Bill de Blasio Unveils Controversial Plans to Reform the SHSAT

In a controversial move rekindling the heated debate over race and the educational system, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Saturday plans to reform the admissions criteria for New York’s specialized high schools, eight highly regarded institutions where students gain entry based on a single test.

According to Mr. de Blasio, the aim of these plans is to tackle the lack of diversity that he claims the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) creates. Though Black and Latino students make up 67 percent of New York’s public school population, they are grossly underrepresented within the specialized high schools. At Stuyvesant, often regarded as the most highly sought after school of the group, only 10 seats were offered to Black students out of 902 total this year.

“The [SHSAT] isn’t just flawed—it’s a roadblock to justice, progress and academic excellence,” Mr. de Blasio wrote in an op-ed piece originally published on Chalkbeat. “Can anyone defend this? Can anyone look the parent of a Latino or black child in the eye and tell them their precious daughter or son has an equal chance to get into one of their city’s best high schools? Can anyone say this is the America we signed up for?”

The plans include the expansion of the Discovery program, to begin in the fall of 2019. As part of this policy, the city will allocate 20 percent of seats in each specialized school to low-income students who score just below the cutoff and attend a summer session. The city has already begun this program, however to a far lesser extent, offering five percent of this years’ seats through this method.

It remains unsure exactly how the Discovery program would tackle the lack of diversity, as a significant portion of the specialized high schools consists of low-income students. However, the city estimates its implementation will increase the percentage of Blacks and Latinos offered seats at specialized high schools from nine percent to 16 percent.

Others are skeptical of whether or not bringing in students who scored below the cutoff would ultimately help them. “These students, who did not meet the entrance criteria to get into Stuyvesant in the first place, will not be prepared to pass the classes at Stuyvesant. Already, I know several students who passed the SHSAT but are still struggling to pass, so how could it be an improvement to bring students who didn't pass the SHSAT?,” Stuyvesant student Benson Goldman said.

Mr. de Blasio disagrees. “Anyone who tells you this is somehow going to lower the standard at these schools is buying into a false and damaging narrative,” he wrote. “It’s a narrative that traps students in a grossly unfair environment, asks them to live with the consequences, and actually blames them for it. This perpetuates a dangerous and disgusting myth.”

The most ambitious plan on Mr. de Blasio’s agenda is to completely abolish the SHSAT, in favor of a selection standard based on middle school class rank and scores on the standardized statewide tests. Doing so would require approval from the state senate, with the vote to take place this Wednesday. Historically, Albany has voted in favor of a single test decider of specialized high school admission.

Alumni of the specialized high schools aren’t too happy with the proposed changes. “We firmly oppose the amended bill that completely eliminates the test and substitutes unnamed subjective criteria,” Larry Cary, president of the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation board, said. Cary also noted that Mr. de Blasio proposed the bill near midnight on Friday before the scheduled Wednesday vote, without a hearing. “That is no way to make policy,” he added.

Additionally, there was no mention of Asian American students—a major demographic of the specialized high schools—by Mr. de Blasio in either his Chalkbeat op-ed piece or his announcement, despite the fact that any change to the SHSAT would inevitably affect their composition.

Kenneth Chiu, president of the New York City Asian-American Democratic Club, expressed the group’s concerns. “[Mr. de Blasio] never had this problem when Stuyvesant [High School] was all white. He never had this problem when Stuyvesant was all Jewish," Chiu told NY1. "All of a sudden, they see one too many Chinese and they say, 'Hey, it isn't right.’”

Various Asian American groups have already gathered at Sunset Park on Monday, accusing Mr. de Blasio of discrimination against them and immigrants, NY1 originally reported. “For new immigrants, the test [is] something that is a leveling factor. It's easy to prepare for, they know about it, they can buy a book or they can buy a course," Stuyvesant alum Chris Kwok said. "So it's a ladder of success for them.”

Others are critical of Bill de Blasio’s plan as it only addresses the symptoms of what they perceive as a larger systemic problem. “Mayor de Blasio is approaching the subject of racial segregation from the wrong perspective,” Goldman said. “Rather than giving all students the tools they need to pass the test by improving the middle schools, rather than addressing that major renovations and infrastructure projects need to happen in neighborhoods such as Crown Heights, Harlem and Williamsbridge, where the majority of the population is black and poor, Mayor de Blasio takes the easier, less expensive, way out.”

The vote will take place at 2 p.m. Stay tuned to The Spectator to hear the result.