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New Admissions Changes For NYC Middle & High Schools “First Step” Towards Diversity, Advocates Say
By
Sophia Chang
and
Jessica Gould
Published Dec 19, 2020
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Jessica Gould / WNYC
By
Sophia Chang
and
Jessica Gould
Published Dec 19, 2020
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The city’s new changes to the middle and high school admissions process are being cheered by some advocates as overdue steps to address segregation in the New York City public school system.
On Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a major overhaul to the middle school admissions process to eliminate all selective screens -- metrics like test scores, attendance, and grades -- for the 2021-2022 academic year. The city Department of Education will also lift district priority for high schools altogether this year, followed by geographic priorities next year.
There are about 196 middle schools that currently use admissions screening, according to the DOE, or about 40% of all middle schools.
Shino Tanikawa, a longtime advocate for eliminating school screening and a member of District 2 Community Education Council in Manhattan, applauded the moves.
“I think that is really just the right thing to do. These are 10-year-olds we're talking about, and especially during the pandemic without the state test scores, without the final course grades,” Tanikawa said. “There's just no way for schools to be screening students, and we should really be questioning whether we should be screening 10-year-olds based on test scores and report card grades in first place.”
She added, “it's just a first step toward creating more equitable admissions process for middle schools.”
Yet the changes don’t go far enough, said Sophie Mode, a 17-year-old high school senior with the Teens Take Charge student activist group that filed a federal lawsuit in November arguing that admissions screens disparately disadvantage Black, Latinx, and under-represented Asian students.
“We're in a global pandemic, which means there's no conscionable way to use screens,” Mode said. “We believe that screens are a moral failing always, but especially in a time when we are in a pandemic, that medically, financially and in terms of who has had access to remote learning, has disproportionately affected low-income communities of color.” She said screening should be eliminated permanently across the whole system.
Lucas Liu, a member of District 3’s Community Education Council and co-president of PLACE NYC, which supports screened schools, said the new policies “doesn’t even solve the problem that we’re all trying to solve -- the kids aren’t getting educated properly. That starts with making sure that every kid in every school gets that quality rigorous education, starting in elementary school.”
He said changing the middle school admissions doesn’t help struggling children. “How does that help a kid who’s not ready anyways?” Liu said. “You get a fifth grade kid who is at a third-grade level. How does putting them in a lottery help them?”
Geographic priority will remain in place for middle schools, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said, because families say they want their kids to go to nearby schools, but high school geographic priority that limits admission to borough residents will be eliminated by next year.
“Approximately 250 total high schools have some type of district or geographic priority in place, such as borough-based priority, limiting opportunity for hard-working students to attend some of our most in-demand schools based on where they live. This will expand opportunity and increase choice for all rising high school students,” the DOE said in a statement.
But Tanikawa said truly integrating schools will take much more work than eliminating geographic priority—her district has long been criticized for priority admission to six highly-sought-after high schools. Testing for admission to specialized high schools is still required, and the test will be administered starting January 27th.
“Removing (district) priority alone by itself is not necessarily going to change the diversity of these districts to schools. We need to go further. Because in the end, who gets in will be reflective of who applies,” she said. “And if we are not thinking about going further [...] we won't necessarily achieve what we want to see happen.”
In a sign of more potential changes to come, Carranza also left the door open for high schools to decide whether it's time to drop screening: “For remaining screens at the high school level we invite schools to unscreen now if they and their school communities wish to do so -- we will support you,” he said.
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Sophia Chang
Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.
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Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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