Statement on Superintendent Working Group Recommendation on Exam School Admissions

October 21, 2020

The Boston Coalition for Education Equity strongly supports the Working Group’s recommendation on Exam School admissions.

Black and Brown students have been under-represented and disproportionately disadvantaged by the exam school admissions system for decades. Now their families and neighborhoods are being disproportionately harmed by the pandemic and economic shutdown.

The Working Group’s thoughtful and well researched proposal offers a solution to the challenges presented by the pandemic while also addressing the long-standing inequities of the exam school admissions process.

The plan has two main components. One is not to use an admissions test this year. That’s a simple matter of practicality and safety. The test can’t be given at home, both because the test vendor won’t allow it, and because of test security concerns. Even if space could be designed to appropriately distance the thousands of sixth graders who take the test each year, many parents would be unable or unwilling to send their 11- and 12-year-olds out into a pandemic that today again closed our schools. So, it can’t be fairly offered in-person either.

The other main component of the proposal is to rank students by grades within zip codes. For 20 percent of the seats, students will compete citywide, but for 80 percent, they will compete with other students who live near them.

The plan’s been called “zip code discrimination” by some opponents. We’ve seen signs that said, “I’m smart but I live in the wrong zip code.”

This gets to the heart of the inequity that has dominated exam school admissions.

There are smart children in every zip code and every neighborhood. The children of East Boston and Roxbury are just as smart as the children of West Roxbury and the North End. 

What’s not distributed evenly or fairly is opportunity, including the opportunities that lead to good grades and high test scores. Even among children within the same zip code, there are big differences in opportunity, but the differences among neighborhoods across the city are even bigger. 

The Working Group has put forward a comprehensive and innovative proposal for making the competition more fair. 

We urge the School Committee to vote YES tonight to approve this proposal

Selective High School Admissions Equity Resource Page

What’s going on with BPS’s efforts to replace the ISEE for use in admissions at Boston Latin Academy, Boston Latin School & The O’Bryant? What do we know about the Selective High School admissions process as a driver of inequity? Will simply replacing the test be enough to make the process equitable, or is limiting the admissions formula to 50% test and 50% grades a big part of the problem? What else needs to change to create an equitable process for admissions?

BCEE is collecting source documents, media reports, research & advocacy here, so that you can learn more about how & why Boston’s Selective High School admissions process has continued to produce inequitable results for decades. We hope this information will enable you to make more effective arguments in your own advocacy for a more equitable system & empower you to add your voice to calls for reform. Please bookmark this page for updates.

#SuspendTheTest

2020 RFP Process

Here’s a link to the Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new Exam Schools admission test to be administered in Fall 2020. 2/18/20

Here’s a link to the City Record, with the announcement of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new Exam Schools admission test to be administered in Fall 2020. 2/18/20

Here’s a press release BPS sent about RFP process. 2/18/20

Prior Bid Processes

Here are links to Invitations to Bid for past several Exam School admission test RFP processes:

More Info on Selective High School Admissions

Want more information on the Selective High School Admissions process in Boston? Here are links to media, research & advocacy from our member organizations fighting inequity in the admissions process. Did we miss something? Suggest a link here!

Background documents…

Coordination between Samantha Ormsby (Mayor’s Press Secretary, using her private email), Rasky Partners (Boston Latin School Association’s Crisis Communications & Government Relations Firm), and Board Members of the Boston Latin School Association (a private foundation with an endowment of $60MIL, dedicated to “championing the school through thoughtful advocacy in the best interest of its students, alumni and families.”)

In the media…

February 2020

From our member organizations…

Research…