In a hotly anticipated and chronically delayed decision, the city Department of Education said Friday that it will scrap academics-based admissions for middle schools next year while maintaining them for high schools.
The DOE also announced that it will administer the Specialized High School Admissions Test in-person beginning in late January.
Gifted & Talented admissions have not yet been decided.
Citing the impact of the coronavirus, the DOE said that no academic metrics will be used to admit city kids to competitive middle schools for the duration of one year.
A total of 196 city middle schools use screens in determining offers to applicants.
The coronavirus pandemic has knocked out or fundamentally altered several traditional admissions measures — from standardized test scores to grades to attendance.
While academics-based admissions have been nixed for next year, the DOE said middle schools that prioritize spots for applicants who live in their districts can continue to do so.
The agency preserved academic screens at high schools, ruling that they can consider grades earned during the first term of last year along with standardized test scores from the 2018-2019 term.
But screened high schools will be now required to present their sometimes opaque admissions criteria publicly.
And while they were previously allowed to rank students for admissions purposes in-house, that process will now take place at central DOE headquarters.
The department also said Friday that geographic priorities in high school admissions will be phased out over the next two years.
District priorities will vanish next year and borough preferences the following year.
Admissions to the city’s eight elite specialized high schools will remain largely unchanged.
Entry will hinge solely on a single entry exam to be administered at each applicant’s middle school beginning January 27.
At famed LaGuardia HS, a performing arts specialized high school, auditions will be held virtually next year, the agency said.
The DOE will begin accepting middle school applications the week of January 11 with a deadline set for the week of February 8.
Families can apply to high schools beginning the week of Jan. 18 with a deadline of the week of Feb. 22.
Finally, the DOE said Friday that five additional school districts will be able to apply to take part in diversity initiatives.
The screening system has emerged as a political flashpoint in recent years and has burned especially bright under Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza.
Opponents cast it as an instrument of racial segregation that favors kids of means.
Backers counter that advanced students and their families deserve opportunities for accelerated learning.
Carranza and Mayor Bill de Blasio are expected to announce the new admissions policies later this morning.
