The Problem with Our Admissions System
August 19, 2020
Sixth graders must get through two standardized tests to be admitted to Hunter College High School. To qualify to sit for the school's own admissions test––dubbed "The Hunter Test"––students must be one of the top scorers on the 5th grade NY State Test. The State Test is already a poor indicator of potential, but The Hunter Test is even worse. The actual test itself is written by Hunter Math and English teachers, but covers content way above the first-semester sixth grade level (the test is taken in January). Students that attend underprivileged schools do not learn these more challenging topics, whereas students in better schools may already be exposed to higher-level content. What the test is testing is also unclear, so many families turn to test prep to ensure that their child suceeds on The Hunter Test. This again disadvantages socio-economically disadvantaged students who cannot afford test prep services. Our admissions system does not account for how well a student can do given the resources they have been given, but is skewed towards affluence instead. Any measure of potential is inaccurate, because students are evaluated alongside all other test-takers, and not those that come from similar backgrounds or socio-economic standing.