The surprises keep coming in fight over exam school admissions

100 percent plan is on the table. Chinatown students — and all Asians — bounce back under either 100 percent or 80/20.

The petition launched by educator Sunny Pai and the Boston Coalition for Education Equity

By Alain Jehlen In yet another surprising reversal in the exam school admissions saga, the Task Force “100 percent” plan that was pushed aside two weeks ago by shadowy political figures now seems to be back in contention for Wednesday’s School Committee vote.

That plan calls for all seats to be divvied up among eight socioeconomic “tiers” in which students will be ranked by a combination of grades and test scores. (More details of the two proposals here.)

Why the “tiers”?

The intent of the eight separate tiers is to have students compete with others of roughly comparable socioeconomic circumstances, so that children living in poverty aren’t up against wealthy children whose families can afford expensive tutoring and other advantages.

The day after the Task Force settled on the eight-tier plan, co-chairs Michael Contompasis and Tanisha Sullivan announced that unnamed political actors had threatened to hurt the Boston Public Schools in some unspecified way unless the Task Force agreed to a proposal setting aside 20 percent of the seats for a citywide ranking.

According to widespread reports, city councilors were threatening to vote down the school budget if the Task Force did not include this 20 percent set-aside.

The Task Force did not take a vote and several members objected strongly, but the Task Force did informally allow the co-chairs to present the 20 percent plan to the School Committee on June 30.

The 100 percent solution revives

The apparently successful blackmail provoked an uproar across the city. At July 7’s School Committee meeting, Chair Jeri Robinson and Superintendent Brenda Cassellius announced that both plans were on the table. They had BPS data chief Monica Hogan present simulations based on both plans.

Cassellius did not say which plan she would recommend.

Chinatown predicted to bounce back

One thing that stands out in Hogan’s charts is the effect on exam school admissions for Chinatown students. These students received many fewer seats in this year’s admissions process than in past years, but Hogan projects that they will probably return to their pre-pandemic rate under either the 100 percent plan or the 80/20 percent plan.

Simulation report shows Chinatown students got 2.3 percent of exam school invitations pre-pandemic, went down to 0.7 percent during the pandemic, and are projected to climb back to 2.3 or 2.2 percent under the new proposals.

Chinatown is one of the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods. Opponents of this year’s zip code-based plan used the sharply smaller number of invitations for Chinatown students to argue that the plan was anti-Asian and focused on race, not income.

But the new eight-fold division of the city puts students in much larger groups than the 31 zip codes. Based on past grades and test scores, Hogan’s projections suggest Chinatown students are likely to do very well next year.

The projections also show Asian students citywide, not just in Chinatown, are likely to regain the percentage of invitations they got under the old system.

The only racial group projected to get fewer invitations under either the 100 percent plan or 80/20 is white students.

Both whites and Asians would continue to have a bigger share of exam school invitations than their percentage in the Boston Public Schools as a whole, but the exam schools would come closer to reflecting the system as a whole.

Source: BPS exam school admissions presentation, July 7

Public comment: strong disagreements, but consensus on one point

During the hours of public comment, most speakers supported the Task Force 100 percent plan, a large number seemed to be arguing for the pre-pandemic admissions system, and only two had kind words for 80/20.

There was near unanimity on one point: BPS must expand quality at all of its schools and for all of its students.

Zena Lum

“Acceptable inequity?”

The only Task Force member to testify was Latin Academy parent Zena Lum, who said the 80/20 plan “was not a recommendation of the Task Force but of those still-unnamed officials who applied pressure offline, in the shadows, ostensibly holding budgets and our students hostage.”

Lum said describing the 80/20 plan as the Task Force recommendation “is akin to certain elected officials calling the January 6 DC insurrection no more harmful than a tourist visit. While what transpired on [June] 29th and 30th wasn’t as blatant or violent, I would posit that what did occur was worse because of its subtlety and its ‘That’s the way it goes’ acceptance, …. allowing the practice of political intimidation, systemic oppression, and protection of privileged power to continue, maintaining what I guess is considered an acceptable level of inequity.”

More highlights from Wednesday public comment

Sunny Pai

Hidden messages overwhelm pep talks

Sunny Pai, longtime Charlestown High School educator: The high school kids I see have deep, deep, deep feelings about whether they’re capable students or not, and we send so many hidden messages to them about what we think of them as a system — implicit messages.

That makes the explicit messages I’m saying — “You can do it! We believe in you! We want you all to go to college!” — feel fake.

Jackie DeLisi

How one girl got into BLA

Jackie DeLisi, BPS parent and education researcher: My daughter at age 11 decided she wanted to go to BLA. She was not a great test taker and when she took the ISEE in the sixth-grade, even though her grades were strong and she’s a hard worker, she did not get in. I found a private tutor who provided weekly targeted test preparation. On her second try [for ninth grade] she got into BLA and now she’s on the honor roll and thriving. But if we looked at her sixth-grade test scores, they would have told us she was not a good fit.

Alicia Wedderburn

Racially, BLS is far behind where it was 30 years ago

Alicia Wedderburn, BPS educator and parent: I went to Boston Latin School during that time when there were the most students of color in Boston Latin School’s history, close to a quarter Black students. My son is currently in Boston Latin School. His class has about seven percent Black students. He’s often in classes where he’s the only Black student. He has a really hard time with that because he doesn’t feel the support. It’s really telling that more than 30 years later, there are so many fewer Black students at Boston Latin School, and there are people who want to keep it that way.

Elena White

Our children are watching

Elena White, parent of two Curley K–8 students: Our children are watching. Is this really the lesson we want to teach our youth — that a public process that centers community voice and data and research, that’s grounded in a sincere effort to make an educational system more equitable, can be upended or blockaded by a few moneyed powerful individuals?

Suleika Soto

No extra seats for the privileged

Suleika Soto, BPS parent: The data were unequivocal that the 20 percent citywide set-aside would give extra seats to the most privileged families, contradicting the Task Force’s charge. This is why they rejected it in the first place. And so should you.

Lisa Green

New students will lead us to the Boston we want to be

Lisa Green, for the Boston Coalition for Education Equity: This is what systemic oppression looks like: powerful public and private forces colluding behind the scenes to override a democratic process in service of their own racial and class privilege. The School Committee has an opportunity to break that cycle by opening the doors at the city’s three academically selective schools to a more diverse group of students who look like the Boston we are now and will lead us to the Boston we want to be.

Sharon Hinton

Just a first step

Sharon Hinton, President of Black Teachers Matter: This step [the 100 percent plan] should only be a temporary solution towards eliminating exam schools. We need to make all schools quality schools instead of pitting parents and neighborhoods against each other.

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More on exam school admissions

*Equity Coalition slides show why the School Committee should pass the original Exam School Task Force admissions plan — no 20% carve-out, July 7*

*A minority report from the Exam School Admissions Task Force, July 1*

*Exam School Admissions: Surprise ending for the Task Force, June 30*

*Exam School Task Force hears what happened to “rigor” when colleges dropped entrance exams, June 28*

*Crunch time for exam school admissions: Task force members seek agreement despite deep splits, June 14*

*What is “rigor”?, June 15*

*Should “exam” schools be just for the “best,” or all who can handle the work? June 16*

*Jeri Robinson: Replicate BLS to meet demand, add attractive magnet schools. No more winners and losers. June 17*

*Test or no test? June 22*

*Is exam school admissions a zero-sum game? A student from Chinatown says that’s not fair. June 23*

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