Current Events > NYC to drop middle school screening in fight against segregation

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https://gothamist.com/news/complete-education-overhaul-nyc-plans-drop-middle-school-screens-geographic-district-priority-high-schools

In a massive shakeup of how the city handles admissions to its middle and high schools, the Department of Education will remove all selective screens for middle schools for the 2021-2022 academic year and eliminate district priority for high schools altogether. Officials said the pandemic has made it impossible to use typical screening criteriaincluding test scores, attendance, and gradesto determine admission for middle schools. All state tests have been cancelled. Because many students had trouble getting online after schools closed, the DOE said attendance could not be factored into admissions. And grading has changed: There are no Fs this year, and students have the option to drop their lowest grades from their GPAs. The removal of middle school screening was announced for the current school year, but opponents have argued for years to stop using them altogether. Selective screens and district priority have long been flashpoints in the fight against segregation in the citys public school system.

In November, the student-led activist group Teens Take Charge filed a federal lawsuit arguing that admissions screens disparately disadvantage Black, Latinx, and under-represented Asian students. A diversity task force convened by the mayor also came out against middle school screens more than a year ago. Brooklyns District 15, which covers Park Slope, Cobble Hill, and Carroll Gardens as well as lower-income areas including Sunset Park and Red Hook, switched from screens to a lottery with priority for disadvantaged students in 2018. The move led to more diverse student bodies at some of the districts most popular middle schools. According to the DOE, about 40% of the citys middle schools use selective admissions. The COVID-19 crisis has exposed longstanding inequities in our Citys public schools," said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement. "Now, as we rebuild our city, we are expanding opportunities for all public school students and doubling down on our mission to provide a quality education for all, regardless of a childs zip code.



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the Department of Education will remove all selective screens for middle schools

why would a public school even have that, at all?

the only thing wrong with eliminating district priority is that it will mean some kids who live very close to their school will get assigned to a school much further away.

But other than that, there was no way normal evaluation criteria was going to be functional given how much of a disaster this past school year has been, so I'm not surprised they're using other methods.

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Questionmarktarius posted...

why would a public school even have that, at all?

Keep kids with certain grades out and also so kids only go to school in their own districts. Which can suck for the kid that is stuck in the poor neighborhood that doesn't get funding and has to go through metal detectors that you dont see happen in many of the rich neighborhood schools.

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Lebronwon posted...

Which can suck for the kid that is stuck in the poor neighborhood that doesn't get funding and has to go through metal detectors that you dont see happen in many of the rich neighborhood schools.

Maybe we need to finally accept that busing wasn't really bad at all.

s0nicfan posted...

the only thing wrong with eliminating district priority is that it will mean some kids who live very close to their school will get assigned to a school much further away.

i had that happen during my start of the 9th grade. the school was just a 5-10 minute walk but due to the districting i wasn't able to be assigned to it (had to apply to get an exemption to be allowed) otherwise i would've had to take a bus to the other school.
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I thought NYC was a liberal and diverse city. Why would there be segregation going on? They really have schools that are 95% white or 95% black in certain neighborhoods?

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Questionmarktarius posted...

why would a public school even have that, at all?

It comes down to money. although public schools do receive funding from state and federal agencies, a significant portion of their budget comes from local taxes. One of the main reasons why you have such disparity in schools is because rich people pay high taxes in their town which leads to a high school budget, whereas poor schools in poor towns have to rely more on subsidies.

It's also one of the reasons why you see pushback from districts and towns against these sort of randomized assignment schemes. Imagine if you moved to a nice town and were paying thousands of dollars more in taxes but you are okay with that because you knew your kid was going to get to go to a good school, only for the city or state to tell you that no, your kid has to go to this other school.

Some places also do it for specific reasons like sports. If a nearby high school has one of the best football teams in the state, for example, some parents will pay extra to get their kids to go to an out of district school so that they have a slightly better chance of getting into a good football college.

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s0nicfan posted...

It comes down to money. although public schools do receive funding from state and federal agencies, a significant portion of their budget comes from local taxes. One of the main reasons why you have such disparity in schools is because rich people pay high taxes in their town which leads to a high school budget, whereas poor schools in poor towns have to rely more on subsidies.

What does that have to do with "selective" enrollment, though? Apart from, you know, "selecting" yourself to move to the suburbs.

Questionmarktarius posted...

What does that have to do with "selective" enrollment, though? Apart from, you know, "selecting" yourself to move to the suburbs.

Because there are legitimately specialty public schools. there are technical public schools that have trade classes you can't get elsewhere, or art public schools that have a better music or arts program, etc.

You may also have a big enough school district to where you have to have multiple middle schools. some districts deal with this by trying to make the schools identical, whereas others will try and split between the normal kids and the high academic performers because those groups require a different set of skills and resources and that way the school can save money by consolidating.

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Does that mean even the specialized high schools wont be selective in their students anymore? NYC has three of the best public high schools in the country, hope those schools continue to stay selective

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David1988 posted...

Does that mean even the specialized high schools wont be selective in their students anymore? NYC has three of the best public high schools in the country, hope those schools continue to stay selective

This is from a part of the article that the TC didn't quote:

The citys most selective high schools will continue to use the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) which will be administered beginning January 27th at students middle schools, after being delayed from its usual schedule in the fall. The DOE will also maintain selective admissions for high schools, using students state tests from 2018-9 and grades up through 2019. Art schools will hold auditions virtually.

No updates have been given on the gifted and talented program testing dates.

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s0nicfan posted...

Because there are legitimately specialty public schools. there are technical public schools that have trade classes you can't get elsewhere, or art public schools that have a better music or arts program, etc.

Okay, now that makes sense.

s0nicfan posted...

This is from a part of the article that the TC didn't quote:

Good to hear. I was afraid they would also view those schools as being segregated because of the selection process. From the outside it does look segregated though, almost all the students are either white or Asian, at least when I went there.

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