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Introduction

The information below is largely related to the admissions process for Olmsted (#156) and City
Honors (#195) Schools. These schools were the focus of previously submitted and approved
actions intended to improve access and opportunity for student admissions. As this is the final
data report pursuant to the original Resolution Agreement, a summary of implementation
activities is included.

Measures Implemented to Assure Equal Access and Opportunity During 2015-2018 (Action
Item IVd)
1. Automatically apply any current BPS student who sits for the admissions test since
all identifying information and remaining criteria (Admissions Test, GPA, attendance)
exist in our database. Current BPS Parents who register their children for testing will no
longer need to submit more application documents since they have already done so. This
applies to all current BPS students whether they choose in-school testing or Saturday
testing;

2. Adopt a single assessment that will be reflective of the cognitive and academic
achievement levels that are required for admission into the City Honors/ Olmsted
#156 programs.1
a. The effect of this recommendation, if adopted, will consolidate criteria to a total
of 3 at Olmsted #156 and City Honors Schools: A comprehensive admissions
test, student grade point average (GPA), and attendance rate (suspending NYSED
assessments). A review is forthcoming regarding an update to the admissions
criteria at Leonardo Da Vinci High School.

3. Eliminate the teacher recommendation requirement for all City Honors and Olmsted
#156 Schools applicants to remove any possibility of unintended or implicit bias, or
errors. This also addresses chronic delays from non-public schools and the frequent
disregard of these parental requests altogether by such schools;

4. Effective immediately, require proof of residency to sit for admissions testing. Non-
BPS students who sit for admissions testing must provide a signed parental attestation of
residency with documentation proving residency. In the past, non-resident applicants
make up approximately 3% (around 50 students annually) at City Honors and Olmsted
(#156) Schools. Our priority should be to expand opportunities for current BPS students,
especially, but also for city residents that have children enrolled in Buffalo’s non-public
and charter schools. Parents from outside of Buffalo with a child ranked high enough to
attain an open seat (11 students this year at City Honors) receive a generous move-in
deadline of July 31 after being notified in February. If, however, parents decide not to
move into Buffalo, precious time has been surrendered that may have the unintended
effect of disenfranchising wait-list students—students that are likely Buffalo residents.

1
Recommended by BPS Assessment Task Force
5. Effective immediately, eliminate all enrollment exemptions, exceptions, and
alternative criteria historically afforded to certain non-public, out-of-state, or out-
of-country students. All non-BPS applicants must first prove residency, then sit for the
comprehensive admissions test when offered, submit the GPA and attendance record, and
complete required application documents without any exceptions.

6. In-school administration of the admissions test for any BPS student. This removed
the barrier of requiring parents to transport students to a central site on a Saturday—a
greater challenge for families with limited transportation options. Saturday testing was
still available to BPS parents but not required. As a result of this change, where students
could complete the admissions test in their own school during the regular school day,
over 700 additional students participated in testing in 2015 and approximately 1950 BPS
students participated in 2016.

7. Elimination of absolute cut-points for all criteria. This prior practice automatically
eliminated students from the admissions ranking if a student failed to meet a numerical
cut-point for a particular criteria (admissions test, state assessments, GPA, teacher
recommendation, attendance) regardless of how they performed on remaining criteria.
As a result of this change, all students were ranked according to the cumulative numerical
strength of multiple measures. For example:

a. Admissions Test (9 points)


b. GPA (9 points)
c. Attendance (2 points)

8. Eliminate the use of school-based staff to manage the admissions process. All
collection of materials, ranking of students, and creation of admissions profiles and
folders should be consolidated under a single approved vendor. This will improve
timeliness, efficiency, and credibility of our process.

9. Central Registration staff should process applications and other credentials for non-
BPS students right at the Saturday testing site to reduce errors by non-BPS schools
and confusion for non-BPS parents.

10. Automatically apply any current BPS student who sits for the admissions test since
all identifying information and remaining criteria (Admissions Test, GPA, attendance)
exist in our database. The application process poses an unnecessary barrier to families
who understandably assume that the district possesses all registration information
anyway. Parents should be able to assume that registering their child for the admissions
test is the deciding measure of their interest in applying for these schools. There is no
need to create another layer of red tape for current BPS families whose registration
information we already possess.

11. Effective immediately eliminate all enrollment exemptions, exceptions, and


alternative criteria historically afforded to certain non-public, out-of-state, or out-
of-country students. All non-BPS applicants must first prove residency, then sit for the
comprehensive admissions test when offered, submit the GPA and attendance record, and
complete required application documents without any exceptions.

12. Add District-sponsored or conversion charters to the in-school testing schedule


(Westminster Charter School and Enterprise Charter School).

13. Effective immediately, non-resident applicants shall be prohibited from completing


admissions testing. Non-BPS applicants who sit for admissions testing must provide a
signed parental attestation of residency with documentation proving residency.

14. Eliminate the Teacher Recommendation from the admissions criteria at City Honors
and Olmsted (#156) Schools. We are not convinced that, in such a large system of
schools (public, charter, and non-public), implicit bias and/or errors are not factors in
these recommendation forms. This also addresses chronic delays from non-public
schools and the frequent disregard of these parental requests altogether by such schools.
If students perform at high enough levels to attain an open seat through competitive
rankings, a teacher recommendation should not be a factor—only the quantifiable
academic merit of the student should prevail.
a. Note that the use of teacher recommendations for all district schools will be
evaluated and a recommendation made for the 2017-2018 admissions cycle. As
of 2018-2019, the document template was improved to emphasize
standardization, equity, and fairness in teacher evaluations.
b. For all District Schools and effective immediately, the use of additional or
alternate written recommendations is eliminated. Only the standard, established
teacher recommendation form in the District application is permitted.

15. Despite ongoing modification by the New York State Education Department on how the
core curriculum is defined, consolidate the GPA requirement to reflect only core
subjects of English, Math, Science, and Social Studies. This will remove any advantage
for students with greater access to a variety of newly-defined core courses or electives
that may yield higher scores and inflated GPAs. The school a student attends should not
create an automatic advantage or disadvantage for an applicant.
a. Effective immediately, the requirement to include first quarter grades of the
current school year is eliminated. A full prior year transcript will be used to
measure the GPA criteria. No assurance of a fair, equitable review practice to
combine 1st quarter grades and a full transcript can be provided to parents from
the variety of schools in the region.

16. Add the GPA requirement to middle school applications (Grades 5-8) for Olmsted
School (#156). This will assure consistency with the Olmsted High School application
and reduce over-reliance on testing.

17. On February 15, 2017, the Board of Education approved a Resolution to provide
preference to enrolled BPS students when breaking ties for last remaining seats in a
grade level at Olmsted #156 and City Honors Schools. Although unassociated with any
specific measure related to the OCR Resolution Agreement, the Board Resolution is
included below since it relates to the established admissions process. The Resolution
reads:

The basis for the New Education Bargain with Students and Parents is a set of mutual promises assured between the
Buffalo Public Schools and families. When parents place a high premium on education and assure that their
children work hard and are committed to achieving at the highest levels possible, the Buffalo Public Schools will
provide a high quality education and guarantee pathways to opportunity.

The Buffalo Public School District (BPS) is rich with a diverse set of opportunities for school enrollment. Among
them, the District has established competitive admissions schools in which cumulative scoring of criteria is used to
offer available seats. Two of these institutions, Olmsted School (#156) and City Honors School (#195), attract high
numbers of applicants and, like all successful schools in Buffalo, the number of available seats is often exceeded by
the number of highly and equally-qualified candidates for admission.

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