纽约市府拟取消设立资优班项目华裔家长强烈反对

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8/31/2019

纽约市府拟取消设立资优班项目华裔家长强烈反对

据美国《侨报》报道，纽约市长白思豪成立的“学校多元化顾问小组”，公布的第二份公校多元化改革建议报告中称，市府应取消设立资优班(Gifted and Talented)项目，因为该项目中亚裔和白人学生比重过大，造成族裔隔离的情况。惊闻此举而深感不安的数名华裔家长于27日走访数名皇后区民选官员办公室，据理力争表达反对意见的同时也获得各民选官员的支持。

纽约州参议员及议会高等教育委员会主席史塔文斯基(Stavisky)表示，听闻资优班有被取消的风险的讯息后被吓坏了。资优班只有增强族裔多元化的优势，而没有造成种族隔离的情况。史塔文斯基认为，白思豪使用种种手段一而再再而三地伤害教育系统，伤害亚裔学子，究其原因是他并不理解社区到底需要什么。但史塔文斯基称，白思豪从政以来唯一做过且值得赞扬的事就是，教育局免费全日制学前班(UPK)项目，它降低了学童入学年龄，因为孩子们愿意学习也有能力学习。史塔文斯基认为，纽约市学生的纽约州考试成绩有所提高，也归功于此。

家长代表臧东慧表示，27日走访各皇后区民代办公室的目的有三。其一，反对第28学区被强制多元化。臧东慧说，为增强学区与学校多元化，28学区的数个北部好中学，包括森林小丘(Forest Hill)、雷哥公园(Rego Park)等被要求给来自28南部学区包括成绩较差的学生留位。而北部学区成绩较好的一部分学生，则需要跋涉至南部学区的教学质量较差的学校上学。臧东慧指出，此举对学生和家长都不公平。学生花费大量精力取得好成绩就应该被尊重和认可，而家长也花了大价钱买了学区房，突然被告知有可能无法就近上学很不合理。除此以外，皇后区大部分地区不通地铁，公共交通十分不发达，把学生安排到距离家很远的学校上学，意味着家长要花很多时间接送学生上下学，非常耽误工作。

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臧东慧举例说，纽约市本身是一个非常多元化的城市，但并不代表每个学校都必须代表纽约市的多元化，例如法拉盛本身就亚裔人口众多，那么法拉盛学校亚裔学生众多也就不足为奇，而并不涉及种族隔离问题。

家长代表臧东慧说，专访民代的第二个目的是，让大家知道纽约市从来没有任何一个只让白人和亚裔学生进入的资优班。资优班不仅不会伤害生源的多元性，相反会帮助更多的非裔和西语裔学生受到更良好的教育和更多的竞争机会。取消资优班，也就等于变相地废除SHSAT考试。一年以来，大量家长，包括亚裔家长举行的游行、上访和联署，为SHSAT考试的去留做抗争，但市长非但不认真听取民意，现更一意孤行。

家长代表臧东慧表示，27日除了拜访史塔文斯基以外，也拜访了州众议员何维西(Hevesi)、州参议员阿达波(Addabo)、市议员科斯洛维奇(Koslowitz)。这些民选官员悉数表示支持家长们的立场，将为民发声。

纽约市议员顾雅明闻讯后也表示，坚决反对废除纽约市资优班计划。这些班级是众多纽约学子和家长梦寐以求进入的项目，与其取消它们，更应该扩展该项目。此项提议非但没有为缺乏资源的社区学生增加更多的途径，反而取消所有通向优质教育的机会。增加多元化和扩展通往高等教育的途径，并不意味着把学业上的成功当作替罪羊。顾雅明敦促否定这项提议。

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6/17/2018

关于纽约SHSAT考试，还是大西洋月刊说得靠谱

支持入学考试的最重要依据是:

1. 亚裔在纽约是最贫困族群。

2. 纽约重点高中的学生普遍家境贫困，但毕业生普遍进入中产高中产。完全不同于美国普遍的阶层固化。

3. 纽约重点高中在全美是独有的。严格的录取考试是成功的一部分。更重要的是 peer competition。取消考试降低入学门槛会降低竞争，从而降低毕业生的竞争力。

