Not Valid Or Reliable? NYC Schools Chancellor Slams Test Needed To Enter City's Elite High Schools
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A testing controversy is heating up in New York City.
On Wednesday, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza answered questions at City Hall about the admissions testing standards to get into the city's most elite high schools.
The hearing came after incoming freshman statistics at one of city's top institutions sparked outrage among critics claiming the current standards limit diversity.
Of 895 students accepted, only seven were black and 33 were Hispanic.
MORE: Pressure Is On To Change The Single-Test Admissions Requirement For 8 Elite NYC High Schools
Getting into the schools means acing a state mandated test that the chancellor and Mayor de Blasio both want scrapped.
"The specialized high school admissions test is neither valid nor reliable as the sole criteria to determine talent to go to a specialized environment," Carranza alleged.
WEB EXTRA - Chancellor Carranza is grilled by city officials over comments denouncing standardized testing:
The de Blasio administration could get rid of the testing it considers so unfair from most but not all of the eight elites.
Five of those that were created during former Mayor Bloomberg's time in office can be separated from the pack, but Mayor de Blasio won't do it - saying he doesn't want a two-tier system for the eight high schools.
The state assembly has long avoided this divisive issue. On late Tuesday, after the reports of the admissions numbers at Stuyvesant High School, it's speaker announced it may hold a hearing on the issue in May.