Education officials announced on Tuesday that more than 12% of offers to New York City's specialized high schools went to Black and Latino students this year, the highest number since 2013.
The overall increase might signal a positive trend amidst ongoing debates over the admissions process. Last year, Black and Latino students constituted 10% of all offers.
According to The New York Times, the proportion of students in these schools is, however, still far behind the reality of the rest of the city:
"Across the public school system, 24 percent of students are Black and 41 percent are Hispanic. But at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, often viewed as the city's most competitive high school, 10 of the 744 offers made this spring went to Black students while 16 went to Hispanic students. Asian students were offered 496 spots, and white students were offered 127."
Despite some improvements, disparities remain stark. Staten Island Technical High School offered spots to one Black student and eight Latino students, similar to last year's figures.
The eight specialized high schools cited using a single entrance exam for admissions, a practice that has led to significant racial and ethnic disparities. Currently, there are no major plans to alter the admissions process for specialized high schools. According to The Times, Schools Chancellor David C. Banks has indicated that desegregation is not a priority, urging families to broaden their perceptions of what constitutes a "good school."
However, the suit argues that many Black and Latino students face "systematic exclusion" from the gifted and selective pipelines, which blocks them from "prime educational opportunities" and denies their right to a sound education under the State Constitution.
According to The Times, New York city's specialized schools once enrolled incoming classes that were more representative of the broader school system. In 1976, for example, about 14% of Stuyvesant pupils were Black and Latino.
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