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.