Education

States News Roundup

December 07, 1988 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The New York State Education Department has violated federal civil-rights laws by awarding scholarships solely on the basis of scores on college-admission tests, four groups charged in federal court last week.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the New York Public Interest Research Group, and the National Center for Fair & Open Testing claim that such use of tests discriminates against women, since men consistently outperform women on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and the American College Testing program.

The department annually awards $40 million in scholarships to about 26,000 high-school seniors. Responding to charges of bias, the legislature in 1987 changed the scholarship policy to grant awards on the basis of high-school grades, rather than test scores. As a result, the proportion of women who won scholarships rose substantially in 1988, according to the plaintiffs.

But the revised policy was discontinued, in part because of charges that schools had manipulated grades to secure awards.

Robert Schaeffer, a spokesman for FairTest, said the groups hoped to prod the legislature, which had convened for a special session, into revising the policy again.

A version of this article appeared in the December 07, 1988 edition of Education Week as States News Roundup

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education Briefly Stated: March 13, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 21, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: February 7, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: January 31, 2024
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read