4. 纽约的教育投入低是导致大多数高中教育水平低下的原因。纽约该做的是增加重点中学的数量，而不是去破坏运转良好的系统。

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/06/new-york-high-schools-stuyvesant-brooklyn-bronx/562772/

Source: http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t/Military/50776487.html

紐約教育改革／廢除SHSAT議案首關通過！白思豪第一步達成

紐約亚裔谴责白思豪的做法是对亚裔学生赶尽杀绝，同时宣布于周日(6/10)于市政厅前举行示威，让市长听到亚裔的强烈反对之声。

紐約市長白思豪(Bill de Blasio)宣布將逐步取消特殊高中入學考試(SHSAT)，計畫三年內逐步廢除SHSAT，遭到華裔社區強烈反對。

6/06/2018

In a Twist, Low Scores Would Earn Admission to Select Schools

In a district where half the students are Hispanic or black, less than a quarter of children enrolled at the selective Booker T. Washington Middle School are from those groups. A new plan aims to change that.CreditJeenah Moon for The New York Times

By Winnie Hu

Students with low test scores are usually shut out of New York City’s best public schools.

But next year, such students could be offered a quarter of the sixth-grade seats at even the most selective middle schools in Manhattan’s District 3 as part of a desegregation plan being debated in the district, which stretches from the Upper West Side to Harlem.

The plan is unusual because it focuses explicitly on low-performing students, and seeks to achieve “academic diversity” across the district’s middle schools. School desegregation efforts around the city have mostly been centered on students who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches, a widely accepted measure of poverty, which has generally been correlated with race in the city. For instance, six of the seven middle schools taking part this year in a diversity initiative by the city Department of Education set aside between 10 percent and 62 percent of their seats for applicants who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches; one of the schools also considers “a diverse range of learners” in the admissions process.

The idea, proponents of the District 3 plan say, is to provide opportunities for more students, including those at the very bottom who are not only poor, but also failing, and may need the most help. And they say that it would prevent the top middle schools from simply siphoning off poor students who earn high test scores and grades, and would instead redistribute both high-performing and low-performing students among more schools.

“Within the system we have, it’s the best way I see to move forward because it can help all of the schools and a wider range of students,” said Kristen Berger, a mother of a fifth-grade student who is the chairwoman of the middle school committee for District 3’s Community Education Council, a parent group that advises on admission policy.

The focus on low test scores runs counter to the city’s high-stakes testing culture, where admission to everything from gifted-and-talented kindergarten classes to the prestigious specialized high schools is gained by top scores. It has drawn criticism from some white and affluent parents — captured in a viral video — who believe that it is unfair when the top middle schools do not have enough seats for all the qualified students as it is, and say that it could water down instruction and lower the quality of education. Other parents see it as a superficial stab at a complicated problem, while still others say that it does not go far enough to help students in struggling schools.

Even parents who support the broader goal of desegregation have raised concerns about placing students who score a 1 or 2 — the bottom half on a scale of 1 to 4 — into rigorous middle schools without adequate preparation and support.

“There is a huge disparity between 1s and 4s,” said Joe Fiordaliso, a consultant with a daughter in seventh grade at West End Secondary School, which would be affected by the plan. “And we need to make sure that those kids are being given all the tools and resources that they need when they get into a school to be properly educated.”

Decades of educational research have shown that mixed-ability classrooms can raise achievement especially for low-performing students, providing the impetus for many schools to move away from tracking, though somestudies have also suggested that it can adversely affect high-achieving students.

Amy Stuart Wells, a professor at Teachers College at Columbia University, said that all students can achieve at a higher level if teachers are well-trained and use an approach targeted to each child’s level of achievement, among other things.

“When schools think of ‘academic diversity’ as an academic reform that includes these components, they will be better preparing all students for a global society,” she said.

Parents in District 3 at a meeting about the desegregation efforts, which have met a mixed reaction.CreditJeenah Moon for The New York Times

At the high-school level, the city has been pushing for greater academic diversity, almost doubling the number of what are known as Educational Option programs, which aim to replicate an academic bell curve, with 16 percent of the offers going to applicants who score the highest on state English tests, 16 percent to those who score the lowest, and the remaining 68 percent to those in between. Next year, of the city’s more than 400 high schools, 264 will use the Educational Option model, up from 142 schools this year. Still, many of these so-called Ed-Opt schools have struggled to attract high-performing students, who often prefer the selective schools, and ended up with mostly lower-performing students.

