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Specialized High Schools Admissions Test

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The Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) is an examination administered to eighth and ninth grade students residing in New York City and used to determine admission to all but one of the city's Specialized High Schools. The test is given on the last weekend in October for eighth graders and the first week in November for ninth graders. During 2008, 5991 students from New York City got accepted, out of 28,000 students, who applied.[citation needed] Students have until the end of February to make their decisions.

Applicability

The SHSAT is used for admission to the following schools:[1]

Admission to the remaining specialized high school, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, is determined by audition rather than by examination.[2]

Testing Locations

The test is given in all 5 bouroughs. Students in Manhattan will take it in Stuyvesant High School. Students in the Bronx will take it in Bronx High School of Science. Students in Brooklyn will either take it in Stuyvesant or Brooklyn Technical High School. Students in Queens will take it in Long Island City High School. Last but not least, students in Staten Island will take it in New Dorp High School. Again, all eigth grade students take it in October, while ninth graders take it in November.

Admission

Students must choose which schools they wish to apply to (up to 8) and indicate them in order of preference on the day of the exam. The test is offered to all eighth and ninth grade students residing within the 5 boroughs of New York City[3], however the majority of the applicants are eighth graders.

The results of the SHSAT are ordered from the highest score to the lowest score. The list is processed in order by score, with each student being placed in their most-preferred school that still has open seats, and continuing until there are no remaining open seats at any school.[4]

The student's absolute score does not matter as long as it is higher than the cutoff score, which is found by the results of all the students who took that score that year. For example, if there are 500 seats available at Stuyvesant the top 500 students who put Stuyvesant as their first choice scores will be admitted. The lowest score admitted is the cut off score.

Examination format

The SHSAT tests for logical thinking and high ability in both English and mathematics. Both sections consist of multiple-choice questions. There is a time limit of 2 hours 30 minutes for both sections, with no break in between. The exam is only offered once a year, and can be taken in both the eighth and ninth grades if the student wishes.

Verbal

45 Multiple Choice Questions

  • 30 Reading Comprehension (5 Reading passages with 6 questions each)
  • 10 Logical Reasoning questions
  • 5 Scrambled Paragraph sets

Mathematics

50 Multiple Choice Questions

  • Various mathematical topics tested
Factoring
Substitution
Trigonometry (9th grade)
Basic
Coordinate Graphing
  • Logic
  • Word Problems (cover all topics)

Grading

There is no penalty for wrong answers or unanswered questions. The total number of correct answers (the raw score) is converted into a scaled score through a formula that the Department of Education does not release, and which varies from year to year. This scaled score, an integer between 200 and 800, is used to determine a student's standing. The scaled score is not proportional to the raw scores.[5]

The cut-off scores for each school vary yearly, determined simply by the number of open places in each school and how the candidates score. Students are notified of their scores in February. For the fall 2006 exam, the lowest cut-off score was 478. The highest cut-off score was 558 for Stuyvesant, historically the most desired of the schools.[6] The second highest cut-off score was 510 for Bronx Science.[citation needed] For the fall 2007 exam, the highest cut-off score was 561 for Stuyvesant. Stuyvesant accepted anyone who scored 561 or higher while Bronx Science had a cut-off score of roughly 510.

Test preparation

There are usually more than 26,000 students[7] competing to get into the specialized high schools each year.[5] Many take test preparation classes in hopes of obtaining a high score. These classes usually involve significant amounts of money and time. Test preparation textbooks are also available.

Department of Education programs

The New York Specialized High School Institute (SHSI) is a free program run by the City of New York for middle school students with high test scores on city-wide tests and high report card grades. The program's original intent was to expand the population of Black and Hispanic students by offering them test-taking tips and extra lessons, however anyone can apply. As of 2006, 3,781 students are enrolled at 17 locations. They spend 16 months, starting in the summer after sixth grade, preparing for the test.[8]

Certain applicants who have scores just below the cut-off score and are recommended by their guidance counselor may qualify for the Summer Discovery Program. Successful completion of this program allows the students to gain admission to a specialized high school. The students must:[9]

1. have scored close to the admission cut-off score on the SHSAT; and
2. be certified as disadvantaged by their middle school according to any one of the following criteria:
a. attend a Title 1 school and be from a family whose total income is documented as meeting federal income eligibility guidelines established for school food services by the NYS Department of Agriculture; or
b. be receiving assistance from the Human Resources Administration; or
c. be a member of a family whose income is documented as being equivalent to or below Department of Social Services standards; or
d. be a foster child or ward of the state; or
e. initially have entered the United States within the last four years and live in a home in which the language customarily spoken is not English; and
3. be recommended by their local school as having high potential for the special high school program.

Fairness

A November 2005 New York Times article found that students scoring in the 90th percentile on both sections would not gain admittance to their first choice schools; meanwhile those scoring in the 99th percentile on one section and the 50th percentile on the other, would.[7] This happens because the final grade and percentile represent the total score and the curve within sections.

Admission is based solely on how the student does on the SHSAT. Debate over the racial composition and a test as the sole factor for admission has continued in New York for decades.[8]

In 1996 community activist group ACORN published two reports, "Secret Apartheid" and "Secret Apartheid II", calling the SHSAT "permanently suspect" and a "product of an institutional racism", and claiming that Black and Hispanic students did not have access to proper test preparation materials. [10] Along with Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew, they began an initiative for more diversity in the city's gifted and specialized schools, in particular demanding that since only a few districts send the majority students to Stuyvesant High School and Bronx High School of Science, that the SHSAT be suspended altogether "until the Board of Education can show that the students of each middle school in the system have had access to curricula and instruction that would prepare them for this test regardless of their color or economic status."[10]

References

  1. ^ "2005-2006 Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT)". NYC Department of Education. 2005–2006. Retrieved 2006-10-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  2. ^ "NYC DoE Specialized High Schools Student Handbook" (PDF). NYC Department of Education. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
  3. ^ Krane, Stephen (2001). New York City Specialized Science High Schools Admission Test. ARCO. p. 5. ISBN 0-7689-0711-X.
  4. ^ "Specialized Admissions Round". NYC Department of Education. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
  5. ^ a b Zummerman, L. (2000). How to Prepare for the New York City SSHSAT. Barron's Educational Series. p. 1. ISBN 0-7641-1282-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Wheaton, Pamela (2007-02-13). "Specialized HS results out; more schools, fewer applicants". Inside Schools. Retrieved 2007-02-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b Herszenhorn, D. M. (2005-11-12). "Admission Test's Scoring Quirk Throws Balance Into Question". New York Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ a b "In Elite N.Y. Schools, a Dip in Blacks and Hispanics". New York Times. 2006-08-18. Retrieved 2006-11-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Specialized Student Handbook". Retrieved 2006-11-09.
  10. ^ a b "Secret Apartheid II". Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. 1996. Retrieved 2007-10-01.


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