Number of Black, Hispanic Students Offered Seats at City's Specialized High Schools Drops Again
They're called the crown jewels of the city school system, but the specialized high schools are less diverse than ever. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.
Despite outreach on behalf of the Department of Education, outrage
on behalf of some alumni and promises of reform by the mayor, the
number of black and Hispanic students offered seats at the city's
specialized high schools dropped again this year.
At Stuyvesant High School, long considered the city's most elite,
only nine black students and 14 Hispanic students were offered places
for this coming September. One hundred and seventy-eight white
students and 682 Asian students were accepted.
"New York is supposed to be a very diverse place, but
Stuyvesant's not, and that confuses me," said Brian Lul, a
student at Stuyvesant High School.
There are eight city high schools that accept students based on the
results of a single exam, the Specialized High School Admissions Test,
or SHSAT. And though black and Hispanic students make up 70 percent of
the overall school system, their representation within the specialized
schools has decreased dramatically in recent years.
The city has been trying to encourage more students to take the
test, but 500 fewer black and Hispanic students sat for the exam this
year compared to last year. And despite modest investments in free
preparation programs, only 3.6 percent of black students and 5.3
percent of Hispanic students who took the test received an offer to
any of the eight schools, compared to 34 percent of Asian students and
29 percent of white students.
As a candidate for mayor, Bill de Blasio had pledged to change the
admissions process to include factors like middle-school grades,
interviews and annual state test scores, but he has yet to take any
action. On Friday, his schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña, said,
"We continue to review a variety of strategies to foster
diversity at these schools."
Among students and alumni at the specialized schools, some fiercely
defend test-based admissions, while others say unequal access to
expensive test prep should not determine who gets in.
"People just go to SHSAT prep, and that's usually what gets
them into school, and I don't feel that's fair at all," said
Wajeah Raja, a student at Stuyvesant High School.
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