In District 3, scars remain from a battle over redrawing school zones two years ago to increase diversity and reduce crowding at a group of elementary schools. At the time, district leaders also considered a plan to integrate middle schools by requiring them to give priority to students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches for 30 percent of their sixth-grade seats. The most sought-after middle schools, which have a screening process to admit students, have long been criticized for being mostly white and Asian, and more affluent, than the district as a whole.

But that plan foundered after principals voiced concerns that it would not do anything for low-performing schools, many of which already had far higher percentages of poor students. Many parents also saw it as increasing competition for the remaining seats at the top schools.

This spring, the district tried again with the new plan, which would require every middle school to give priority to students who average a 1 on state tests for 10 percent of their sixth-grade seats, and those who average a 2 for another 15 percent of their seats. “As a district, we value diversity, equity and access for all our students and across all our schools,” said Ilene Altschul, the district superintendent, who proposed the plan, adding that educators and parents “have been working together this school year on changes that can help us support these goals.”

But that plan raised questions about whether it was legal to rely solely on scores on state standardized tests, which many educators and parents say do not accurately reflect students’ abilities. State education law prohibits officials from placing students “based solely or primarily” on their performance on state English and math tests; some city schools can and do use other tests to admit students. State education officials declined to comment on the issue.

So the district has offered alternatives that would still focus on helping low-performing students but also consider other factors. One plan would use low test scores in combination with low grades, while another would use low test scores along with the poverty of the students at their elementary schools. And last month, yet another plan emerged that would first screen students by whether they qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and then give priority to those with low test scores and low grades.

Sharon Parker, an arts educator and parent in the district, said that including poverty and grades along with test scores was a good compromise that would draw students with a broader range of ability levels — and be more palatable to some parents. “If a 1 and 2 kid comes into the school, they’re going to worry, ‘Is this going to bring the school down?’” she said. “It’s hard to get people to be removed from that thinking because everything is about test scores.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio recently unveiled a plan to change the admissions process for the city’s specialized high schools, and the new schools chancellor, Richard A. Carranza, has signaled his support for more desegregation efforts. Ms. Altschul is expected to move ahead with a desegregation plan in the coming weeks.

District leaders have said they would work with schools to ensure they get the support they need under whatever plan is adopted. The plan would apply to admissions offers starting in 2019.

Ms. Berger, of the community education council, said that she hoped the desegregation plan would lead to more middle school choices for all students.

“Eventually, everyone should feel confident in sending their student to any middle school in District 3,” she said.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/nyregion/middle-school-admission-desegregation-nyc.html

6/03/2018

白思豪特殊高中改革：廢除SHSAT考試華人社區強烈反對

(World Journal) 文：記者陳小寧

白思豪(右)正式明言欲廢現行特殊高中錄取制度，力爭讓西語裔和非洲裔學生比率提高到至少45%。左為新任教育總監卡蘭扎。（本報檔案照，記者陳小寧/攝影）

紐約市長白思豪計畫將改變特殊高中錄取，將從明年把20%的席位留給低收入家庭學生。（記者陳小寧／攝影）

對亞裔學生占多數的紐約市特殊高中錄取制度一直有改革之意的市長白思豪(Bill de Blasio)，2日終於使出「撒手鐧」。他在教育新聞網站「Chalkbeat」發表觀點文章，宣布從2019年起，全市八所特殊高中的兩成錄取名額將給予略低分數線但參加「探索」項目(Discovery Program)的低收入家庭學生，並首度明言如今通過單一SHSAT考試的錄取方式必須廢除，將遊說州府以新錄取方式取而代之，讓西語裔和非洲裔學生比率提高到至少45%。

紐約市特殊高中亞裔生錄取率長期遙遙領先。今年八所特殊高中共錄取5000多名新生，亞裔占錄取新生總數的51.7%，西語裔僅有6.3%，非洲裔更只有4.1%。主打「平等」政綱的白思豪從2013年首度競選市長伊始，便頻向特殊高中錄取制度開炮，認為導致錄取率族裔不平衡的單一入學考試制度需要改革。

