QSI not screening students for middle school admission

Screening for middle school admissions in NYC, which was suspended during the pandemic, is back. QSI doesn’t use screening for middle school admissions and won’t start now. Instead, QSI will stick with the lottery system.

“District 25 has no priority,” said Ms. Joanna Medrano, school guidance counselor. “The person  applying [to middle school] who lives down the street doesn’t get the priority of attending and applying to QSI compared to a person applying from College Point.”

The lottery is a complete chance system and does not rely on any other factor. This system was put in place so that kids from all skill levels could get a chance at a school like QSI.

“I think it gives people an equal opportunity to enter the school. It makes schools more diverse with a mixture of students coming from different schools who have their learning styles [and] abilities,” Medrano said. 

Sophomore Christian Giurgi agreed that using admission screenings for middle school could lead to unfair outcomes. “Those without good grades will probably be at schools that are ‘bottom of the barrel,’” he said. “Also, it denies opportunities for more people to get in.”

Some people believe that there are other factors to consider which may clash with the idea of the lottery admissions system: one being the inevitable mixed academic abilities among incoming students and the characteristics of a student. Eighth grader Faith Lange worried that a lottery system would be flawed for students who don’t do well academically because it’s harder for them to learn and sets them up for failure. 

Senior Stephanie Abramov, who did not attend middle school at QSI, expressed concern about her younger cousins who will be entering middle school. “I want them to be surrounded by people who are just at the same level as them, if not better,” she said.

Other people expressed some ambivalence about middle school admissions. Senior Charlize Mora vacillated on this issue.

“There should be more factors than grades. Some people aren’t good at test-taking. These grades won’t show a full picture of that person,” Mora said.  “I will prefer the lottery that way people of all backgrounds are all included and they can all learn from each other. I think the lottery provides an equal chance, but we want to be smart,” she added.

Even though Medrano believes the lottery system gives students equal opportunity and creates more diverse schools, she has mixed feelings about how it will affect her children.

“It’s hard to know because they’re too young right now to decide what kind of school they want to go to and I don’t know their abilities yet,” Medrano said. “It depends on their interests and if there’s nothing in particular, I’m open to lottery programs.”