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Of the 408 higher-income students who received bonus points based on where they attended school, nearly 85 percent were admitted. Of the 29 low-income students who didn’t receive bonus points, 16 were admitted — or 55 percent.

In the overhauled process, approved two years ago, students receive a composite score out of 100 based on a combination of their grades and their test scores. They then can receive an additional 10 bonus points for going to a high-poverty school or 15 if they live in certain public housing, are homeless, or are in the care of the state Department of Children and Families.

Students compete for admission within socioeconomic “tiers” which cluster the city’s census tracts based on socioeconomic factors, such as poverty rate and educational attainment. Each tier has roughly the same number of test school seats and students in grades 5 to 8, but the more affluent areas have many more applicants.

The new data does not specify how often the bonus points were the deciding factor in a student’s admission, but for students applying from higher-income tiers, the minimum composite score to get in was in the high 90s for all three schools last year, making it more difficult to be admitted and the bonus points more valuable.

The data was released last week as part of a memo to the School Committee following months of pressure to adjust the system. The memo was first reported on by the Boston Herald. Critics, including committee member Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, have said the bonus point system, which was intended in part to Strengthen lower-income students’ chances of admission to Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and the O’Bryant School of Math and Science, may harm some needy students — low-income students without bonus points who miss out on admission to higher-income peers with bonus points.

The overhauled policy has also faced regular criticism from parents and students who say the bonus points plus competition within tiers of the city makes admission nearly unattainable for students in affluent areas if they don’t attend bonus point schools. (For example, for residents of Tier 7, the second-most-affluent category, it was impossible to get into Boston Latin without bonus points: the cut-off for students to be admitted was over 100.) Only a handful of BPS schools have so few low-income students that they do not meet the threshold to get bonus points.

Last year, nearly three-quarters of Grade 7 applicants received bonus points of one kind or the other.

The district put the full new admissions policy in place in the 2022-23 school year. (The district had rolled out the policy the year prior, but did not include testing as part of the admissions until the second year.)

The system has successfully diversified the schools. According to prior district data, 49 percent of Grade 7 admittees for the 2023-2024 school year were economically disadvantaged, versus 35 percent of students admitted for the 2020-2021 school year, 43 percent for 2021-2022, and 45 percent for 2022-2023. More Black and Latino students, English learners, and students with disabilities won acceptance to the schools as well.

Rachel Skerritt, a former head of Boston Latin and a member of the task force who helped design the new policy, said district officials should consider adjusting it.

“I think that overall it was a successful policy shift and a necessary one,” Skerritt said. ”However, when you have students getting upwards of 95 out of 100 and not getting access to any of the test schools, it necessitates revisiting of some of the details of the policy.”

The students in question are residents of the two most affluent tiers who did not receive bonus points: those students needed scores over 97 to win admission into any of the three schools. Some of those students may have been the low-income students the policy sought to help: According to the memo, 10 low-income students living in the two most affluent tiers missed out on bonus points and were rejected from all three test schools.

Skerritt said when she initially envisioned the bonus points, she was thinking of a smaller number of BPS schools where the vast majority of students are lowincome and very few were getting into the schools.

“For me, the intent of the points, which was to position the students who attend the most challenged schools in Boston to have more of a leg up, is completely diluted by giving almost all the schools the points,” Skerritt said.

In addition, Skerritt said, the number of bonus points awarded, 10, could be adjusted without changing the policy’s intent. According to the memo, students who went to high-needs schools scored about 8 points lower, on average, than other students, excluding bonus points.

Some School Committee members have called for the district to award bonus points directly based on family income, rather than, or in addition to, awarding them based on school.

The district has reached out to the state about getting income data for Boston students not currently attending a BPS school who apply to the test schools, the memo said. However, district administrators oppose attempting to use individual income information, arguing it would be challenging to collect and would push families away from applying.

“I don’t think as a team we have changed our thinking that with one year of data, whether that is truly enough to base the recommendations on,” Superintendent Mary Skipper told the School Committee last week. “But that said, we heard the committee loud and clear that they wanted us to be looking at the data patterns and so we are doing that.”