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四年多任期裡，白思豪對特殊高中錄取改革多是「雷聲大雨點小」。但進入第二任期也不再有連任壓力的白思豪，2日突然在關注紐約市教育的網站「Chalkbeat」發表觀點文章，正式宣布針對特殊高中的改革啟動，明言將設法取消現行SHSAT考試，分階段改革，讓如今在特殊高中學生中僅占個位數比率的西語裔和非洲裔學生，比率飆升到近一半。

白思豪在文章中指出，紐約市作為美國最公平的城市，應該取消特殊高中入學考試并改革現有錄取制度；市府將邁出第一步，從2019年9月起，把特殊高中20%的錄取名額，留給來自低收入家庭，SHSAT成績略低於錄取分數線但參加了「探索」項目(Discovery Program)的學生。白思豪預計，通過這種方式，目前特殊高中非洲裔和西語裔學生比例將翻近一倍。白思豪還指，未來將進一步遊說州參、眾議會修法，將錄取制度改為根據學生在各自初中的排名和州考成績，摒棄入學考試，實現非洲裔和西語裔學生比率提高到至少45%。

前任市教育總監法瑞娜(Carmen Farina)退休去職後，由白思豪親選繼任者卡蘭扎(Richard Carranza)將「校園多元平等性」列為首要目標，上任以來已多次釋放欲改革特殊高中錄取現制度的訊號。而市議會更有議員發表報告，建議將特殊高中錄取名額，只保留一半通過SHSAT考試來錄取；而另外一半名額，則均分給全市所有初中的「優秀學生」(top achievers)。

華裔社區對白思豪的特殊改革企圖進行強烈抨擊，更有諸多民選官員站出反對。反對者認為，其行動將拉低特殊高中整體學生水平，對眾多努力學習的亞裔學生更是不公平，甚至是歧視。

州參議員史塔文斯基(Toby Stavisky)2日便發表聲明，指出實現紐約市學校的多元化雖重要，但白思豪提出的特殊高中錄取改革計畫，不僅無法實現多元化，反而會背道而馳。她指出，白思豪假定低收入家庭的學生無法在特殊高中入學考試中獲得優異成績，但是許多特殊高中的亞裔學生都來自低收入家庭。她指出，市教育局應為學生提供更多途徑準備特殊高中入學考試，而非直接取消考試。

市議員顧雅明也對白思豪改革行動表達反對。他說，紐約市每所初中學生成績相差很大，如果根據學生在校排名和州考成績進行錄取，將有可能會拉低特殊高中的整體學生水平。成績較低的學生進入到特殊高中後，將難以跟上進度；而學習成績優異的學生，因看不到特殊高中的優勢，可能不再選擇入讀，將極大影響紐約市特殊高中整體素質。市議員陳倩雯則指出，在州府做出最終是否取消特殊高中錄取考試之前，為了實現公平，紐約市應做的是為所有學生提供資源準備考試，讓所有學生都有平等機會參加SHSAT考試。

教育聯盟(CoalitionEdu)執行總監李立民指出，目前特殊高中的學生，有六成都來自低收入家庭，多數學生來自移民家庭；這些學生靠自己的努力，在入學考試中取得優異成績，讓自己有機會獲得最好的教育。市長提出的預留席位計畫，是不公平的。曾於1978年入讀布碌崙科技高中的李立民舉例稱，母校成立近100年，前50年大多數是白人學生、之後30年大多數是非洲裔和西語裔學生，直到近10多年才出現亞裔學生占優。他直指，直到亞裔學生占多數的時候開始探討改革，令人認為是對亞裔的歧視。

史岱文森高中前家長會主席陳莉紅也表示，華人家長從小重視孩子的教育，市長試圖改革，對從小努力學習的學生十分不公平，也會拉低學校生源水準。

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Mayor de Blasio Makes Announcement About Education - Apr 25, 2018

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6/03/2018

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Our specialized schools have a diversity problem. Let’s fix it.

BY BILL DE BLASIO

PHOTO: Mayoral Photography Office

Mayor Bill de Blasio hosts a town hall in Brooklyn in October.

