seats in high-performing, integrated schools and supporting community-driven integration plans.

 


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Saturday, October 17, 2020

NYC DOE Deputy Chancellor Adrienne Austin Says SHSAT and Admissions Decisions Are "Political"

 

Adrienne Austin, deputy chancellor for community empowerment, partnerships and communications

I remember when Ms. Austin was a Department prosecutor of educators brought to 3020-a hearings for termination.

One of my clients, C.V., was charged with forging her name on a posting for a special education position. Ms. Austin was the attorney assigned to prosecute. I found that a staff person at the school had the same poster with the principal's original signature. We brought this poster in to show the Arbitrator on the first day of the 3020-a. We stated that the so-called "investigation" that substantiated the charge and then created the 3020-a was deficient and that this case had to be dismissed. Ms. Austin handed out to us on day 2 of the hearing the agreement by the Department to withdraw the case, because the investigator went back to the school and was told by the principal that they had forged their own signature on the poster. I believe that Ms. Austin was moved up to the Chancellor's Office soon after.

Several years later we received an email on another case where the Department wrote the "new" policy was never to withdraw a case, only dismiss (since the C.V. 3020-a was such an embarrassment).

The email with the "new" policy of the Department from Department Attorney Miriam Berardino, sent to me on December 14, 2018:

"1.    Discontinuing versus withdrawing the charges.  The Department’s policy is to discontinue and not withdraw the charges.  Sometime after the 2013 case of C V, the Department stopped withdrawing charges.  Therefore, the Department is willing to discontinue the charges against Respondent in an effort to reach a fair and just resolution in this matter."

By the way, this email was followed by my successful effort to withdraw that recent case with Attorney Berardino, despite the new "policy" handed down after my win in the case of C.V. Ms. Berardino put up a great fight, but what does an NYC DOE "policy" have to do with an arbitration proceeding for a tenured educator? Our stand is that our "policy" is to demand withdrawal over the dismissal of a case when not only is there no proper determination of probable cause, but no evidence whatsoever that the misconduct ever occurred.

See also:

The NYC Department of Education Brings Chaos To High School Admissions and Student Records


  Betsy Combier

Editor, Inside 3020-a Teacher Trials   


Carranza’s deputy calls decisions on school admissions criteria ‘political’


A top deputy of schools Chancellor Richard Carranza stunned parents last week when she said decisions on admission criteria for the city’s top middle and high schools are “political.”

“Anything that’s as high stakes and important as — and political, to be honest — as admissions policy is going to have to be something that’s cleared by the city,” said Adrienne Austin, deputy chancellor for community empowerment, partnerships, and communications.

Austin made the startling comment after Manhattan dad Leonard Silverman asked about still-unknown Department of Education plans to give the SHSAT — the entry exam for eight specialized high schools — plus Gifted & Talented testing, and admission rules for kids applying to middle and high schools.

“I know parents want to know about admissions. I know parents want to know about grading policy. I want to know about grading policy and admissions,” Austin said. “I don’t have that information yet.”

Austin spoke Thursday at a Zoom meeting of the Chancellor’s Parent Advisory Committee, a citywide panel of 38 parent representatives.

Silverman, of Manhattan’s District 2, was taken aback by Austin’s honesty.

“Did she actually say what I think she said?” he wondered after her comment.

“I think it shows there’s more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye. It’s not just educational issues,” Silverman said.

He added, “I don’t think issues like these should be political. Parents are caught in the crossfire. Parents want to know what’s going to happen next year, and if politics are delaying the process, it’s disconcerting.”

Yiatin Chu, co-president of PLACE NYC, a parent group that supports competitive admissions, called Austin’s comments “despicable.”

“For a top DOE leader to say that these decisions are political tells you that our educators have become politicians,” she said. “And they’re seizing on our health and education crisis to further their political agenda.”

Mayor de Blasio and Carranza have tried unsuccessfully to get rid of the SHSAT, the sole entry criteria, required by state law, for Stuyvesant, Bronx HS of Science,  and Brooklyn Tech. Five other high schools use the exam, which Carranza called “racist.”

Carranza also opposes the widespread practice of “screening” students for admission at hundreds of middle and high schools based on grades, state test scores, attendance, and other measures, saying it results in racial segregation.

