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Specialized High Schools of New York City
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Specialized High Schools of New York City are selective public high schools, established and run by the New York City Department of Education to serve the needs of academically and artistically gifted students. The Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) examination is required for admission to all the schools except LaGuardia, which requires an audition or portfolio for admission.
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The nine specialized high schools, with their emphases, are:
- High School of American Studies at Lehman College (2002) (American history)
- Bronx High School of Science (1938) (mathematics and science)
- Brooklyn Latin School (2006) (humanities and the classics)
- Brooklyn Technical High School (1922) (engineering, mathematics, and science)
- Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (the arts)
- High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College (2002) (math, science, engineering, and architecture)
- Queens High School for the Sciences at York College (2002) (sciences and mathematics)
- Staten Island Technical High School (1988) (science and engineering)
- Stuyvesant High School (1904) (mathematics and science)
Each of the specialized high schools has its own unique features but most emphasize mathematics and science. They offer many intriguing electives and advanced placement courses, including enrichment courses in the humanities. The exciting and academically challenging atmosphere stimulates both the students and the teachers.
For many years, Brooklyn Tech, Bronx Science and Stuyvesant operated as specialized science and math high schools for New York City students, with a rigorous, uniform entrance examination. Their status as specialized schools was frequently threatened by factions within the New York City school system and government. As a way to preserve their special status, in 1972, the Hecht-Calandra Act was passed by the New York State Legislature, designating these schools as specialized science and math high schools for New York City. The Hecht-Calandra act called for a uniform exam in math and science to be administered for admission to these schools, in keeping with the uniform examination that had already been required by the New York City Board of Education for admission to these schools. The School of Performing Arts and The High School of Music & Art (consolidated in 1984 into LaGuardia High School) were also designated by the legislature as specialized high schools, and admission was by audition and portfolio rather than examination, in keeping with their artistic mission.[1]
Staten Island Tech began in 1982 as an annex of Ralph R. McKee Vocational-Technical High School and was made an independent high school in May 1988. HSAS, HSMSE, and QHSSYC were opened in 2002. Brooklyn Latin was established in 2006. All of these schools are required by state law to admit students based on the uniform Specialized High Schools Admissions Test, and positions are assigned on a ranked system, depending on numbers of seats available and how many applicants requested a given school.
New York City has some competitive public high schools that are not part of the Specialized High School program. These schools have their own criteria for admission, and students do not take the SHSAT. For example, Hunter College High School admits students to its middle and high schools via a rigorous competitive examination, however it is run by Hunter College, not the NYC Department of Education, and therefore cannot be one of the Specialized High Schools.
