TALENTED 20 PLAN WOULD HAVE MIXED RESULTS
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, February 12, 2000
Author: STEVE BOUSQUET, sbousquet@herald.com
Gov. Jeb Bush's Talented 20 program is geared to expanding diversity at Florida's universities in a colorblind way. But how would it really work in Miami-Dade County, one of the most diverse counties in the United States?
It depends on where you live. Miami-Dade has wide fluctuations in student achievement between rich and poor neighborhoods, and the county also has a third of the state's 78 failingschools under Bush's ``A-plus'' plan. The result: Talented 20 means different things in different places.
The plan guarantees a seat at a state university to students in the academic top 20 percent of their high school class, beginning this fall. It does not guarantee a space at the school of the student's choice.
In practice, that means this: At Miami Edison High, an F-rated school with a high minority population, a 2.6 grade-point average is good enough to make the top 20 percent in the 1999-2000 school year - even though that's below the existing statewide university admission standard of 3.0.
Across town, at predominantly white, suburban C-rated Killian High, a student could attain a 3.8 GPA and not make the top 20 percent. At Killian, a student needs a GPA of 3.9 or better to finish in the top 20 this school year, according to figures compiled by the Miami-Dade school system's research office. (A 4.0 is normally considered the highest possible GPA, but at schools that offer college-level or honors courses, the GPAs can be higher than that.)
Architects of the Bush plan say a student with such a high GPA probably would get a high enough SAT test score to gain admission to a university anyway.
``Talented 20 would not hurt that student. That student, on his own merit, is probably still getting into the system,'' said Brian Yablonski, a Bush education policy advisor.
On the other hand, under the current, pre-Talented 20 admissions system a black Edison student with a 2.6 GPA likely would not be admitted, unless the student excelled in athletics or performing arts. The thrust of Talented 20 is to reach that student, who otherwise would not attend a Florida university.
Countywide, 49 percent of the 3,500 Miami-Dade students eligible for the Talented 20 program are Hispanic. Another 25 percent are black and 21 percent are non-Hispanic white.
Nearly all of Edison's Talented 20 students are black, while most of Killian's are white.
Critics point to this lopsidedness in top-20 student performance as a fundamental flaw in Talented 20, and Keith Goldschmidt, a spokesman for the state university system said: ``It's a valid concern, and we're looking at it.''
Bush says opponents miss the larger point: Talented 20 is only one tool that will be used in admissions along with other programs, such as an individual school's recruitment efforts and a policy known as alternative admissions, which is intended to increase minority enrollment.
In their critique of the plan, Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Rep. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville - the two lawmakers who staged a January sit-in at the Capitol to protest the governor's plan - argued that Talented 20 provides an incentive for high school students to remain in low-performing schools to increase the odds of gaining university admission.
Bush disagreed. ``That students in lower-rated schools will now have an opportunity to go to college should be viewed as a plus, not a minus,'' he wrote in response. Bush also has accused critics of wanting it both ways, recalling that, a year ago, they attacked his school voucher program because it would result in a ``brain drain'' from low-performing schools.
The first-term governor issued a November executive order eliminating race as a factor in university admissions. Instead, the state will use the Talented 20 program and a revised alternative admissions policy to increase diversity on state campuses. The alternative admissions policy will use factors that ``closely correlate'' to race, such as family income or ZIP Codes, but which Bush advisors say are legally defensible while still guaranteeing a steady flow of black and Hispanic students to Florida campuses.
The state Board of Regents says 3,200 students are currently being admitted each year under the alternative admissions policy. Under the Talented 20 program, the university system estimates it would accept as many as 1,600 more students statewide who would not have made the cut before - and some of those students are at Edison High in Miami.
About 29,000 students are admitted to the state university system each year, and the student population is about 32 percent minorities.
One of the ``myths'' Bush says surrounds Talented 20 is that the initiative will deny space to other deserving students. Bush's budget has a $13.1 million increase to provide up to 2,000 more slots under Talented 20, even though only about 400 more students are likely to enroll under the program the first year.
``Talented 20 is not exclusionary,'' Bush spokesman Justin Sayfie said. ``It doesn't mean that if you're not in the Talented 20 you don't get into the state university system. It's a bonus program, and it's for students who otherwise would not have gotten into the university system.''
