NYC, suspend high-stakes admission tests
We are members of the dwindling Black populations at Stuyvesant and Hunter College High Schools — which are just 1% and 2% Black, respectively, in a public school system whose overall student body is 25% Black. Our high school experiences have been marred by snide remarks about affirmative action, racial slurs and daily reminders that we are the accepted anomalies. We can testify that these anti-Black and anti-Latino sentiments are fomented by the disproportionate racial demographics within our classrooms that have distorted all of our learning experiences.
Despite being one of the most diverse cities in the nation, New York City’s school system is notorious for its de facto segregation. This dynamic is epitomized within our specialized high schools, including Stuvyesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech and Hunter. With admissions tests that cover topics above grade level and lackluster outreach to underrepresented populations, our public schools are failing the taxpayers who fund them.
Yet for years, neither the mayor nor the Legislature — nor anyone in Hunter College leadership — has taken the necessary action to overhaul a system that bases admissions to the most coveted schools on just a test, the SHSAT or the Hunter test. There’s not a single elite college in America that bases its admissions only on SAT or ACT scores, yet New York City’s best high schools make a single, homegrown exam make or break for thousands of students, despite results that worsen segregation.
Now we are faced with an even greater educational crisis: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequities within the school and health-care systems. School leaders across the country have suspended their 2021 admissions tests to mitigate the disparate effects of the pandemic. We are calling on New York City’s leaders to uphold both equity and safety by suspending the SHSAT and Hunter admissions test for 2021.
The tests have serious problems to begin with that are only harder to accept in the thick of the current crisis.
The suspension of in-person learning has caused students to receive vastly unequal educational experiences, making privilege the determining factor of impact. While wealthy families have formed elite learning pods and hired pricey tutors, all provided in a home environment conducive to education, majority Black and Latino schools have suffered poor engagement rates and been left behind.
Black and Latino neighborhoods have higher concentrations of essential workers, disproportionate rates of COVID-19 infections, and unequal access to technology and stable connectivity.
Both the SHSAT and Hunter Test operate under the assumption that all students have had access to the same core curriculum — and that relying solely on a single, high-stakes test is a fair way to determine admissions.
Yet there is no question that admissions tests this year cannot measure a student’s educational merit. The testing paradigm has shifted. Standardized testing after an unprecedented disruption to New York City students’ education favors those with privilege to the detriment of those without.
Beyond the impossibility of equal assessment, administering an in-person standardized test to thousands of applicants presents a dangerous health risk. Less than two weeks ago, Mayor de Blasio made the decision to close schools for a second time due to rising COVID-19 cases. New York State canceled the January Regents testing, citing “the interest of safety, equity and fairness.”
Our special admissions high should similarly adapt.
Instead, New York City’s silence is breaking the norm. Selective public high schools in other cities are responding by suspending their admissions tests and adopting alternative, schools more equitable admissions processes.
Boston’s exam schools, including Boston Latin, have suspended their standardized tests in favor of a grade and state test-based system, reserving seats across the city’s neighborhoods. San Francisco’s Lowell High School replaced its test with a lottery and will reserve a portion of seats for students in low-income census tracts. Northern Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson High School suspended its test and is now recommending replacing it with a merit-based lottery.
These are some of our nation’s most elite high schools, which rival the likes of Stuyvesant and Hunter. They have found that equity and excellence are compatible — and that schools cannot provide a world-class education in segregated classrooms.
These leaders of exam schools in other cities are recognizing that our nation’s dual public health and equity emergencies necessitate suspending their tests and taking action to ensure fair access for qualified students. De Blasio, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez and Hunter College President Jennifer Raab can do the same with the 2021 SHSAT and Hunter tests.
Why aren’t they?
Rollock is a student at Hunter College High School. Pridgen is a student at Stuyvesant High School.
Building power
It’s good news for New Yorkers, if not Gov. Cuomo, that Democrats have captured a supermajority in the state Senate. For years, Cuomo has stubbornly resisted the bold policies necessary to meet the challenges of climate change and income inequality. We now have the power to ban new fossil fuel projects, take public control of our energy systems and tax the ultrawealthy to fund a Green New Deal. The progressive policies New Yorkers need to survive and thrive are within reach. Eric Weltman
Special treatment
All these articles about the Hasidic community defying mask rules are missing the point. As religious schools, they are not entitled to free busing for students, but since they didn’t want to pay for it, their political clout got it for them. They also didn’t want to pay for school security guards, so they get them for free and stick us with the bill. Many in the Hasidic community aren’t following the rules? When did they ever?
Chris Corsi
Flagrant
Reading about the synagogue in Brooklyn having a wedding with more than 7,000 people is crazy (“Synagogue to be fined $15G for virus rule-defying secret nups,” Nov. 24). There are laws to obey during this pandemic, and religious Jewish people in Brooklyn disagree! These Hasidic Jews learn everyday laws of Judaism, which tell Jews what to do and not to do (e.g. Shabbos), like having a wedding with more than 7,000 people during these crazy times where over a million people have died. This is a very serious issue and they should be heavily fined. Obey the laws, not just Jewish ones.
Unbalanced Disjointed
I’m a bit confused. Does COVID only go to public schools? How ridiculous is that? I want schools open. If it’s not a threat to private and Catholic schools, why is it for public schools?
Danger abounds
Dori Leary
I read your paper and watch the news on television every day. It is obvious that crime is out of control in New York City. As a senior citizen, I feel unsafe living here. All lives matter and something should be done to protect the lives of all people. Surveys should be done in high crime neighborhoods and public transportation areas to show if people want a stronger police presence to feel safe. If this city is ever to return to being the financial and tourist capital of the world, people visiting here and living here need to feel safe.
Raise awareness
Please increase coverage of global poverty.
Anyone that feels that Saint Andrew, the Patron Saint of the Body Count, is entitled to an Emmy is completely hoodwinked or just plain ignorant. Be reminded that Gov. Cuomo was part of the apparatus that shut down the Catholic Medical Center in NYC from 2008-2012. The CMC represented thousands of hospital beds and personnel with hundreds of ICU units and ventilators. Not to mention the EMS units and morgues attached to the hospitals. The governor did this with the full knowledge that another pandemic was inevitable. Our politicians removed the hospital safety net from the people and now accept praise for the way they handled the self-imposed havoc that followed.
Victor Maltsev
Disdain for Ghislaine
Old Bridge, N.J.: Forgive me, but does anyone really give a flying fig about Ghislaine Maxwell, except maybe that mess in the White House, who wishes her well? If there’s a wrong side in a moral conflict, that’s where you’ll find him. Janet Cecin
Not gonna happen
Greenwood Lake, N.Y.: To Voicer Ruth Graves and the people who think they will have to carry President Trump out kicking and screaming on Jan. 20: Have I got a bridge for sale for you, toll booths included.
Joe Fioramonti Sr.