Dissecting The Discovery Program

Though The Spectator hopes to destigmatize the Discovery Program, many student interviewees have chosen anonymity because of the stigma currently associated with the program.

         Many students at Stuyvesant have preconceived notions about the Discovery Program, and many more don’t actually know exactly what it is. The Discovery Program is a Department of Education- implemented initiative to diversify admissions into each of nine New York City specialized high schools. Some students from high-poverty schools or neighborhoods that are certified as disadvantaged and who miss the SHSAT cutoffs for their schools of choice have the option of participating in the three to five week Summer Discovery Program. The program provides an opportunity for them to attend one of the specialized high schools and prepares them for the rigorous curriculum they will encounter once they attend.

Within Discovery, students take three classes: math, science, and humanities. “I had biology, Algebra I, and then humanities, which is like social studies,” Anonymous Junior A stated. The goal of these classes is to prepare students for the rigor of Stuyvesant, which Anonymous Junior A feels was successfully accomplished. “It actually felt like a Stuyvesant class. Now that I’m in Stuyvesant, it felt like they were preparing me well for what a Stuyvesant course is actually like,” the student described. 

Anonymous Sophomore B echoed a similar sentiment, noting the impact the structure of the program had. “It definitely gave me a taste of the workload. It definitely was a lot of work,” the student said. “[It] went by really fast, because we only had four weeks to learn so much information.” 

Despite the preparation Discovery provides, some students feel that there is a stigma attached to it. Sometimes, this judgment can be internal. “I don’t like to tell people that I'm from Discovery because I’m scared they will think I’m stupid, even though I’m here and doing okay in my classes,” Anonymous Sophomore C stated. “I just always, like, never tell anyone, and if anyone I know says that, I just pretend I never heard that or something.” 

However, other students have noted prejudice against Discovery students. “I have told some people; their reactions kind of put me off,” Anonymous Sophomore B recalled. “[I was told], ‘you’re really smart for a Discovery kid.’” 

Overall, students feel that this stigma isn’t an issue unless they draw attention to their time in the program. Generally, Stuyvesant students are unaware of Discovery and who was in it, so it has a minimal impact on student experiences.  “If you don’t mention it, I don't think anybody will know,” Anonymous Junior A said.

Previously, the Discovery Program, which was founded in 1971, functioned with an entirely different process. Instead of students who scored under the cutoff for any specialized high school, Stuyvesant would admit students of certified disadvantages who met the Bronx Science cutoff but were below the Stuyvesant cutoff. The same would go for students who were below the Bronx Science cutoff but reached the Brooklyn Tech cutoff. However, in the 1990s, when five more schools were added as specialized high schools, the policy changed.

Anonymous Junior A recalls how, when they opened their high school results, they found an attached form where they could apply to their first choice school, Stuyvesant, through New York City’s Discovery Program. However, this hasn’t always been an option for prospective Stuyvesant students. Before 2020, only five percent of ninth grade seats at specialized high schools were reserved for Discovery students. According to Stuyvesant math teacher David Peng, Stuyvesant had gotten rid of its Discovery program altogether after policy changes lowered the Discovery cutoffs to below the minimum scores for any of the eight schools in the 1990s. The school eventually reinstated the program in 2018. “The first year we opened a Discovery program, I think we only had like 30 kids, and then we just slowly expanded until we got to the 20% that the city or state were looking for. […]. This was very recently; [the] Discovery Program is not something that has been going on for a while.”

From early July to August, Stuyvesant teachers in the Discovery program aim to provide students with a realistic model of their daily lives at the school. There isn’t a strict curriculum for Discovery, as teachers try to create the familiar rigorous environment in their summer classrooms while also supplementing the academic needs of students. “Discovery kids are more prepared when they come in than the regular students who come in,” Peng stated, as students in the program are exposed to Stuyvesant’s academic rigor prior to the start of the school year. 

Teachers working in the Discovery Program aim to provide a smoother transition into Stuyvesant, creating their own flexible curriculum with “a combination of more social, emotional [learning], where [students] talked to each other,” in addition to “more analytical work,” according to English teacher Alice Yang. Teachers generally feel that Discovery is an extremely important program that allows students to come into Stuyvesant knowing peers and teachers in addition to understanding the high expectations surrounding them.

             Overall the Discovery Program is a positive force, allowing students from high poverty schools to have a stronger shot and getting into and being prepared for Stuyvesant. This increases the school’s income diversity and allows it to better serve the entire city of New York rather than just serving those who go to middle schools with the most resources.