In a virtual hearing held on December 15th, council members, administrators, educators, community leaders, and parents weighed in on the new policy for Criteria Based Schools proposed by the Philadelphia School District. In an effort to achieve equity, the school system has instituted a policy that, though meant to overhaul the admissions policy for criteria-based schools, has seemingly done just the opposite. Again, the Philadelphia School District has negatively affected at-risk students and communities… stacking the deck against them with this policy. The changes to the admissions process were announced one day before the seven-week application window opened for prospective students.
Councilmember David Oh introduced a resolution authorizing the hearing citing a lack of transparency and public dialogue from the school district. The overhauled admissions process utilizes a central, computerized lottery system with a weighted preference for students from select zip codes designated as underrepresented or disadvantaged. Additionally, personal essays are evaluated and graded by a “MI Write” computer program. These changes come after the district announced it will no longer consider standardized test scores in the admissions process.
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