#1
Activist sneak attack could kill admissions test for NYC’s elite high schools
By Yiatin Chu and Lisa Marks, op-ed for The NY Post, 12/4/2024
From Issue #123: Anti-merit activists have singled out the eight high schools that use the SHSAT as the sole criteria for admissions (and that have produced 14 Nobel Prize winners) as primary targets
Public school families are once again feeling a sense of dread — fearing the city won’t OK a contract for the Specialized High Schools Admission Test, which would leave their kids in a lurch about getting into those schools…Proclaiming “merit” a dirty word, radical politicians and a small group of activists (many of whom have or have had children attend a specialized high school) have already changed education in the city for the worse.
By Julian Shen-Berro Chin for Chalkbeat, 10/17/2024
From Issue #121: A New York City education panel is expected to vote on a roughly $17 million multi-year contract that would transition the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test to a computer-based model.
This year’s eighth graders could be the last class that takes the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test with paper and pencil. A New York City education panel is slated to vote on a roughly $17 million contract later this month that would transition the test to a computer-based model.
#3
NY high school students in top 10% of class to be automatically accepted to SUNY Gothamist
By Jessica Gould for Gothamist, 10/24/2024
From Issue #121: New York students with grades and scores in the top 10% of their class will be automatically accepted to one of nine SUNY campuses, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Thursday.
The direct admissions program, which will begin with students from New York City public schools and dozens of other districts, will eventually be expanded statewide.
“Access to higher education has the potential to transform New Yorkers’ lives and change the trajectory of a student’s life,” Hochul said.
#4
Kathy Hochul’s SUNY/CUNY admission scheme is simply more unfair racial discrimination
By Wai Wah Chin, op-ed for the NY Post, 2/6/2024
From Issue #116: Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that all New York high school students that graduate in the top 10% of their classes will automatically be admitted into SUNY and CUNY schools.
New York state Sen. John Liu was fortunate to graduate from the State University of New York at Binghamton, earning a degree in mathematical physics. Starting next year, someone like him may not even get into SUNY Binghamton.
#5
NYC students’ futures could be derailed over delayed vote on specialized HS exam
By Deirdre Bardolf for the NY Post, 11/16/2024
From Issue #122: A vote on a contract regarding the SHSAT has been delayed, likely reigniting debate over how students are accepted into the elite high schools.
The Panel for Educational Policy, the city Department of Education’s advisory board, was set to vote Wednesday on a new contract with NCS Pearson after an initial decision was postponed in October.
But it’s now been pushed back until at least December, when a town hall on the matter can be held, Chalkbeat reported.
#6
New York is redefining graduation requirements. Here’s what educators want to know.
By Julian Shen-Barro, 10/31/2024
From Issue #121: New York education officials are expected to unveil new details about the state’s efforts to reimagine high school graduation requirements at a Board of Regents meeting next week.
New York City educators are eagerly awaiting new details on the state’s efforts to reimagine high school graduation requirements, which officials are expected to unveil on Monday.
Many have praised the proposed removal of Regents exams from diploma requirements, but questions remain over what a new system will look like in practice, sparking some fears over potential inequities across the state’s schools and uneven academic standards.
By Aneeta Bhole for the NY Post, 5/29/2024
From Issue #117: As many as 500 schools could choose to repurpose gyms and faculty lounges as classrooms as the city scrambles to meet the state’s class size mandates amid soaring enrollment.
The option is one of 12 suggestions for schools that are listed in a draft plan released by city Department of Education officials Tuesday.
“Principals could closely review the space available in their school, including spaces currently not used for instruction but capable of supporting classes, and identify new space available to create new sections to reduce class sizes,” the plan said..
#8
The Misguided War on the SAT
By David Leonhardt for the NY Times, 1/7/2024
From Issue #115: Colleges have fled standardized tests, on the theory that they hurt diversity. That’s not what the research shows.
After the Covid pandemic made it difficult for high school students to take the SAT and ACT, dozens of selective colleges dropped their requirement that applicants do so. Colleges described the move as temporary, but nearly all have since stuck to a test-optional policy…Now, though, a growing number of experts and university administrators wonder whether the switch has been a mistake. Research has increasingly shown that standardized test scores contain real information, helping to predict college grades, chances of graduation and post-college success. Test scores are more reliable than high school grades, partly because of grade inflation in recent years.
#9
How a new law requiring smaller class sizes could impact Townsend Harris
By Carina Fucich and Sadeea Morshed for THHS The Classic, 6/11/2024
From Issue #118: In 2022, governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill mandating that students from grades K-3 have fewer than 20 students per class, students from grades 4-8 have 23 or fewer students per class, and high school students have 25 or fewer students.
The law gives NYC schools time to phase in the new requirements, but with deadlines inching closer, school leaders are beginning to consider how the mandate will work in their specific buildings. In an interview with The Classic, Principal Brian Condon said that he anticipates that the transition from classes with a maximum of 34 students to classes with a maximum of 25 students will be difficult to accomplish without drastic changes to other aspects of student life. He said that these changes could include cutting electives and Advanced Placement classes or establishing a split schedule, unless more space could be found and faculty members hired to expand the amount of classes currently offered.
By Susan Edelman for the NY Post, 8/17/2024
From Issue #119: Queens South HS superintendent Josephine Van Ess, above, reported a steep drop in scores on the Algebra 1 Regents exam after schools piloted the Illustrative Math curriculum.
Scores on Algebra 1 Regents exam plummeted by 14 percentage points at south Queens schools that used a controversial new curriculum teachers have blasted as “a complete disaster,” a superintendent revealed this week
Josephine Van Ess, superintendent of Queens South High Schools, told parent leaders Wednesday that the 29 high schools under her watch, all but one of which used the Illustrative Mathematics curriculum, saw their average pass rate plunge from 59% to 45%.
And the Top 3 Runner Ups…
Runner Up #1
Permits filed for a 630-seat annex for Kew Gardens Hills school
By Ethan Marshall for QNS, 3/21/2024
From Issue #117: Permits have been filed for the construction of a mixed-use building at 146-50 Reeves Ave. in Kew Gardens Hills.
A 630-seat school building is slated to go up at 146-50 Reeves Ave., according to the New York City School Construction Authority.
Runner Up #2
More Elite Prep Schools Are Offering a Free Ride for the Middle Class
By Sara Randazzo for the Wall Street Journal, 9/12/2024
From Issue #120: Boarding school Deerfield Academy joins a growing number of prestigious private schools in setting up a new free-tuition program.
Elite private schools want to appeal to more students, so some are making school free for families whose incomes reach into the low six figures.
Runner Up #3
Schools Will Have to Start Closing Again
By Michael J. Petrilli for the Wall Street Journal, 6/23/2024
From Issue #118: For good this time, thanks to declining enrollment. Unlike during the pandemic, now the left is desperate to keep them open.
Closing schools during the Covid pandemic was an enormous and tragic mistake. Some red-state governors, including Ron DeSantis of Florida, Brian Kemp of Georgia and Greg Abbott of Texas, deserve credit for taking the political risk to reopen schools quickly, over the objections of officials in Democratic cities.
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