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A02173 Summary:

BILL NOA02173
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORBarron
 
COSPNSRBlake, Davila, Perry, Simon, Steck, Cook, Pichardo, Taylor, Rivera, Pretlow, De La Rosa, Titus, Dickens, Wright, Vanel, Bichotte, Joyner, Solages, Arroyo, Woerner, Thiele, Fernandez, Mosley, Gottfried, Epstein, Williams, Nolan, Jaffee
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd §2590-h, add §2590-h-1, Ed L
 
Relates to admission to a special high school in the city of New York.
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A02173 Actions:

BILL NOA02173
 
01/22/2019referred to education
06/18/2019reported referred to rules
01/08/2020referred to education
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A02173 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A2173
 
SPONSOR: Barron
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to admission to the specialized high schools in the city of New York   PURPOSE: The purpose of this bill is to allow special high schools in cities with a population of one million or more to establish standards for admission to designated specialized high schools   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: At present, there are nine specialized high schools in New York City, one of which - Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts - focuses on the arts. The other eight schools are The Bronx High School of Science, The Brooklyn Latin School, Brooklyn Tech- nical High School, High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at the City College of New York, High School of American Studies at Lehman College, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, Staten Island Technical High School, and Stuyvesant High School. Section 2590-h of the Education Law requires that admission to the specialized high schools, other than LaGuardia High School, be based on, the results of a competitive, objective and scholastic achievement test. This test is known as the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). Section one of this bill would amend section 2590-h of the Education Law to provide that admission to the specialized high schools in New York City be conducted based on a different system, which would be set forth in new section 2590-h-1 of the Education Law. New section 2590-h-1 of the Education Law, as added by section three of this bill, would, over a period of three years, phase out the use of the achievement test and instead offer admission to students attending public middle schools in New York City who rank both in the top of their school's eighth grade and in the top quarter of eighth grade public school students Citywide. For the admission system conducted during the 2018-19 school year, seats would be reserved in the specialized high schools for students in the top three percent of their eighth grade. For the admission system conducted during the 2019-20 school year, seats would be reserved in the specialized high schools for students in the top five percent of their eighth grade. For the admission system conducted during the 2020-21 school year, and subsequent school years, seats would be reserved in the specialized high schools for students in the top five to seven percent of their eighth grade. The remaining seats in the specialized high schools in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years would be filled by students who take the SHSAT and who score at or above the cut-off score for such remaining seats. In the 2020-21 school year, and in subsequent school years, remaining seats in the specialized schools after reserving seats for students in the top five to seven percent of their eighth grade would be filled by a random selection process among eighth grade students from both public and private schools who have a grade point average of at least 3.7. Determination of a public school student's ranking in his or her eighth grade would be made based on a set of criteria determined by the Chan- cellor of the New York City Department of Education. Such criteria would include academic course grades and standardized test scores and could include other measures as well. Students would be assigned a composite score based on such criteria. Based on students' school preferences, students would be arranged in rank order of their composite scores and would be offered admission to the specialized high schools in such order. Section two would make the swine amendment as the amendment made by section one of this bill, as described above. Section two would take effect when section 2590-h of the Education Law, as amended by chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, expires and reverts to section 2590-h of the Education Law, as amended by chapter 720 of the laws of 2006. Section four would provide that this bill takes effect immediately.   JUSTIFICATION: This legislation will create a new admissions system for the City's specialized high schools. This system will offer seats in the special- ized high schools to public school students who are at the top of their school's eighth grade and who also rank within the top quarter of eighth-grade public school students Citywide, based upon multiple meas- ures of student achievement, including grades in core academic courses and standardized test scores during seventh grade. This new admissions system will be phased in over three years: offers during the first year will be made to students who are in the top three percent of their school's eighth grade, during the second year, to students who are in the top five percent, and during the third year and subsequent years, to students who are in the top five to seven percent, the specific percent- age to be selected to allow seats to remain open for admission by random selection, as further described below. It is currently estimated that this admissions system will account for approximately 25-30 percent of the offers to the specialized high schools during the first year, and an increasing percentage of offers thereafter. During the first two years, the remaining seats at each of the specialized high schools will be offered to eighth and ninth grade students who take the SHSAT and score above or at the cut-off score for openings that remain in the school for which they have taken the exam- ination. During the third year and subsequent years, the remaining seats at each of the specialized high schools will be offered based on random selection of students who apply and have a minimum grade point average of 3.7 based on seventh grade performance. This new admissions policy is expected to increase diversity in the eight specialized high schools that are currently required to rely on the SHSAT as the sole criterion for admission. Analysis of data about the demographics of eighth graders in New York City's public schools indicates that use of this new admissions system will result in student bodies at the specialized high schools that more closely resemble the demographics of the City's public school population. Our data analysis suggests that as a result of this new system, the specialized high schools will have: *increased geographic representation of public middle schools across the City because the number of middle schools whose students receive offers to specialized high schools is estimated to increase by over 250 schools; and *greater racial, ethnic and gender diversity because the percentage of offers of admission made to black and Hispanic students is expected to increase from nine percent of total offers to as much as 45 percent of total offers, and the percentage of offers of admission made to female students is also expected to increase. The legislation also permits the Discovery Program to take place during the school year as well as during the summer, to allow more students to be able to participate in such program. The Discovery Program could be utilized for admission to the specialized high schools for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years, the two years in which the SHSAT would contin- ue to be administered. In addition to promoting more diverse student bodies at the specialized high schools, this legislation shifts the emphasis from reliance on one exam to assessing multiple educational indicators of success, such as student work and achievement in core academic subjects. It thereby rewards students for their sustained diligence and multiple academic accomplishments, rather than their performance on a single test.   LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately, provided that the amendments to paragraph (b) of subdivision 1 of section 2590-h of the education law made by section one of this act shall be subject to the expiration and reversion of such section pursuant to subdivision 12 of section 17 of chapter 345 of the laws of 2009, as amended, when upon such date the provisions of section two of this act shall take effect.
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