City suspends exam school admission test
Several factors will be used to see who goes
The Boston School Committee Thursday morning voted unanimously to suspend for one year the use of an exam school admissions test, changing a long-standing process that will impact kids across the city.
“To me, this is where we walk the walk in saying that we’re taking the action to provide equity of opportunity for all of our students. And I’m proud to do that,” said School Committee Member Michael O’Neill.
The vote came after 2 a.m. during a sprawling meeting with more than 150 public commenters that began at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The vote means invitations to Boston’s elite exam schools will be made not based on an entrance test, a system which some committee members called racist, but rather by weighing student performance, zip code and GPA or MCAS results.
“I think that all of our schools should reflect the student body that we have, it should not be acceptable to have schools that don’t represent that,” said Committee Vice Chair Alexandra Oliver-Davila.
The proposal to change the admissions format, due in part to the difficulty of administering a test in a pandemic, was created by the Boston Public Schools Exam School Admission Criteria Working Group.
Exam schools, which are considered the most prestigious in the city, include Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy and the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science.
The passing of the proposal was regarded as a historic victory among many Boston stakeholders and community members.
Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston chapter of the NAACP, said, “This will undoubtedly be a defining moment in our city.”
She said during the meeting, “Tonight we are making a historic and positive, transformative mark on our city that will help move us into the next chapter and change hopefully our city for the better.”
Mayor Martin Walsh said, “It
does not meet our public health guidelines to administer a citywide exam in the middle of a pandemic. And for these reasons, I asked the committee to adopt the superintendent’s, and working group’s, proposal.”
Not everyone was pleased the with outcome of the vote though.
Chengjing Hu, a BPS parent, said the zip code provision of the pro
posal is “destroying our schools.”
Tracy Situ said, “If you cancel the exam there’s no chance for my Chinese student to gain a chance to have a good future.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, the vote was divided into two areas. The first, which was for the suspension of the test and the new admissions criteria, passed unanimously.
The second was on recommendations from the working group that included continued work on expanding the exam school applicant pool, and providing opportunities and funding to prepare new students enrolled in exam schools and young students who wish to apply.
All members voted yes except Dr. Hardin Coleman.