Filed under: NYC Gifted and Talented Program | Tags: nyc high school admissions
Well, it looks like 45 percent of 8th graders get first choice for high school applications! This is great news if you’re a white or Asian student since only 5% of black students and 7% Hispanic students are going to be admitted to these specialized high schools. These are basically gifted and talented programs for the high school students in New York City. Schools like Stuyvesant and Bronx Science not only rank as 2 of the best high schools in NYC but also are in the top school rankings in the United States. According to the article in NY Daily News 84% of the students got one of their first 5 rankings so it’s great news for those students who now can relax for now until the upcoming New York Common Core testing in a just a few weeks. Although, the impact of this year’s test scores for the 8th graders is limited since they have just received their acceptance letters. Not sure why the DOE doesn’t wait until after the testing this year to send out acceptance letters after the Common Core test results are released later this year but I suppose the timeline doesn’t work well since these students need to plan their next step for their high school experiences.
Well, so long to the ERB test, sort of. There is now no consistency in the admissions process for private schools in New York City when it comes to testing. According to a recent article in WSJ online it seems that it’s up to the school to decide if there will be test at all and in some cases it’s not mandatory. Although, in the most competitive schools it would be strongly encouraged for parents to present some sort of test scores for their darling child in the admissions process for the most competitive private schools in New York City. It seems that each of the private schools are required to come up with their own admissions standards which I suppose sounds good in theory except for those parents applying to 5 to 10 private schools which could become a logistical nightmare in a process that historically has been extremely stressful for parents.
This of course has no impact on the NYC gifted and talented admissions process although parents applying to Kindergarten G&T programs and private schools could possibly encounter an array of testing from the OLSAT, NNAT-2 test, Stanford-Binet, WPPSI-IV (ERB) and any other assessment that comes into play for this new group of 4 years olds vying for a spot in the most competitive school systems in the world.
NYC prepares for the ELA and math test coming up in April. This year they are separating the ELA and the math tests over a several week period. Last school year the tests were given back-to-back over a one week period. At least there’s a little break this year. Sites like Testing Mom have tons of practice materials for the ELA and math test for NYC common core testing this year.
Last year was the first year of the new and much tougher test that only 29% of the students in New York actually passed the exam so that’s left lots of room for improvement for this year’s test. There have been many rumors coming from Albany about the delayed implementation of the common core standards but this isn’t going to stop the NYC dept of ed from administering the ELA and math test this school year. The test results have little to no impact on students outside of New York City but within the city the fourth grade test is used for admissions for the middle school process. If your child doesn’t score at least a 3 or 4 on the fourth grade ELA and math tests then you can forget about getting him or her into one of the top middle school programs in the city. Many parents are now worrying as much about this as they did for the gifted and talented test for getting into kindergarten.
This school year the tests remain pencil to paper although the long-term goal is to eventually have all the testing done on tablets within the school. As with any technology initiative within the public school system (especially New York City) I don’t foresee the implementation of the testing tablets to happen in any time soon.
We’ll see if the students score higher this year than in previous years as parents are stepping up the prep for this test because they know the stakes are high. Getting into one of these top middle schools sets the stage for where the child will end up going to high school. Yep, only in New York City folks!
NYC Gifted and Talented Program and Testing 