The Selection Process for Highly Selective High Schools

There are many high schools out there that offer a better education then others, ones that students have to prove themselves  for before they are excepted and are aloud to attend.  However, after reading the article "Charges of Bias in Admission Test Policy at Eight Elite Public High Schools" by Al Baker, many will find that getting into these schools may not be all that fair.  The way some schools do this is by giving anyone trying to get into their school a single test that if the student gets a good grade in "proves" they are worthy of being enrolled at that particular high school.  The argument here is whether or not this is fair to all races because some students families in general are not able to afford tutors to help while others are.  The ones who can afford it tend to be the white families leaving the other ethnicities at a disadvantage.  For this reason, it seems better that a more realistic test that can actually show ones true knowledge is needed.  Hundreds of other selective high schools in the country accept students based on many different factors such as their grades, recommendations from their teachers, essays, and interviews (Baker, 2012).  Sometimes a persons best ability won't show on a test as opposed to the many different "tests" where kids get various chances to show how capable they are to attend that certain school.

Now, having the opportunity of recommendations from teachers, interviews, and allowing the school students are trying to get into to look at your grades will best prove the later high school success of the student.  In the article "The Elite Eight, on the Federal Radar" it talks about how some of these schools are illegally screening out qualified black and Latino middle-school students with this one poorly designed test ("The elite eight,," 2012).  Something like this will not determine how well one will do throughout high school because no matter how hard you study for it, all they will learn is the material needed for this individual test.  Now if the students had very good grades all of middle school, this will show all of the knowledge they have with them in various areas of education as opposed to just one test.  Also, with recommendations from teachers, schools will be able to learn how the particular student is in the classroom.  Lastly, with interviews they can put that students wisdom to the test for real.  

References 

Baker, A. (2012, September 27). Charges of bias in admission test policy at eight elite public high      schools. The new york times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/nyregion/specialized-high-school-admissions-test-is-racially-discriminatory-complaint-says.html

The elite eight, on the federal radar. (2012, November 11).The new york times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/opinion/the-elite-eight-high-schools-on-the-federal-radar.html

Additional Links

Chicago Public Schools: Enrollment Requirements 

Selective Enrollment High Schools