A faulty entrance exam may have excluded thousands of brainy teens from coveted seats at the city’s nine specialized high schools, a study claims.
Many students who weren’t accepted at the high-performing schools in 2005 and 2006 – including Stuyvesant HS, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech – earned scores equivalent to those of kids who were accepted, the Education Public Interest Center study says.
The report also says that four versions of the test vary in difficulty – hurting those who take the hardest exam.
Also, students who are brilliant in either math or reading are often given preference over students who are solid – but not exceptional – at both.
“All told, on a different day, many students might have flipped to the other side of the admission/rejection line by pure chance,” the study said.
The city’s Department of Education insisted the test was “scientifically designed” to pick out students with the highest abilities.