After the memo was released at the Nov. 1 meeting, Charlestown parent Kathleen Chardavoyne called on the district to release data showing the average scores for students with and without bonus points by tier, rather than just districtwide: because there are no citywide seats, she argued, all the data should be analyzed by tier.

Last month, a group of students from the Eliot K-8 Innovation School, one of the handful of BPS schools without bonus points, described themselves to the committee as “unintended consequences” of the policy.

Seventh grade Charlestown resident Grace Nothnagle, for example, said she had a perfect GPA and high scores on the admissions test, but did not get into the test schools last year.

“As a tier 7 student from a nonbonus point school, I had no chance of admission to Boston Latin as the cutoff was 100.2,” Nothnagle said. “This was an impossible score.”

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at christopher.huffaker@globe.com. Follow him @huffakingit.

Admission and merit scholarship consideration for students who apply as test-optional is based on several factors, including high school GPA, grades in coursework required for university admission, and rigor/performance in advanced courses (AP, IB, Honors, etc.).

Consideration for students applying with a test score includes all the above plus their highest composite ACT or SAT score.

Connecticut College is test-optional.

We don’t require applicants to submit standardized test scores because we think there are better ways to determine if you’ll be successful at Conn. And we want you to highlight your strengths in the application process, not write about a random syllabu we've assigned. We believe your high school transcript, essay, recommendations or other application materials may show your strengths better than test scores.

How to decide whether to submit your test scores

Our advice is to submit your scores if you feel they are representative of your achievement and will enhance your application. (Review the middle 50% range of scores submitted for the Class of 2024.) However, if you feel your standardized test scores do not reflect your full potential and elect not to submit them, you will not be at a disadvantage in the admission process.

In the Common App, simply choose which one testing score option you'd like us to consider:

• No tests
• SAT Reasoning Test (essay is not required)
• ACT (writing component is not required)

If you want to submit your test scores

If you would like us to consider your tests scores as part of your application, note that we accept both official and self-reported test scores.

Official test scores can be submitted in any of the following ways:

• Directly from the testing agency (SAT and ACT).
• By your high school counselor via email (admission@conncoll.edu) or fax (860-439-4301).
• By your high school counselor via official transcript.

Self-reported test scores can be submitted in either of the following ways:

• Enter scores in the testing section of the Common Application.
• Submit screenshots or scanned copies of score reports via email (admission@conncoll.edu) or fax (860-439-4301).

If you submit self-reported scores, please note that your official test scores will be required upon enrollment. Any discrepancies from self-reported test scores may result in rescinding our offer of admission.

We “superscore” the SAT Reasoning Test and use the combined highest composite score from the ACT. You should send scores from every SAT/ACT date for which you received your best scores in specific sections.

Scores from standardized tests taken through November typically arrive in time for Early Decision I consideration. Tests taken in December will arrive in time for Early Decision II and Regular Decision applicants.

Transfer Testing

Standardized test scores are not considered in the transfer application process.

English Proficiency Requirement

Conn's standardized testing policy does not apply to testing for purposes of demonstrating English proficiency. Students whose first language is not English must submit the TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo or PTE.

The student community that aspires to a place in the 2022-2023 section process of the higher level must meet the requirements established by each call in order to take the admission exam, either from the UNAM, UAM or the IPN.

In the case of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the test will be applied from May 14 to June 5, although they pointed out that the dates “are subject to the development of the COVID-19 situation”. For 2022 there will be only one call, which is available on the website of the General Directorate of School Administration (DGAE): https://www.dgae.unam.mx/.

The UNAM admission test consists of 120 questions that must be answered within a maximum time of 3 hours, the test will contain the same subjects, but emphasis will be placed on the area of knowledge to which the student aspires: Physical-Mathematics and Engineering; Biological and Health Sciences; Social Sciences or Humanities and Arts.

The sections of the UNAM test are: Spanish that will cover syllabus such as language functions, discursive forms, grammar, studying comprehension, spelling; mathematics contains notable products, factorization, algebraic expressions, equations, trigonometry, geometry; physics contemplates kinematics, Force, Newton's laws and Universal Law of Gravitation, waves, optics. It has the sections of Universal History, Mexico, biology, geography, chemistry.

