Students at Worcester Technical High School work on projects.
October 19, 2020
Groups argue selective admissions at vocational schools require fix
A coalition of groups plans on Tuesday to publicly challenge the way public vocational-technical high schools rank prospective students, saying the method results in fewer admissions of African-American, Latinx, and English learner students as well as fewer students from low-income and working-class backgrounds.
The Vocational Education Justice Coalition says it has assembled information about the students who are not admitted to the popular public schools and plans to talk about the alleged selective admissions policies at a state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting Tuesday morning in Malden.
They want the board to force a policy switch that would grant equal access to admissions to anyone who has passed eighth grade, saying the change would open up access to jobs earning $40,000 to $50,000 a year for high school graduates who do not go on to college.
"Vocational schools do a very good job for their students," the coalition said in a statement on Monday. "The teachers, administrators, and students work hard. But it's not fair and just for them to get to pick their students by Grades, Attendance, Discipline, and Guidance Counselor recommendation. These are public schools NOT private schools."
The coalition said it was encouraged that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education had acknowledged "enrollment discrepancies for various sub-groups" at six schools but is asking the board to intervene now because conversations about changes have already gone on for three years.
"Despite the myriad changes to the state's public schools in the last twenty-six years, the admissions criteria at vocational schools have remained essentially the same," New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell and 23 other mayors wrote in a Jan. 20 letter to top state education officials and ranking legislators.
Coalition members who plan to testify Tuesday include representatives from the Chelsea Collaborative, Black Educators Alliance of Mass., the North Atlantic States Carpenters Union, United Interfaith Action of SE Mass., the Center for Law and Education, and Mass. Communities Action Network.
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