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In HS admissions numbers, hints of change at selective schools

An earlier timeline for the city’s high school admissions process didn’t equate to a higher match rate between students and schools.

Data released today by the Department of Education about high school admissions show that 90 percent of the 77,137 eighth-graders who applied to high school this year were matched with a school during the first round of the city’s admission process, just under half to their first-choice schools.

But about one in 10 did not get into any school, roughly the same proportion as last year, when the city induced a flood of applications to top schools by listing schools’ graduation rates in the high school directory for the first time. Students who did not get a seat will have to choose from schools that did not fill up in the main round of the admissions process, likely because too few students sought spots in them.

The data also reveal at least small strides in two enrollment areas the city has identified as problems. First, the number of black and Hispanic students offered spots at the city’s specialized high schools inched upward, although it remains woefully low. Plus, students with disabilities will also get a second chance to win admission to a number of selective schools as part of a city initiative to require those schools to enroll more special education students.

The admissions decisions, which schools will begin distributing to students today, come a full month earlier than the city has ever before informed most students about their high school placements. That’s because the city shifted this year to a unified admissions schedule for the first time.

In the past, eighth-graders did not all find out at the same time where they had been admitted to high school. Some students — those who won admission to the city’s elite specialized high schools or to LaGuardia High School, a performing arts school — found out in mid-February where they got in. Students who didn’t apply to those schools or weren’t admitted didn’t learn what high school had accepted them until late March.

Now, all students find out where they got in — or where they didn’t — at the same time, at the end of February.

Nearly 6,000 students were offered seats at specialized high schools on the basis of their scores on a screening exam. At Stuyvesant High School, the largest and least racially diverse of the schools, the number of black and Hispanic students offered seats doubled, from 25 students last year to 51 this year. Overall, black and Hispanic students received 14 percent of specialized high school offers, up from 11 percent last year. They made up 45 percent of students sitting for the exam and make up about 71 percent of students citywide.

The 7,400 students who weren’t matched to any school now have two weeks to apply to schools that still have space or to 11 new schools opening this fall. Many of the schools with open spots are struggling, and they include nearly all of the high schools the city has deemed so low-performing that they should be closed and reopened under a model known as “turnaround.” A department spokesman said any student admitted to the schools would be guaranteed a spot in their replacements.

Unlike in past years, many selective schools also have seats open in the second round of the admissions process — but only for students who require special education services. Those schools, which include Beacon High School and Midwood High School’s medical program, screen students for admission and have traditionally enrolled few students with special needs. But Chancellor Dennis Walcott told principals last month that they would have to enroll a fair share of special education students, and now all screened schools have enrollment targets they are expected to meet.

Students who are matched to a school this week can also apply in the second round for schools with open spots. But if they are matched to a school in that round, they’ll give up their first-round spot.

The city released a guide to the new schools today. Most are opening in locations where the city has already won approval to close low-performing schools. For example, a sustainability-themed school called Harvest Collegiate will open in the Union Square building that currently houses Legacy High School, which will start phasing out next year.

The list of schools that still have seats open is below. The city is holding a fair for students still looking for schools this weekend at Manhattan’s Martin Luther King Campus.

  • rf

    Is there a link to the data of racial diversity among students offered seats at the specialized high schools?

  • Energized2fight

    These elitist and racist schools have no place in a public education system supported by everyone’s tax dollars.

  • Ellen

    Wait until these poor kids have to apply for college in 3/4 years.  This will look like a walk in the park

  • Lin

    I am a teacher of Asian descent.  Stuyvesant is majority Asian.  Whites are something like only 15% of the student body.  Why are Asians not counted as ‘diverse’?  Many people like myself feel personally insulted when ‘diversity’ activists treat us as invisible or as a problem.  

    Blacks and Latinos make up about 75% of ALL students in NYC.  Asians are another 10-15%  How can ANYONE in this city ask for more diversity than what you have now?  If ‘diversity’ is code for ‘less whites’ then we are the most ‘diverse’ place in the country outside of LA or Detroit.  With whites so underrepresented everywhere now, how can ANYONE say anything about needing more of this or that group, especially if you are the ‘wrong’ group of diversity?  

    We Asians are taking the place of whites at the top now.  (See how we run California now!)  Will black and latino activists turn on us as the new overlords?  We came here poor and ELL too.  Why do we succeed with little to no outside help, but with trillions of dollars spent on them, why are they still mired in trouble?  With almost no more white people around anymore, who can you blame now?  Hard work and having a goal cannot be protested into existence.  That is what our parents teach us.

  • Flerplunk

    We could change the admissions process at the selective high schools to reduce the number of Asians, as you appear to advocate.  But we’d have to ask ourselves first what function these schools should have.  CUNY was once among the most prestigious public universities in the country.  It had an extremely competitive admissions process.  The vast majority of its students were white.  In the 1970s, in response to complaints about the lack of diversity, CUNY switched to an open admissions policy.  It would be a dramatic understatement to say that CUNY is no longer among the most prestigious public universities in the country.

  • mosaic

    With a smug and borderline prejudiced attitude like yours I can’t imagine you making it at any urban school.  In fact, no school system needs teachers with a mentality like yours.

  • Mosaic

    With that said however, I am against all these cries for “diversity” while changing the scope of admissions.  If a school admits students based on an exam then so be it.  What I would like to see are more resources for students of color to prepare for the rigorous experience at the specialized high schools.  Many enrolled students have prepared these exams well in advance.  If the vast majority of students of color made use of prep programs (if they are available) I’m confident the statistics would change.

  • Guest

    you sound like you’re angry and want to break something.

  • Furtgo

    These are gifted schools, and are not racist. How can they be racist by using a blind test? No interviews with nor grades from possibly racist teachers, teachers who may not even know they have biases. The scantron machine scores the test.

    And the tests are passed by immigrants of all colors, mostly Asian at the moment, who probably never are exposed to “American” culture at home.

    It’s not the test, it’s the prep. And prep starts from being in the right kindergarten-4th grade school that helps a child be all they can be. If the school is bad, then the parents have to make sure afterschool and Saturdays prepare the children with what they’re missing inside the school.

    Don’t blame the test. How long have the numbers been low? Ten or more years? Who was in charge of the DOE curriculum for the last 10 years, which is not preparing the children equally?

  • nancy c

    Your point is understood, but please visit the rest of the State/Country.Plenty of white folk left.You cannot possibly be a teacher.If you are,we are all in trouble.And you seem extremely angry . And when exactly did Asians take over California? Perhaps this country is not well suited for you.This country has been an ever changing playing field in terms of ethnicity since its inception. And seriously?All Chinese succeed without little help? And referring to Black and Latino students as”them” ? And , quite frankly,the Europeans (the almost extinct white people ,LOL)who came here earlier on had no ELL to help them. It was learn English,no choice,no special classes,nothing.

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