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Motivated 6th graders who want to get a head start on prepping for admission to one of the eight exam specialized high schools including Stuyvesant and Bronx Science should find out now from their guidance counselor if they qualify for a free 16-month tutoring program sponsored by the Department of Education. Applications to the Specialized High School Institute (SHSI), which is open to free lunch-eligible 6th graders in the city who meet the academic criteria, are due to schools by May 7.
Current 6th graders in public schools who qualify for the program should have received applications already; more than 6,000 students are eligible for about 2,000 seats spread over multiple locations in the five boroughs. Students apply for the program in the spring of 6th grade, and it runs until the fall of 8th grade, when they take the Specialized High School Admission Test. During that time, they attend two summer academies and participate in school-year activities and tutoring. In 2006, a DOE official told Insideschools that students who successfully complete the SHSI program can be four times more likely to succeed on the specialized high school exam than other students.
The SHSI has existed since 1995, when it was created to give low-income students from underrepresented minority groups a boost in the specialized high school admissions process. This year, for the first time, the program is being administered centrally by the DOE and not by individual districts or, in recent years, regions.
Also for the first time this year, free-lunch eligibility, used nationally as a guideline for identifying low-income children, is the sole non-academic qualifier for admission. In the past race was also a criterion. In addition, students must have scores of 3 (signifying they are at grade level) or higher on 5th grade state test scores and an attendance rate of 90 percent or higher.
Department officials say the change was prompted by last year's two Supreme Court rulings against the use of race in school admissions decisions. "In light of the recent Supreme Court decision concerning race and public school admissions, admission to the program this year will be race neutral," wrote DOE spokesman Andy Jacob in an email.
A lawsuit over access to the SHSI is also pending in federal court. Stanley Ng, a District 20 parent, filed the lawsuit in November after spending close to $4,000 over two years to help his daughter, now in 8th grade, prepare for the specialized high school test; she'll attend Brooklyn Tech in the fall. About the citywide shift in eligibility criteria, he said, "It's a start."
Students not enrolled in a public school now may still apply for the program; they can get an application from a Borough Enrollment Center and return it by May 12. According to the DOE, admitted students will receive a letter in early June with a program site; there will be multiple sites citywide but not one in each borough. All students who are accepted will receive MetroCards to cover their transportation to and from their program site.
--Philissa Cramer and Vanessa Witenko, April 29, 2008
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