* The test will be done in person at the place, date and day that I indicated the credential proof, the results will be announced on July 22, 2022 on the website of the DGAE.

* The exams for the spring and fall 2022 terms will be online, applicants must first take a test between March 28 and April 5 and the selection will be from April 11 to 21 depending on the information on the proof of registration; the results will be published on May 14, 2022.

The test must be answered within two hours, if requested by the UAM, which can be checked on the day of the test, which can be accessed with the username and password indicated in the email you provided in the Mexican registry.

Recommendations for the online exam:

* Present it in place without noise or companions.

* It must be done on a computer with speakers; the microphone and camera must be turned on the entire time of the exam.

* The computer must have Windows 7 or higher or MacOSX 10.11 system; with at least 4 GB of RAM and 200 Mb free.

* Applicants must install the programs requested by UAM, which can be checked on the day of the test, which they will be able to access with the username and password indicated in the email you provided in the registration.

It will be 130 questions, to answer it the time is 3 hours, it will be held online on 16, 17 or 18 June in the case of the school system, for mixed or non-schooled it will be on May 22.

During the test they will record the entire process and the students will be monitored, the cost of the test is 480 pesos for people of Mexican nationality; the results will be announced on June 12.

KEEP READING:

After months of parents and School Committee members calling for information on the test school admissions policy change, BPS has released a memo answering a number of questions — but leaving some still open.

“Today you received a detailed memo explaining how the policy was developed, including the distribution of additional points,” Superintendent Mary Skipper announced at this week’s School Committee meeting. “We want to ensure that all members in the public have the historical context and rationale for the policy decisions and recommendations that were made by the test school admissions Task Force and subsequently approved by this body.”

The memo breaks down the timeline of how the test School Admissions Task Force developed the policy changes in 2021 and answers some specific questions and concerns raised by committee members and the public, including data on how the policy may have blocked poorer students at schools with more well off populations or benefitted richer students at less well off schools.

The policy change aimed to promote diversity and representation in the schools in a complicated system incorporating socioeconomic tiers and bonus points for certain students in addition to GPA and testing measures — perhaps most controversially awarding 10 points to students at schools with 40% or higher percentage of economically disadvantaged students.

Opponents, most vocally parents with children who were denied entrance to test schools, have argued the policy leaves out certain diverse or economically disadvantaged kids it is meant to serve and unfairly benefits others.

According to data in the memo, of seven 2023-24 applicants in the tier 8 — the top socioeconomic tier — who were identified as economically disadvantaged and did not receive bonus points, five were rejected. Of six applicants in this category in tier 7, five were rejected.

There were 262 and 272 total 2023-24 applicants respectively in tiers 7 and 8.

In terms of students who were not economically disadvantaged and received bonus points, zero of these applicants were rejected in tiers 1, 2, 3 and 5. One such applicant was rejected in tier 4. There were between 22 and 45 such applicants in these tiers, out of between 125 and 141 total applicants.

In tiers 6, 7 and 8 there were more non-economically disadvantaged applicants with bonus point advantages — between 65 and 104 — and more were rejected — between 12 and 28.

In public comment, parents continued to push for changes and probe for more information.

“My first point is the memo is incomplete,” BPS parent Kathleen Chardavoyne started, calling the lack of presented data on minimum scores by tier and lack of action “very disappointing.”

Though BPS officials previously expressed hesitance to consider revising the policy after only a single year and noted the policy is scheduled to be reviewed after five years, the memo opens the door possible recommendations to be considered

These considerations include adding a provision to ensure students with a perfect score get access to their first choice of school, looking at changes to the number of bonus points given based on schools, considering ensuring all economically disadvantaged students receive bonus points, and looking at ways to increase representation of students with disabilities and multilingual learners.

The memo also addresses why admissions didn’t use the individual students’ socioeconomic backgrounds, noting the path was debated but not pursued out of concern regarding the administration and barriers for families. The district is now reaching out to DESE regarding the possibility, the memo said.

“Since this is the first full year of implementation our recommendation continues to be that we should wait for at least one more year of invitation data to understand if there are trends of concern,” the memo states, noting the need for a “deeper understanding” of the impact of changing one part of the policy.