A Tale of Two Schools
Two top public schools differ in their attempts to diversify, and one is falling behind.
by Isabel Mehta
There is academic prestige, and then there is diversity. Rarely are schools able to uphold socioeconomic and racial diversity when class is a large factor in educational access and resources.
Stuyvesant High School, the top public high school in New York, has recently been in the news for the glaring lack of diversity within its student body. The Julia R. Masterman School, the top public high school in Pennsylvania, seems to be proof that academic merit and diversity can be reconciled.
Stuyvesant is one of eight of the specialized high schools run by the NYC Department of Education serving the academically gifted students of New York. The only requirement to earn a spot in any of these schools is achieving certain point score on the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). You take the test and are offered admission accordingly. But here’s the catch: last year at Stuyvesant, out of 895 spots, only eight black students and 33 Hispanic students were offered a spot. 587 seats were offered to Asian-Americans.
Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a bill to eliminate the test, and instead admit the top-performing students from every middle school in New York. With this reform, half of the deserving and qualified Asian-American students would be denied the education they earned. For many Asian students, the SHSAT is a ticket out of poverty, and this solution is discrimination.
There seems to be a notion that by diversifying a school, its academic prestige is compromised. The Julia R. Masterman School, located in Philadelphia, disproves this theory. Masterman is the top public high school in Pennsylvania, ranked #22 in the nation, according to US News. Stuyvesant is #26. The high school upholds a student population that is 37 percent Asian, 17 percent Black, and five percent Hispanic, also from US News. While still not ideal, compared to Stuyvesant, which only represents 1/7 of the Black students in public schools in New York, Masterman more accurately reflects its cities’ students. And Masterman doesn’t just consider test scores. While the applicant must score an 88 percentile or higher on the state-wide standardized tests, grades are taken into account, as well as the applicant as a human being.
“Unique qualifications of a candidate may be considered to ensure a community whose members have diverse backgrounds and life experiences that enhance equity and school diversity,” states the Masterman admissions website.
However, extending to more qualitative evaluations is where implicit bias can have the reverse effect, and close the door to marginalized communities.
“Adding criteria like attendance, letters of recommendation, and interviews only make the schools more white and wealthy,” comments filmmaker Curtis Chin, creator of the documentary “Tested,” which follows the stories of eight middle-schoolers trying to gain admission to one of NYC’s specialized schools. “Race and class are already impacting those numbers.”
Masterman’s admissions criteria are just enough to objectively evaluate the candidate for who they are in the context of their situations, without just relying on a single test or resorting to biased approaches.
The consequence of the NYC specialized schools using one test to determine admission is that inevitably, the students with more resources often perform better, disproving the notion that the SHSAT is an educational equalizer. Factors such as test preparation access undoubtedly affect performance on the SHSAT. A survey of 638 of 849 students at Stuyvesant found that those who received the highest SHSAT scores were more likely to have attended private programs that focus on test strategies, rather than free public programs that taught the test content, according to a study conducted by an NYU economics and education professor.
“The Department of Education should be making sure that every kid knows about these tests, but is also prepared,” says Chin.
In fact, a majority of New York City’s test preparation centers are located in Asian-immigrant heavy enclaves like Flushing, Queens Chinatown and Sunset Park in Brooklyn. GPS Academy, for example, is a thriving educational business that specializes in standardized test prep for the SHSAT, among other tests, and its main site is located in Flushing. One summer session costs $1400, and the majority of its students are from immigrant Chinese families, reports the NY Times. If the test centers are both pricey and already a cultural part of the Chinese immigrant community, it makes sense why Asians perform better on the SHSAT. 55 percent and 60 percent of Black and Hispanic children in New York live in low-income families, respectively, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty. For them, test prep is simply not affordable or accessible.
It is important to acknowledge, though, that no school is perfect. Masterman, while more diverse than Stuyvesant, still struggles to establish an objective outlook on admission.
“Many of the feeder middle schools that send kids to Masterman are located in better neighborhoods throughout Philly,” says Masterman senior Maia McAllister. “Philly is so segregated that it automatically disadvantages any child who lives in a “bad” neighborhood.”
In fact, on Aug. 27, de Blasio’s School Diversity Advisory Group released a proposal in an attempt to mend the diversity crisis. It recommends replacing gifted programs in elementary schools with enrichment programs targeting advanced learners from every background. The proposal also seeks to eliminate the use of admissions screening criteria that puts minorities and students for whom English is a second language at a disadvantage. While the proposal has yet to be put into action, de Blasio is moving in a direction that aims to lift up primarily the Black and Hispanic students who lack the support and resources to gain admission to a specialized school.
But one thing is clear. Considering only one test score for admission, whether it be the SHSAT or any other standardized test, is an outdated approach. Access barriers and income levels vary between every race, so a single test shouldn’t solely determine the future of any 15-year-old, no matter their circumstance. In a perfect world, a quantitative approach is bias-proof. But the reality is, a qualitative process is what we need right now because pre-teens are more than just a test score. Without a change, Black and Hispanic students will continue to face closed doors, and their numbers will drop even lower than they already are.
