Among low-income high-school seniors in 2008 who cracked the top 4percentt of students nationwide, based on grades and scores, only one of out every three attended a selective colleges, one large study found.
The admissions process is rigorous: A pool of 1,500 is whittled to 1,200 based on grades and recommendations.
But for the first time in years, sixth graders will not be separated into different classes for English, science and social studies based on grades and test scores.
Under the current assignment system, half of the students at those schools are chosen by the school administrators, supposedly based on grades and test scores.
At Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts, which admits students based on grades and auditions or portfolios of artwork, 73 percent of the students are girls.
But in the first few years at Brooklyn Latin, founded in 2006, it had a broader admission policy based on grades and exams.
Elementary schools are segregated largely because of housing segregation, but middle and high schools are segregated in part because many schools screen students based on grades and test scores.
"Course rigor is also extremely important". This assumption underlies a current lawsuit against Harvard, which argues that the proportion of Asian Americans in the student body would double if admissions were based on grades and test scores alone.
Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a promising plan last year that would scrap the test and instead admit the top 7percentt of students at each middle school based on grades and scores on state exams given to seventh graders to measure achievement in math and English.
Eligibility for CTY Online Programs courses is based on grade and scores earned on a designated test.
