Schools tests exams

Mayor Bill de Blasio is forging ahead with plans to reform the entrance exam used for admission to the city's elite public high schools, including Staten Island Technical High School, New Dorp. (Staten Island Advance)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The de Blasio administration is moving ahead with its plans to revamp the entrance exam for the city's elite public high schools -- including Staten Island Technical High School, New Dorp -- with the intent of diversifying enrollment.

According to a report in the New York Post, the mayor's intent is to remove the perceived advantage by students who can afford private test prep classes.

Other changes being proposed, according to the Post, would make it easier for immigrants not fluent in English to pass and would add an essay to the exam.

The administration's plan became public Wednesday when it sought bids for a new version of the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), a nationwide test currently used for entry into top-rated high schools across the country, including Staten Island Tech, Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan, and Brooklyn Technical High School -- where the mayor's son, Dante, is a student -- as well as the Bronx High School of Math and Science.

According to the Post report, the new exam is scheduled to be given in fall 2016, and would test students on material related to the state' new Common Core curriculum.

The city also wants to translate the exam into 12 languages and to add an essay, where the grading could be more subjective than in multiple-choice answers.

Department of Education spokeswoman Devora Kaye said the request for a new exam was "standard protocol" since the contract for the previous one was expiring.

Of 27,817 students who took the test last October, 46 percent were black or Hispanic. But only 5 percent of the 5,096 students accepted were black and just 7 percent were Latino.

Staten Island Tech, one of the nation's best schools, become the focus of controversy last year when less than 20 Hispanic students, and no black students made the cutoff for admission.

The lack of diversity at Tech isn't unique.

Seventy percent of the city's public school students are black or Hispanic. But black students obtained only 5 percent of the seats offered for this year at specialized high schools; and Hispanic students obtained just 7 percent.

At Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School, which is also a top goal of Staten Island eighth graders, the new freshman class of 952 students includes only seven blacks.

Mayor de Blasio has been pushing for test reform since the spring.

"I don't believe in a single test determining admissions to a specialized high school," de Blasio said. "The fact is, going forward, we're looking to reform that process -- because the admissions don't represent New York City," the mayor added.

Admission to the city's specialized high schools is governed by a state law that bases admission entirely on how a student scores on the exam. It was unclear whether the state would have to approve the changes to the exam proposed by the de Blasio administration.

The mayor said he and City Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina have been discussing the issue to see what they can do in the city, and that he'd press Albany for changes as well.