Rubrics Rubrics detail the academic criteria that selective, screened high schools and high school programs (within high schools) use to evaluate and rank student applicants. Access to rubrics is critical for students and parents to understand how screened programs select applicants and, in turn, how students evaluate their own viability as candidates. The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the closure of New York City public schools in March 2020 and the transition to online instruction, sparking sharp debate over the use of rubrics for screened programs for the admissions process in the 2020-2021 school year and beyond. Calls to desegregate New York City high schools have recommended elimination of screens, which rely on such metrics as grades, state test scores for English and math, attendance, and punctuality. As these metrics are no longer available, the Feerick Center seized the chance to promote adoption of more transparent and equitable admissions standards. Building on our work with community partners to assist eighth-grade students with the byzantine high school application process and our 2019 fact-finding that revealed a dearth of information about rubrics, the Feerick Center convened a Rubrics Subcommittee. The Subcommittee led an effort to formulate short- and long-term policy recommendations to reform admissions processes that were presented to the New York City Department of Education (DOE) and its Office for Student Enrollment (OSE) in the May 12, 2020 report, Public Schools, Public Oversight: Principles and Policy Recommendations During COVID-19 and Beyond . Members of the Subcommitee engaged in public advocacy to advance these recommendations and compel timely action.
HSAAC Subcommittee on Rubrics for Screened Programs Fordham Law School Feerick Center for Social Justice – Convenor Dora Galacatos , Executive Director Karuna Patel , Deputy Director Lauren Kanfer , Associate Director Laura Petty , Amanda Rose Laura Education Fellow Dilon Goncalves , AmeriCorps VISTA Member, LEEAP Ed. Coordinator Maris Moon , AmeriCorps VISTA Leader
IntegrateNYC Zaps (Sarah Zapiler), Executive Director Emma Rehac , Youth Director
Middle School Student Success Center at Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation Caroline Taveras , Director New York Appleseed David Tipson , Executive Director Nyah Berg , Integrated School Projects Director Sean Corcoran , Associate Professor of Public Policy and Education, Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University Michael Kraft , Panel for Educational Policy, Manhattan Borough President Appointee Parastoo Massoumi , Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Education and Founder, Middle School Student Success Center at Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation
We hope the DOE will…use the current crisis as an opportunity to transform high school admissions for the better.… Reforming and eventually eliminating screened school admissions would do more than fix a deeply inequitable process. It would also improve student and school performance.…[R]acially and economically diverse classroom settings benefit all students and reflect our country’s democratic values. Public schools should be a resource for all students. Even and perhaps especially in this crisis, the DOE should move closer to this goal. “Better high-school admissions: Coronavirus gives NYC public schools an opportunity for reinvention” Sean P. Corcoran, Dora Galacatos and Laura Petty, Daily News Op. Ed., May 25, 2020
26 | Feerick Center for Social Justice Biennial Report 2018–2020
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