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SHSAT+?: Expansion of Admissions Criteria

Updated: Feb 1, 2021

Radiah Jamil


Scientific Calculator by Kaboompics.com on Pexels


With so much political, social, and economic adversity for the entirety of the pandemic so far, it has been stated to the point of redundancy that COVID-19 has created new obstacles for all Americans. These obstacles weigh differently from person to person—some families have suffered financially due to unemployment, others may have suffered in regards to physical health, and most have suffered mentally. However, COVID-19 has done far more than create new issues as it has had the immense influence of bringing numerous pre-existing issues to a brighter light.


The limited diversity of specialized high schools has been quite a relevant point of discussion surrounding New Yorkers in the past decade. Since his campaign in 2013, Mayor Bill de Blasio has been emphasizing his nullifying viewpoint regarding the specialized high schools admissions test and unequal racial representation in the eight schools. Mayor de Blasio and the New York City Department of Education have poked at the removal of this social and economic impediment with the establishment of the DREAM program, which provides free tutoring for low-income students. Another establishment was the Discovery program which aids that same demographic in the scenario that a student slightly misses a cutoff score on the SHSAT. Despite their best efforts, recent data from 2020 shows that Hispanics and African-Americans still only make up 10.3% of the eight specialized high schools, yet make up 67% of public schools across NYC.


Eventually in 2019, Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Richard Carranza publicly expressed the failure of the controversial plan to abolish the SHSAT due to intense protests, especially from the Asian American community, in addition to their inability to legally remove the 1971 Hecht-Calandra Act that established admissions to be based solely on SHSAT performance. CEO & President of one of NYC’s largest tutoring centers, Dr. Ivan Khan of Khan’s Tutorial, has expressed his pleasure in this decision but also shared a concern of minimal diversity, “I look forward to continuing to fight for the expansion of Gifted & Talented classes in every school so that every NYC public school student can gain the best education possible for them and their families."


Clearly, an unequal distribution of resources is one factor behind the lack of diversity, but the suggestion of more funding has always been a temporary and mediocre patch for most issues. Not to mention the fact that funding is very limited in the most densely populated city in the U.S. with 8.4 million residents. Expanding the admissions criteria to be more holistic like that of the college admissions process would bring an increase in diversity. The additional incorporation of other factors like GPA, attendance, teacher recommendations, and even personal statements would put a lot more emphasis on students’ characters and more accurately reveal who is doing the best they can with the resources that they have. Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is the only specialized high school that is dedicated to the arts, but Hispanics and African-Americans make up 27.5% of the school, which is approximately two and a half times more than all the other specialized high schools combined.


LaGuardia admissions are determined by a holistic portfolio that allows students to showcase their talents. Likewise, a holistic portfolio for the other eight specialized high schools would promote important qualities in students like character, commitment, community engagement, personal interests, and much more.


Education tends to lay a crucial foundation for the rest of people’s lives, and it would ultimately be in NYC’s best interest to expand the admissions criteria because the specialized high schools are resources in and of themselves. They offer academic and extracurricular opportunities of high quality, and are competitive environments in which students tend to have a better chance of a more auspicious future. For once, can we consider what people do have and how far they have come with that? The consideration and promotion of achievements within factors like GPA, teacher recommendations, and personal statements—in addition to the admissions test—is what will make a positive difference in the distribution of success past K-12 education, for a lifetime. Intelligence and passion lies among students of all backgrounds, but NYC will never truly find it utilizing a single test.

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