It depends on where you live. Miami-Dade has wide fluctuations in student achievement between rich and poor neighborhoods, and the county also has a third of the state's 78 failingschools under Bush's ``A-plus'' plan. The result: Talented 20 means different things in different places.
The plan guarantees a seat at a state university to students in the academic top 20 percent of their high school class, beginning this fall. It does not guarantee a space at the school of the student's choice.
In practice, that means this: At Miami Edison High, an F-rated school with a high minority population, a 2.6 grade-point average is good enough to make the top 20 percent in the 1999-2000 school year - even though that's below the existing statewide university admission standard of 3.0.
Across town, at predominantly white, suburban C-rated Killian High, a student could attain a 3.8 GPA and not make the top 20 percent. At Killian, a student needs a GPA of 3.9 or better to finish in the top 20 this school year, according to figures compiled by the Miami-Dade school system's research office. (A 4.0 is normally considered the highest possible GPA, but at schools that offer college-level or honors courses, the GPAs can be higher than that.)
Architects of the Bush plan say a student with such a high GPA probably would get a high enough SAT test score to gain admission to a university anyway.
``Talented 20 would not hurt that student. That student, on his own merit, is probably still getting into the system,'' said Brian Yablonski, a Bush education policy advisor.
On the other hand, under the current, pre-Talented 20 admissions system a black Edison student with a 2.6 GPA likely would not be admitted, unless the student excelled in athletics or performing arts. The thrust of Talented 20 is to reach that student, who otherwise would not attend a Florida university.
Countywide, 49 percent of the 3,500 Miami-Dade students eligible for the Talented 20 program are Hispanic. Another 25 percent are black and 21 percent are non-Hispanic white.
Nearly all of Edison's Talented 20 students are black, while most of Killian's are white.
Critics point to this lopsidedness in top-20 student performance as a fundamental flaw in Talented 20, and Keith Goldschmidt, a spokesman for the state university system said: ``It's a valid concern, and we're looking at it.''
Bush says opponents miss the larger point: Talented 20 is only one tool that will be used in admissions along with other programs, such as an individual school's recruitment efforts and a policy known as alternative admissions, which is intended to increase minority enrollment.
In their critique of the plan, Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Rep. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville - the two lawmakers who staged a January sit-in at the Capitol to protest the governor's plan - argued that Talented 20 provides an incentive for high school students to remain in low-performing schools to increase the odds of gaining university admission.
Bush disagreed. ``That students in lower-rated schools will now have an opportunity to go to college should be viewed as a plus, not a minus,'' he wrote in response. Bush also has accused critics of wanting it both ways, recalling that, a year ago, they attacked his school voucher program because it would result in a ``brain drain'' from low-performing schools.
The first-term governor issued a November executive order eliminating race as a factor in university admissions. Instead, the state will use the Talented 20 program and a revised alternative admissions policy to increase diversity on state campuses. The alternative admissions policy will use factors that ``closely correlate'' to race, such as family income or ZIP Codes, but which Bush advisors say are legally defensible while still guaranteeing a steady flow of black and Hispanic students to Florida campuses.
The state Board of Regents says 3,200 students are currently being admitted each year under the alternative admissions policy. Under the Talented 20 program, the university system estimates it would accept as many as 1,600 more students statewide who would not have made the cut before - and some of those students are at Edison High in Miami.
About 29,000 students are admitted to the state university system each year, and the student population is about 32 percent minorities.
One of the ``myths'' Bush says surrounds Talented 20 is that the initiative will deny space to other deserving students. Bush's budget has a $13.1 million increase to provide up to 2,000 more slots under Talented 20, even though only about 400 more students are likely to enroll under the program the first year.
``Talented 20 is not exclusionary,'' Bush spokesman Justin Sayfie said. ``It doesn't mean that if you're not in the Talented 20 you don't get into the state university system. It's a bonus program, and it's for students who otherwise would not have gotten into the university system.''
Memo: see The Talented 20 In Miami-Dade Schools on page 2B
Edition: Final
Section: Local
Page: 1B
Dateline: TALLAHASSEE
Record Number: 0002150098
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
Section: Local
Page: 1B
Dateline: TALLAHASSEE
Record Number: 0002150098
Copyright (c) 2000 The Miami Herald
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