Call NY State Senate Rules Committee Now to Stop NY Version of SCA5( Bill S7788)

Dean G. Skelos, (rule committee chair)
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
Phone: (516) 766-8383
Phone: (518) 455-3171
skelos@nysenate.go

Tom Libous (Vice Chair)
Phone: (518) 455-2677
Binghamton, NY 13901
Phone: (877) 854-2687
Senator@senatorlibous.com

Check all members of the rules committee

http://www.nysenate.gov/committee/rules.   Teachers, lawmakers propose changes to NYC high school admissions

Published: June 9, 2014 6:26 PM

BRONX - (AP) - Teachers and some state lawmakers on Monday proposed to change how students compete for admission to New York City's most selective public high schools, saying the current one-test system is unfair and excludes talented minorities.

"The nation's elite colleges - from Harvard and Princeton to Columbia and New York University - use multiple measures to evaluate student applicants as part of their admission process," said United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew. "But New York City continues to rely on a single, outmoded multiple-choice test for admission to its top academic high schools."

Mulgrew said many minority students now excluded from Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School and five other specialized high schools deserve to be there. Only about two dozen African-Americans and Latinos were among the more than 3,000 students admitted to Stuyvesant this year, while they represent about 70 percent of the city's 1.1 million public school students.

State Sen. Simcha Felder is the prime sponsor of proposed bipartisan legislation to change the admission process beyond the single, determining test by considering other factors including grades, extracurricular activities, attendance and state exam scores.

The legislation also calls for expanding the number of applicants and reviving a summer program that offers help to students who fall just short of admission. And the teachers' union suggests that free test preparation materials be offered online to help level the playing field for students who cannot afford private courses some students take before the test.     http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S7788-2013