Education Week - May 20, 2015 - 17

Selective Public Schools Struggle to Diversify Enrollments
Test-based admissions policies
keep low-income numbers low
By Caralee J. Adams
To make the competitive Pre-Collegiate stem Academy
at Middleton High School reflect the economic and racial
diversity of her urban district in Tampa, Fla., Principal
Kim D. Moore says it takes a concerted effort.
That means going to elementary schools with robotics
clubs and inviting middle school students in to practice
with the high school mathematics team. By exposing children
to extra activities they could not otherwise afford,
Ms. Moore hopes they will develop a love of math and science
and picture themselves in her academy.
"When a student applies at the 9th grade level, that's too
late," said Ms. Moore, who is trying to get more students
from low-income families and underrepresented minority
groups into the science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics program from the regular school that shares
space in the same building. "We really need to identify
students in elementary and encourage them and nurture
them so when they get to the high school level, they are
prepared and can be successful."
Achieving racial and economic diversity has long been a
challenge for selective high schools. While the percentage
of white and high-income students scoring at the highest
levels on the National Assessment of Educational Progress
is increasing, underrepresented minorities and lowincome
students have not made the same gains.
The so-called "excellence gap" has gotten renewed attention
because of new research, including studies by the
Education Trust, an advocacy think tank in Washington,
showing that students of color and low-income students
who are academically talented often lose ground as they
progress through school without adequate support.
Strategies for Diversity
With the push to get more disadvantaged students into
college and a newer focus on the problem of "undermatching"
(when qualified underrepresented students do not
choose the most selective colleges available to them), new
efforts are emerging to help all students reach their potential.
For instance, a $100 million initiative spearheaded
by the Seattle-based Equal Opportunity Schools was announced
in late April to encourage underrepresented students
to enroll in Advanced Placement and International
Baccalaureate courses. The project will use grades and
surveys to identify students with the ability to excel in
advanced courses and offer encouragement to enroll.
Another strategy is to ramp up outreach and change
policies to get more low-income, high-achieving students
into academically competitive high schools. In February,
the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation brought together about
100 principals from selective, specialized high schools for
a meeting to discuss how to raise awareness and improve
the pipeline of students for competitive schools. (The Jack
Kent Cooke Foundation also supports coverage of low-income,
high-achieving students in Education Week.)
At the gathering, the Lansdowne, Va.-based scholarship
organization launched the new Coalition of Leaders for
Advanced Student Success-or class-to advocate for lowincome,
high-performing students.
"As a coalition, when you bring that many schools together,
there is power in our voices as a collective," said
Ms. Moore, who is a member of the class steering committee.
"Now, we can have a national platform."
As new education policy is being drafted, the needs of
disadvantaged children with high potential should be
brought to the attention of lawmakers, said Harold O.
Levy, the executive vice president of the foundation."It's
our job to get the message out," he told participants at the
meeting. "Compared to rich kids in the top quartile, poor
kids miss out at every level in every way."
Ben Mackey , the principal of the School for the Talented
and Gifted in Dallas, said having a more diverse student
population enriches all students.
"We need to develop youth who seek out opinions with
those who don't share their same backgrounds," he said.
Although his school cannot explicitly recruit based on
race or income, Mr. Mackey has gone into area middle
Jeremy Butler (seated), a senior at the Pre-Collegiate
STEM Academy at Middleton High School in Tampa, Fla.,
works on a coding project with teacher Floyd Roberts.
schools to talk up the magnet school, and two years ago,
the application process was revised to attract a wider
array of students. Rather than requiring students to submit
a resume, the school held in-person interviews to draw
out students' passion and excitement, said Mr. Mackey.
The recruiting and admissions changes led applications
to shoot up 100 percent in two years-most were from lowincome
schools. All students in the freshman and sophomore
classes are from the city of Dallas this school year,
compared with 30 percent two years ago, when students
were brought in from the suburbs and out of state to fill
open slots.
In New York City, students are chosen for specialized
public high schools based solely on an admissions test.
While defenders say it is an objective, straightforward
system, girls, Latinos, and black students are underrepresented
in the school system's elite academies.
For example, in 2013, at the three largest specialized
high schools, 64 percent of incoming 9th graders were
Asian, and 22 percent were white, while just 4 percent
were black and 5 percent were Latino. Citywide that same
year, in comparison, 17 percent of incoming 9th graders
were Asian, 13 percent were white, 28 percent were black,
and 40 percent were Latino.
Beyond Testing
Research by Sean Patrick Corcoran, an associate professor
of education economics at New York University,
suggests that if the criterion was not only test scores but
also grades and attendance, the demographic mix of the
schools would be more diverse without significantly lowering
the academic levels of incoming students.
"The [admissions] exam is only one dimension of
achievement ... one test, taken on one weekend day in
October, that can be heavily influenced by test prep that
only some students can afford," said Mr. Corcoran. "As a
result, while highly talented, the incoming class consists
mainly of students who have shown they can master this
one test."
The admission testing requirement is spelled out in
state law dating back to 1971, and attempts to broaden
the selection criteria have failed in the legislature. Opponents
to the changes, including many alumni, argue that
widening the selection criteria could effectively lower the
admissions standards.
To diversify in other ways, Mr. Corcoran said some
schools, like Ms. Moore's stem Academy, are trying to
identify high-achieving students early so the students are
aware of the opportunities at the elite schools and can prepare
for the admissions test.
Bard High School Early College, a public school in the
New York borough of Queens, receives about 3,000 applications
each year for 150 spots in the freshman class. The
selection committee reviews students' grades, attendance
records, math and writing assessments, and motivation in
an interview. What the school does not have access to in its
decision: income status.
Valeri Thomson, the principal of Bard, would like to see
that policy changed so the school could give additional consideration
to low-income students and provide support as
needed. Now, about half the students in her school qualify
for free or reduced-price lunch and will be the first in their
families to go to college.
Spreading the Word
Selective schools are not always on the radar of students
from disadvantaged backgrounds, so Bard sends representatives
into low-income neighborhoods in the Bronx borough
of the city and elsewhere to explain the advantages
of attending the school.
"It takes some convincing," said Olga Carmona, the director
of admissions at Bard. Families often have no idea
about the cost of college and need information to explain
the benefit of a school, such as Bard, where students finish
with an associate degree and graduate from college
at higher rates than their peers from traditional high
schools, she said.
"We have a plethora of undiscovered youth in underserved
neighborhoods that we want to support," said Crystal
Bonds, a co-chairwoman of class, the president of the
National Consortium of Secondary stem Schools, and the
principal of the High School for Math, Science & Engineering
at City College in New York.
Ms. Bonds said her school recognizes the value of
building the pipeline and reaching back into middle
school to get students ready for the rigor of her high
school. One Saturday program provides 6th graders with
subway fare to come to the school, get homework help,
meet mentors, and take special outings to museums and
college campuses.
Having leaders of selective high schools coalesce to advocate
for underrepresented students is welcome, said Christina
L. Theokas, the research director at the Education
Trust. "But it's not enough to solve the problem," she said.
Traditional public high schools should also open up opportunities
for these students, she said, and districts must
provide rigor in middle school to improve the pipeline.
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EDUCATION WEEK | May 20, 2015 | www.edweek.org | 17
Melissa Lyttle for Education Week
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Education Week - May 20, 2015

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