For many New York City parents, finding the right high school for your child to attend can be a daunting and exhausting process. There are several specialized high schools in New York City — Stuyvesant, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical School, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, Brooklyn Latin School, LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, Baccalaureate School for Global Education, and High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College — whose success can be measured by where its students go to college: Yale, Columbia, Brown, Michigan, Barnard, and Sarah Lawrence, to name just a few.
Not surprisingly, gaining admission to Baccalaureate School for Global Education and several other specialized high schools is serious competition. For Baccalaureate, for example, prospective students must pass a multiple choice, tightly timed, advanced math and English-based entrance exam as step one of the admissions process, which is held in January of sixth grade. Students must also present the school with their current teacher’s letter of recommendation, and provide both their entire fifth grade report card and first quarter of sixth grade report card, including state test scores. The top percent of students are then selected for a group interview, generally held in March of that year, hosted by current Baccalaureate admissions officers, teachers and students.
In 2014, although more than 1,000 students applied for admission, and not even 100 were selected. Parents need to pay particular attention to when exactly their children can apply to this school — and carefully watch for deadlines. The percentage of students selected might be smaller if more parents were aware of the admissions process. This year, Baccalaureate scheduled its entrance exam for Jan. 27. On Jan. 2 — less than four weeks earlier — the school posted the time and location of the exam on its website (surprise!). Sticking fliers on the windows of parked cars would have been more effective in spreading the word.
All of the specialized high schools are free, all are excellent, but even parents of current and former students say that gaining admission is like joining a secret society. Unfortunately, several of these elite schools do a poor job advertising to their target clientele: families who can’t afford a private education. The younger siblings of current students, or the children of former students, have no trouble getting the date of the next big entrance exam. What few parents know is that the secret society of New York Public Schools opens its doors as early as fifth grade. To remove the secrecy, I compiled a list of the city’s best public schools along with their test dates. Here they are:
Grade 5
(all tests given in the fall)
• The Nest Plus M (Brooklyn)
• Anderson (Manhattan)
• Mark Twain (Brooklyn)
Grade 6
• Hunter College High School (Manhattan). Tests are in January and are invitation-only. You can only register if you score in the 90th percentile on the math and English state exam in the fifth grade. The cost to register is $32.
• Baccalaureate High School (Queens). Tests are in January. Admissions officers look at a student’s grade five and six report cards, state scores, and a letter of recommendation.
• Anderson (Manhattan). This is a new testing opportunity given in the spring. The school sends an e-mail invitation to parents of fifth-grade students who score in the sixth percentile on the English and math exams.
Grade 7
• Independent School Entrance Examination and Scholastic Achievement Test for private schools and scholarships. This test is in December.
Grade 8
• Specialized High School Admission Test. Test is in late October for all seven city specialized math and science high schools.
• Test for Admission into Catholic High Schools exam. Test is in November. Free tuition is available if a student scores in the top percentile.
Early awareness is a key component for parents to learn about the admissions process and testing opportunities that are available for the New York City specialized high schools. But success doesn’t just start with awareness, alone. Parents need to be involved in encouraging their children to take on extracurricular activities and expose their children to as many cultural events as possible, all of which helps them to become as well-rounded as possible. This, coupled with a strong educational foundation, can help parents successfully motivate their children to achieving the future of their dreams.
Frances Kweller is not affiliated with any New York City specialized high schools mentioned in this article. She is an education and testing standards expert and CEO and founder of Kweller Prep.
