Black Student Enrollment Shrinks At NYC’s Top High Schools

The stark numbers speak to the overarching issue of education inequality across the nation.

As the number of Black students admitted into New York City’s most selective high school continues to dwindle, outrage about this lack of diversity mounts.

This year, the upcoming freshman class at Stuyvesant High school may only include seven Black students. This abysmal number is also a decrease from last year’s admitted cohort, which only amounted to 10.

This number is especially jarring considering the high school grants admission to 895 students for the freshman class. Now, city officials face backlash as promises to boost diversity have not yielded the desired results.

The decreased numbers not only speaks to the integration issue at NYC public high schools. It also extends to the academic potential and futures of all the cit’y’s students. Often, entry into programs at Stuyvesant and the additionally selective Bronx High School of Science can propel graduates into the Ivy League or other elite colleges.

New York City public schools are unique as they require entrance exams for admission to its top-ranked high schools. However, polarizing efforts to eliminate admission barriers, spearheaded by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, have left Black and other students of colors in the margins. According to The New York Times, Black and Hispanic students account for nearly 70% of the city’s public school system.

The former mayor opted to scrap the entrance exam, but pushback from alumni organizations and Asian-American groups led to the proposal never getting off the ground. Currently, Asian students make up 74% of the population at Stuyvesant.

Other options included free test prep, but nothing seems to lessen the gap between other students of color and their acceptance into these institutions. As the numbers get smaller, de Blasio is calling for another “dramatic reform” to fix the seemingly broken system.

“These numbers are even more proof that dramatic reform is necessary to open the doors of opportunity at specialized high schools,” de Blasio said.

Another idea of de Blasio’s also includes taking top performers from high schools across the city as guaranteed acceptances. However, this policy would not replace the entrance exam, a policy-protected by New York Law, at high-ranked schools.

However, the divisive issue has major players in city politics remaining coy, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The U.S. rep did not state her stance on the issue, instead emphasizing that all public schools should offer the same quality of education as these top-ranked high schools.

Other say they must find a solution that integrates New York City schools without limiting the Asian-American students that have historically benefited from the entrance exam.

“The numbers are abysmal, we knew that,” added Jumaane Williams, the city’s Public Advocate and a Black graduate of Brooklyn Tech. “The question is what do we do about it, how do we do it without needlessly pitting communities against each other?”

In the meantime, the expansion of the state’s Discovery Program, which prepares students who missed the cutoff score for admission into these specialized high schools, aims to help address this looming issue of integration.