By
Leslie Brody
Oct. 18, 2018 5:30 a.m. ET
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal to change admissions for eight specialized high schools could lead to students with markedly lower state test scores getting into these competitive schools, according to a review of New York City data.
His plan would offer seats to the top 7% of performers in each public middle school. If that method had been in place for this fall, data show the city would have offered spots to more than 300 students who didn’t pass state tests in seventh grade.
In addition, offers would have gone to about 1,000 fewer students who excelled on state tests, judging by city Department of Education data obtained through a public-records request.
Who should get into in these prestigious schools, including Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School, has been a matter of heated debate in recent months. Supporters of the current admission system called this new data evidence that the mayor’s proposal would enroll students who aren’t well prepared for their demanding academics. About 5,000 eighth-graders are offered spots in these schools yearly, and nearly 4,000 choose to attend for ninth grade.
“What happens if all 300 kids below proficiency decide to go?” asked Larry Cary, president of the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation. Either the schools would need to provide intensive remedial help, he said, “or you’re going to have a large number of kids who can’t hack it, through no fault of their own, and you’ve set them up for failure.”
Under the current system, applicants must ace the famously difficult Specialized High School Admissions Test. Critics say it unfairly bars exceptional students who lack years of test preparation, don’t test well or simply had a bad day during their one shot at the exam. Mr. de Blasio and Chancellor Richard Carranza want to scrap this exam, saying nobody should be judged by a single score and that their plan would help diversify schools that have few black or Latino students. They want to offer seats to top students by using a mix of course grades and state test scores in English and math.
“Our proposal weighs multiple measures and takes into account student performance throughout the entire year,” city Department of Education spokesman Will Mantell said in an email on Tuesday. “The grades and abilities of the students in the top 7% are on par with the grades and abilities of the students in the specialized high schools. We know they can succeed in specialized high schools if given the chance.”
Getting InNew York City averaged each student's scoreson seventh-grade state tests in math andEnglish. Here are the numbers of students, byrange, for those offered spots in specializedhigh schools for 2018 under the currentsystem and those who would get in under themayor's proposal. Scoring 3 means proficient.Source: New York City Department of Education CurrentMayor's proposal4-4.503-3.991-2.9901,0002,0003,0004,000
The department says that under the mayor’s plan, admitted students would collectively have state test scores in seventh grade averaging 3.9 in math and English, nearly the same as the 4.1 average of students admitted this year, on a scale of 1 to 4.5. But the individual scores underlying that assertion suggest a wider disparity. Data obtained through a public-records request show the state test scores of 4,959 students who would have received offers for this fall through the mayor’s model, and the scores of those actually admitted.
Bobson Wong, a math teacher at a public high school in Queens and graduate of Bronx Science, said “it would be tough to imagine” students scoring below proficiency on state tests in math succeeding at a specialized high school, where calculations become far more complex. “However, that doesn’t mean they should automatically be excluded,” Mr. Wong said. “It is possible that kids who scored low on state tests may have other skills that would enable them to do well.”
City education officials said the high schools have academic and emotional supports to meet the needs of students now, and these services will continue.
Critics of state tests call them flawed measures that don’t gauge perseverance, creativity and other strengths. Some teachers say students don’t take them seriously. And many educators argue classrooms benefit from academic diversity. Aaron Pallas, an education professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, notes that under the mayor’s plan, some admitted students might have higher grade-point averages than the current crop gaining entry, even if they have lower state test scores. The cutoff designating proficiency on state tests is politically determined and changes periodically, he added.
“Test scores are just one way of assessing students’ academic performance, and we know grades and class rank are often good predictors of later success, too,” he said. “As a society we’ve come to put a lot of faith in testing and cutoffs as a way of selecting people, perhaps more than we should.”
The mayor needs Albany lawmakers to change the admission system for at least three of the eight high schools. His plan resembles the University of Texas policy, where students ranked in top 10% of their class in each high school automatically receive an offer.
City officials cite a 2010 study of the University of Texas that compares minority enrollees to admitted white students who were ranked lower in their classes at highly competitive high schools. The study found “top 10% black and Hispanic enrollees arrive with lower average standardized test scores, yet consistently performed as well or better in grades, first-year persistence, and four-year graduation likelihood.”
State tests aim to measure whether students have mastered expectations for their grade level. The Specialized High School Admissions Test, which will be given Oct. 20 and 21, seeks to assess knowledge and skills gained over the course of students’ education, including their ability to understand English prose, editing skills and math.
Last year 28,333 students tested and 5,067 got offers at one of the eight schools, including 207 black students, 320 Latino students, 1,344 white students and 2,620 Asian students.
Write to Leslie Brody at leslie.brody@wsj.com