12 JUNE 7, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
HEADING
Taking specialness out of specialized schools
“They need to look like New
York City.”
That’s what Mayor Bill
de Blasio said on Sunday of the city’s
eight specialized public high schools
in announcing his two-pronged plan
for reforming the admissions process
to them.
We agree with him on that point.
Students of every background in New
York City ought to have the chance to
attend the best high schools our city
has to off er.
However, we strongly disagree with
de Blasio’s plan to achieve that diversity
— for it lowers the schools’ high
standards while diminishing what
makes these institutions so desirable
for so many parents and students.
Though 70 percent of the city’s
public school students are black and
Hispanic, The New York Times reported,
they received only 10 percent of the
off ers for seats at these specialized
high schools last fall. The majority of
admissions off ers for these schools
have gone to white or Asian students.
That disparity refl ects the achievement
gap that continues to persist in
our city’s public schools, even as the
de Blasio administration has made
tremendous strides in recent years
to fi ll the void. The gap has existed for
too many years, but with continued investment
in early childhood education
and other programs to boost student
progress at every public school, that
gap will close over time.
Still, the mayor seeks something
of an overnight cure to correct the
disparity in specialized high schools.
His proposal would reserve 20 percent
of all specialized high school seats for
disadvantaged students who narrowly
missed the cutoff . As the Times
reported, this would allow the city to
pull more students from high-poverty
schools; these students would be eligible
to attend the specialized schools
by completing the summer Discovery
program.
While that idea is welcome and
would help increase diversity in the
specialized schools, the other half of
de Blasio’s proposal — eliminating
the Specialized High School Admissions
Test (SHSAT), something which
requires state legislative approval
— would prove to be a tremendous
disservice to our city’s children.
The high standards at Brooklyn
Tech, Stuyvesant High, Queens High
School for the Sciences at York College
and other specialized high schools are
what make these institutions so desirable.
It’s motivation for middle school
students to work harder, study longer
and be more attentive in the classroom.
The city must do a better job preparing
all of its middle schoolers for
the SHSAT, and for attending high
school in general. The Department
of Education should expand various
education programs to boost student
performance and also consider
other criteria (such as state test
scores and each student’s academic
portfolio) in the specialized high
school admissions process.
Anything less would be shortchanging
our children — and they’ve been
shortchanged enough.
EDITORIAL
ESTABLISHED 1908
Co-Publishers
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JOSHUA SCHNEPS
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RYAN KELLEY
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