I visit schools across this city and it never fails to energize me. The talent out there is outstanding. The students overflow with promise. But many of the smart kids I meet aren’t getting in to our city’s most prestigious high schools. In fact, they’re being locked out.

The problem is clear. Eight of our most renowned high schools – including Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School – rely on a single, high-stakes exam. The Specialized High School Admissions Test isn’t just flawed – it’s a roadblock to justice, progress and academic excellence.

If we want this to be the fairest big city in America, we need to scrap the SHSAT and start over.

Let’s select students for our top public high schools in a manner that best reflects the talent these students have, and the reality of who lives in New York City. Let’s have top-flight public high schools that are fair and represent the highest academic standards.

Right now, we are living with monumental injustice. The prestigious high schools make 5,000 admissions offers to incoming ninth-graders. Yet, this year just 172 black students and 298 Latino students received offers. This happened in a city where two out of every three eighth-graders in our public schools are Latino or black.

There’s also a geographic problem. There are almost 600 middle schools citywide. Yet, half the students admitted to the specialized high schools last year came from just 21 of those schools. For a perfect illustration of disparity: Just 14 percent of students at Bronx Science come from the Bronx.

Can anyone defend this? Can anyone look the parent of a Latino or black child in the eye and tell them their precious daughter or son has an equal chance to get into one of their city’s best high schools? Can anyone say this is the America we signed up for?

Our best colleges don’t select students this way. Our top-level graduate schools don’t. There are important reasons why. Some people are good at taking tests, but earn poor grades. Other people struggle with testing, but achieve top grades. The best educational minds get it. You can’t write a single test that captures the full reality of a person.

A single, high-stakes exam is also unfair to students whose families cannot afford, or may not even know about, the availability of test preparation tutors and courses. Now, I’d like to stop and say, I admire the many families who scrape and save to pay for test prep. They are trying in every way to support their children.

But let’s ask ourselves: Why should families who can ill afford test prep have to spend their money on it? Why should families who can easily afford test prep have an advantage over those that cannot?

My administration has been working to give a wider range of excellent students a fair shot at the specialized high schools. Now we are going to go further. Starting in September 2019, we’ll expand the Discovery Program to offer 20 percent of specialized high school seats to economically disadvantaged students who just missed the test cut-off.

This will immediately bring a wider variety of high-performing students, from a wider number of middle schools, to the specialized high schools. For example, the percentage of black and Latino students receiving offers will almost double, to around 16 percent from around 9 percent. The number of middle schools represented will go from around 310 to around 400.

This will also address a fundamental illogic baked into the high-stakes test. A great score and you might be in, but beware a point too low and you might be out. Now, a disadvantaged student who is just a point or two shy of the cut-off won’t be blocked from a great educational opportunity.

For a deeper solution, we will fight alongside our partners in the Assembly and Senate to replace the SHSAT with a new admissions process, selecting students based on a combination of the student’s rank in their middle school and their results in the statewide tests that all middle school children take.

With these reforms, we expect our premier public high schools to start looking like New York City. Approximately 45 percent of students would be Latino or black. As an example of growing geographical fairness, we will quadruple the number of Bronx students admitted.

I’ve talked a lot about bringing equity and excellence to our schools. This new admissions process will give every student in every middle school a fair shot. That’s equity. The new process will ask students to demonstrate hard work over time, and show brilliance in a variety of subjects. That’s excellence.

Anyone who tells you this is somehow going to lower the standard at these schools is buying into a false and damaging narrative. It’s a narrative that traps students in a grossly unfair environment, asks them to live with the consequences, and actually blames them for it. This perpetuates a dangerous and disgusting myth.

So let me be clear. The new system we’re fighting for will raise the bar at the specialized high schools in every way. The pool of talent is going to expand widely and rapidly. That’s going to up the level of competition. The students who emerge from the new process will make these schools even stronger.

They will also make our society stronger. Our most prestigious public high schools aren’t just routes to opportunity for deserving students and their families. They are incubators for the leaders and innovators of tomorrow. The kind of high schools we have today, will determine the kind of New York City we will have tomorrow.

Bill de Blasio is the mayor of New York City.

Source: https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2018/06/02/mayor-bill-de-blasio-new-york-city-will-push-for-admissions-changes-at-elite-and-segregated-specialized-high-schools/