A push to digitize the entrance exam to New York City’s specialized high schools is reigniting a long-standing debate over a process that relies on a single test to admit students.
Ahead of the next round of testing, the city has proposed ditching bubble sheets to develop a computer-based version of the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test. But while questions linger about the details, education officials have twice delayed a vote by the Panel for Educational Policy on a multi-year, $17-million contract with testing giant Pearson.
“It is true that the children and students do need to have an exam to take next year, and that is our responsibility,” said Adriana Alicea, who represents Queens parents on the panel. “But it’s also our responsibility to make sure that exam is going to work.”
“This is on the computer — any number of things can go wrong,” she continued. “We have to have options, we have to have fail-safes. When we have asked questions about that for this test, we haven’t gotten answers.”
Under state law, the SHSAT is used to determine admissions at eight specialized high schools citywide, including The Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School and Stuyvesant High School. About 25,700 eighth graders took the SHSAT last year, according to education department data.
Students leave the Bronx High School of Science in this file photo. (Howard Simmons / New York Daily News)
While Black and Hispanic students made up 46% of test-takers, they received just 12% of specialized high school offers — an increase from the year before, but still disproportionately low compared to the broader school system, the data showed. At Stuyvesant, just 10 Black students received offers through the testing process.
If approved, the shift to computer-based testing would align with a broader trend: the SAT, Advanced Placement and New York state tests have all moved online in recent years, or are in the process of doing so.
But some panel members have balked at the price tag for Pearson’s services, which shakes out to about $3.8 million each year, for an already controversial test. The contract covers five test cycles, with the option to add two more years for a total of $23.5 million.
“It seems like there’s a real unwillingness from the DOE to interrogate the value of the SHSAT, and to use their leverage as an agency to push for changes,” said Jessamyn Lee, a panelist who represents Brooklyn parents, who has a child applying to high school this year.
“There’s a certain: ‘Let’s just keep marching forward,’ even though we realize that this test has a segregating effect on our schools,” she added.
Parents, politicians and supporters from nine middle and elementary schools gather outside City Hall for a rally supporting keeping the SHSAT test for admissions to the city’s academic high schools Friday, May 10, 2019 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)
Deborah Alexander, a parent of a freshman and senior at Bronx Science, does not think the test, nor the contract to digitize it, should be controversial. Her son was part of the first cohort to take the computer-based SAT, which she said he completed “without incident.” She did not blame the entrance exam itself for stubborn racial disparities in the schools.
“I am equally as upset about the end result of the SHSAT, regarding demographics, but what I am upset about is not that there exists a test,” she said. “It’s that only certain kids are passing that test.”
Alexander saw the differences in her own two children. Her daughter applied to schools that emphasized essays and other factors in admissions, before landing on Bronx Science, while her son had a different set of strengths.
“He’s a very linear thinker, and a standardized test was perfect for him, and it showed off his talent,” she said. “We can’t have eight out of our 400 high schools that are solely test-based?”
The school system has defended its proposal.
In panel documents, it reported receiving two bids during a request for proposals from Pearson, which has historically provided the exam, or a competitor, Educational Testing Services. After negotiating the contract down with Pearson, education officials said the cost of their product was 19% lower than switching vendors, and urged panel members to vote it through.
“This would be the sole means of providing an exam,” First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg told the panel on Wednesday night at its monthly meeting, the second consecutive forum where the test was included but later removed from the agenda. “So if we don’t have this contract in place, the current contract will expire. There will be no contract of paper and pencil to continue.”
The tests will continue to be administered in school for eighth graders, with weekend testing available for ninth graders and students from private, religious and charter schools at central locations, according to education officials. Paper versions would remain available for students with disabilities who need accommodations. The changes would go into effect next fall.
But while the proposal remains on ice, the delay is sparking fear among families who support the test. About 3,650 families have signed onto an open letter, led by the organization Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum Education, urging the panel to approve the contract. PLACE has accused the movement against the SHSAT of hurting Asian American families, who received more than half of specialized high school offers last year through the test.
Despite the concerns, the SHSAT is unlikely to go anywhere soon.
Panelists in interviews with the Daily News raised the prospect of extending the current contract by a year, though they can only vote on proposals put in front of them by the city and its vendor. In a statement, State Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), the chair of the upper chamber’s committee on New York City education, reiterated state law requires the exam for admission to specialized high schools, with no indication that he would push for changes in Albany.
“While the single test is not perfect, it is still the most objective assessment for admission to these specialized high schools,” Liu told The News.
A Q&A session was scheduled for Dec. 11 at 6:30 PM at the Department of Education headquarters at 52 Chambers St. in Manhattan, the panel announced during the meeting — though it was not immediately clear how many people would be able to attend.
The discussion was scheduled for the same night as the monthly meeting of the Citywide Council on High Schools, which Panel for Educational Policy Chair Gregory Faulkner attributed to scheduling conflicts on other dates. Alexander, who serves as vice-president of the high school board, questioned the decision to hold the forums at the same time geared toward an overlapping group of parents.
The contract is expected to return to the panel at its next monthly meeting after the session.
