$10M Elite High School Test Prep Program Posed By Bayside Senator

BAYSDIDE, QUEENS -- New York City's elite high schools may have a diversity problem, but scrapping their required admissions test won't solve it, according to some Bayside leaders and parents.

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) believes the answer lies, instead, with putting more money into a tutoring program that helps underrepresented students prepare for the Specialized High School Admissions Test.

Avella on Thursday called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to set aside $10 million in next year's state budget for the NYC Department of Education's DREAM Program, which offers test prep courses course to students based on academic and family income requirements.

The Senator was backed by a crowd of parents who rallied outside Bayside's Marie Curie Middle School - some with children in tow - to save the elite high school admissions test.

Parents could be seen waving homemade posters that read, "Students Need To Dream Big" and "Keep SHSAT," while their children held up "Protect Our Future" signs.

“The end goal in including funding for the DREAM Program is to both save the test and increase diversity from lower-performing school districts,” Avella said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has been pushing state Legislature to abolish the controversial Specialized High School Admissions Tests as part of an effort to diversify NYC's top-notch but notoriously segregated schools. Despite representing roughly two-thirds of the city's high school population, Black and Latino students will make up just 10 percent of the incoming class at the nine elite schools.

The push gained traction in June when the state Assembly's Education Committee narrowly approved a bill to replace the admissions test with a system that would admit students to the schools based on their overall academic performance.

But Avella argued that instead of abolishing a test, the state should be focused on better educating underrepresented students to prepare for it, and thus, the academic challenges of attending an elite school.

“By allocating funds to test preparation, students will be better prepared for their future, because they will have received the proper educational support earlier in their life," he said.

The DREAM Program - short for Determination, Resiliency, Enthusiasm, Ambition, Motivation - currently runs two initiatives: A Specialized High School Institute, and a Summer/Fall Intensive.

To be eligible for SHSI, which runs from grade 6-8, students must meet income requirements based on Federal guidelines and have scored a 3.0 or higher on their fifth gradeState English language arts and math exams, according to the DOE website.

Once admitted, students must commit to the program, which spans three school years and two summers.

The Summer/Fall intensive recruits students from lower-performing school districts and spans the months leading up to the eighth grade test. Students still must score a 3.0 or higher on their grade five exams to qualify.

"Senator Avella believes by funding the DREAM Program, it would increase diversity from districts where students would otherwise not receive test prep," Avella's spokesperson said in a statement.

Lead photo courtesy of the Office of Senator Tony Avella