The battle over SHSAT heats up for NYC’s elite high schools

Students, parents and advocates are demanding that the city protect the entrance exams for its eight exclusive, elite high schools ahead of a crucial vote next week that could decide whether the exams will take place. Gets torpedoed.

The Specialized High School Admission Test is the only admissions criteria used for top schools like Bronx High School of Science; Stuyvesant; Brooklyn Tech and others, but the test could be canceled if the city’s educational policy panel doesn’t approve a new five-year, $17 million contract with education company Pearson.

The deal is set to be voted on at next week’s PEP meeting after repeated postponements. If approved, the exam could be given digitally, but if it is rejected, there would be no exam next year for the new class of 2026, exam supporters said.

“If the SHSAT (contract) is not renewed, all seventh-graders who want to go to these schools will be out of luck,” Phoebe Gerber, a seventh-grader at PS 334 on the Upper West Side, said at a public event. ” A meeting was held on Wednesday in which speakers supported the exam.

He added, “I have visited many of these elite high schools and, just like any other seventh grader, I have fallen in love with them.”

Supporters of the competency-based test and admissions process fear that the contract vote is a backdoor way for woke critics of the controversial test, which is required by law for admission to certain schools, to eventually eliminate it.

Opponents of the test pointed to the lack of black and Latino representation in eight specific schools. Last year, only 4.5% of offers went to black students and 7.6% went to Latino students, according to city data. Some also argue that expensive test preparation is out of reach for low-income families.

Gavin Healy, a parent and member of the Community Education Council for District 2 in Manhattan, argued Wednesday, “This is a system that will always reward those with more resources, while imposing a burdensome, regressive tax on disadvantaged students to prepare for the test.” Will be forced to pay Rs.

Other parents want to maintain the status quo and prevent any further disruption to the already complex admissions process.

“Rejecting the contract, from my perspective, is like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute and hoping that we will be able to find a solution before we land,” said Melih Onwural, a parent of three expecting public school students. Said to gain admission into crown-jewel high schools.

“Are there flaws in the system? Yes. Are there flaws in the contract? Yes,” he added. “But my request to the committee is to separate the dreams of a test-free world from this contract renewal.”

PEP member Tom Sheppard told gothamist That his opposition to testing is an “equity issue”.

However, the panel chair is Gregory Faulkner Allegedly He said he had “no problem with conducting the examination” and was “confident that the panel will reach a good decision.”

At a town hall Thursday, Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said the SHSAT process “is set by the state, and we will continue to follow it.” According to reports. “Whatever changes happen in the future, we will also follow them.”

Members of the City Council’s Common Sense Caucus rallied in support of the new contract Thursday.

Councilwoman Susan Zhuang (D-Brooklyn) said in one, “Students who take the SHSAT are not rich kids who can afford private tutors, but come from hard-working, lower- and middle-class families.” statement,

“This test is a lifeline for underrepresented and low-income immigrant students to gain access to some of the best public high schools in the country,” he said.

Bronx Rep. Richie Torres also joined the call.

“I have a simple message for PEP,” he said in a Video posted on X“Stop politicizing the SHSAT, stop polarizing New Yorkers, and start focusing on fundamentally improving the system as a whole.”