Education Week - March 27, 2013 - 22

EDUCATION WEEK

MARCH 27, 2013

www.edweek.org

Divergent Paths Seen in N.Y.C. High School Selections
son, a research associate at the reOf the 575,000 8th graders
search alliance, who spoke about matched in the city from 2005 to
pared the matching experience for the study at the policy conference. 2011, 175,000 sat for the exam and
students who had performed in
applied to at least one of the specialized schools, the researchers found
the bottom 20 percent in math Elite Pathways
and English on state exams in 7th
in one of the studies.
grade with those of their higherRunning parallel to the general
Each year, about 20 percent of the
performing classmates.
high-school-matching process in
Overall, about 53 percent of stu- New York City is a separate admisdents, whether high- or low-per- sions process for nine specialized
forming, got into their first-choice high schools, considered the most
We see it as
schools—but the students differed selective and sought-after in the
1.1 million-student district, includ- a much more
widely in their choices.
Fewer than a third of the low- ing Stuyvesant High School, Bronx
complicated
achieving students ranked aca- High School of Science, and Brookdemically selective schools as lyn Technical High School.
pipeline than
their first choices. In turn, lowerWith the exception of Fiorello H.
just who scored
achieving students were half as LaGuardia High School, known as
likely as other students to get into LaGuardia Arts, which uses an audition process, those schools admit stu- higher on the test
those schools.
Low-achieving students were dents based on their performance on than everybody
less likely to rank as first choice a specialized admission test taken in
a school rated an A or B on New October of a student’s 8th grade year. else.
Last fall, the National Association
York City’s school-quality system, and nearly twice as likely to for the Advancement of Colored SEAN P. CORCORAN,
choose one graded C, D, or F. The People filed a lawsuit charging that Association Professor of Educational
first-choice schools of students in using the test alone for admission Economics,
the bottom 20 percent in math and discriminates against black and New York University
language arts achievement also Hispanic students.
But the New York University rehad 10-percentage-point lower
average graduation rates than search suggests that there may be applicants received an offer from at
the first-choice schools of higher- other factors at play as well.
least one specialized school, though
achieving students, 68 percent ver“So much focus has been on just individual schools had different
sus 78 percent.
the test itself,” said Sean P. Corco- offer rates. Stuyvesant, for example,
“The gaps between everybody’s ran, an associate professor of educa- gave offers to only about 5 percent
first-choice schools and the schools tional economics at nyu, who led the of all students in the citywide pool.
where they are matched are about project. “We see it as a much more
The researchers found major gaps
the same, but the starting points complicated pipeline than just who between different student groups all
for low-achieving students are scored higher on the test than ev- along the admissions pipeline to the
specialized schools, including:
much lower,” said Lori Nathan- erybody else.”
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

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• Students in poverty make up
half the applicants to specialized
schools, but only 35 percent of those
who get an offer.
• Spanish-speaking students
make up 28 percent of the citywide
pool of students, and Chinesespeaking students make up 5 percent; but while Chinese-speaking
students received 28 percent of
admissions offers to specialized
schools, Spanish-speaking students
received 5 percent.
• Though a student’s middle
school is not taken into account in
the admissions process, 15 percent
of New York middle schools accounted for 85 percent of the offers.
Three out of four students who get
an offer to a specialized high school
accept, but even here there are discrepancies, the researchers found.
Girls are less likely than boys to
accept an offer. Black students are
12 percent more likely than white
students to accept a slot—though
white students vastly outnumber
black students in getting offers.

aware of the exam and learn the
subject matter covered early in
middle school, she said.
Christine Baker-Smith, a predoctoral-training fellow at nyu and a
co-author of the study on the specialized high schools, said that all
students given offers to the schools
had language and math scores
above the median in 7th grade, but
that many who applied did not.
“There’s a real divergence here in
pathways,” Ms. Baker-Smith said.
“There’s a good number of students
who apply who are nowhere near
the median score on their English/
language arts scores. There are a
good chunk of students who are applying with absolutely no chance
of getting in. Do they know their
chances?”
Recent research by Harvard University economist Roland G. Fryer
Jr. and others has suggested that
borderline students fare no worse
for not getting accepted to the most
elite high schools, but Ms. Steifel
said admission to a top school can
carry benefits far beyond grades.
“I see on résumés around New
Problems in the Middle?
York that people list these high
The dramatic overrepresenta- schools,” Ms. Stiefel said. “There’s
tion of a handful of middle schools definitely a sense of bragging rights.”
might highlight part of the problem, according to Leanna Stiefel, The study, “High School Choice in New
an nyu economics professor who York City: A Report on the School Choices
was not involved in the studies. and Placements of Academically At-Risk
The specialized admissions test Students,” will be released by the Research
is taken near the beginning of Alliance for New York City Schools in the
8th grade, so students have to be next month.

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GUESTS:
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superintendent, Garrett-Keyser-Butler
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SARAH TRIMBLE-OLIVER,
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Cincinnati Public Schools, Ohio

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MICHELLE R. DAVIS, senior writer,
Education Week Digital Directions

Education Week - March 27, 2013

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