There is not going to be any last-minute modifications to how NY city’s selective excessive colleges admit college students, Chancellor David Banks introduced Wednesday.
Banks had prompt final week that he was contemplating eleventh-hour tweaks in response to an outpouring of guardian complaints.
At challenge: A brand new coverage that may open the doorways of the town’s best excessive colleges to college students with a strong B grade common. The transfer is predicted to extend admissions presents made to Black and Latino college students. These college students are much less prone to meet the admissions standards for metropolis’s selective colleges, together with those that are studying English as a brand new language, have a incapacity, and are available from low-income households.
However the plan rankled the households of kids with prime marks, and drew criticism that Asian college students can be harmed. The outrage prompted Banks to rethink the transfer, regardless of a looming deadline: Purposes are due Friday.
After preserving mother and father on the sides of their seats for many of the week, a call got here late Wednesday afternoon: “The highschool admissions insurance policies will stay the identical for the present admissions cycle. No modifications might be made,” in response to an training division press launch.
Extra reforms could possibly be in retailer down the highway, nevertheless. The chancellor, who took the helm of the nation’s largest college district in January, promised to take a vital take a look at the infamously opaque admissions course of.
“I’ve heard from households throughout the town over the previous two months, and the consensus is obvious: we should reform our enrollment and admissions insurance policies and broaden entry to high quality colleges,” Banks stated in an announcement, promising to work with households on a brand new manner ahead.
All New York Metropolis college students apply to excessive colleges, with 700 applications to select from. College students can apply to as much as a dozen applications.
However colleges may choose college students: A few quarter use tutorial data, or “screens,” to find out who will get in. That may embody essays, interviews, and admissions checks.
New York Metropolis stands out for the breadth of colleges utilizing these aggressive admissions standards, in a course of that many critics say drives the college system’s standing as some of the segregated within the nation. Supporters say it ensures that top-performing college students are challenged, and that in any other case academics may battle to fulfill the wants of various learners.