Despite demands by advocacy groups such as Teens Take Charge, Carranza has not yet made changes but has suggested the pandemic can lead to dropping such criteria.

“Never waste a good crisis to transform a system,” he told principals in May. “We see this as an opportunity to finally push and move and be very strategic in a very aggressive way what we know is the equity agenda for our kids.”

Manhattan City Councilman Keith Powers, who has introduced a resolution asking the state to repeal Hecht-Calendra, the law requiring the SHSAT, interprets Austin’s use of the word “political” as a reference to the controversy swirling around admission issues,

“History has shown that these discussions have lots of stakeholders who feel very strongly,” Powers said. “But parents deserve to know what those policies are going to be so they can start the process of applying to schools and planning for where their children will go.”

The councilman added, “Ultimately, this is going to wind up at the mayor’s discretion.”

Austin declined to explain her remark.

“Admissions processes deeply impact each student’s education, and we are always on the side of equity and increasing access and opportunity,” DOE spokeswoman Katie O’Hanlon said.

“Our decisions are driven by the best interest of our students, which is why we have publicly opposed SHSAT and haven’t added screened schools. We have engaged families citywide on admissions, and will share updates soon.”


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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Results of SHSAT For Top High Schools Shows Racism

The problem with the Specialized Science HS test presents itself BEFORE the test is taken. Not only are minority students not adequately prepared, but guidance counselors do not always tell or allow students of color to take the test.

  When I was PTA President of Booker T. Washington MS 54 I did a small amount of research, by sending teams out to District 3 and District 5 middle schools and asking parents if their children were taking the SHSAT. Most said no, because the guidance counselors told their children "the test is not for you".

  Betsy Combier

 

Fewer black and Hispanic students admitted to top high schools

by Philissa Cramer, at 6:15 pm
 LINK
Screen shot 2013-03-15 at 3.45.38 PM
Students who took the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test and were offered seats in a specialized high school this school year, by race
During a year when the racial composition of the student bodies at the city’s most selective high schools came under harsh new scrutiny, the number of black and Hispanic students admitted to the schools fell sharply.
Of the 5,229 students accepted to the city’s eight specialized high schools this year, 618 were black or Hispanic, according to data the Department of Education released today, the day that eighth-graders learned their high school placement. Last year, the schools accepted 733 black and Hispanic students, more than in the recent past.
The sharpest declines came at the city’s most selective schools. Out of 963 students accepted to ultra-elite Stuyvesant High School, just nine are black and 24 are Hispanic. Last year, the school accepted 51 black and Hispanic students. At Brooklyn Technical High School, the largest of the specialized schools, the number of black and Hispanic students accepted fell by 22 percent.

The declines outpaced another sharp drop-off, in the number of black and Hispanic students who even took the admissions test that is the single determinant of whether students can attend the specialized schools. The number of white and Asian students who sat for the exam increased slightly, but 550 fewer black students and 384 fewer Hispanic students took the test.
Overall, black and Hispanic students received 12 percent of specialized high school offers, down from 14 percent last year but up slightly from 11 percent in 2011. They made up 45 percent of test-takers and make up about 71 percent of students citywide.
“It’s disappointing that the amount of students in Stuyvesant are not reflective of New York City public schools,” said Karim Camara, chairman of the state Assembly’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus. “Obviously, there needs to be serious efforts to increase enrollment of black and Latino students in these schools.”
Camara has proposed legislation that would require specialized schools to base admissions on multiple measurements, the central demand of a civil rights complaint filed last year by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The complaint, which the federal Office of Civil Rights is considering, says admission to the schools would be more fair if students’ grades, teacher recommendations, extracurricular activities, and life experiences were considered.
“This year’s admission numbers represent the continuation of a trend of unfairness and acute racial disparities in admissions to New York’s eight specialized high schools that has been going on for years,” Damon Hewitt, LDF’s legal director, said today. “We will not see a reversal of this trend until the schools’ admissions policy changes once and for all.”
City officials have consistently defended the admissions process — which would require legislative approval to change — and did so again today.
“We take efforts to ensure our system of great schools is diverse, but ultimately for the specialized high schools, we believe the SHSAT is the fairest measure for admission,” said Devon Puglia, a department spokesman.
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