White and Asian students again made up a disproportionate share of those accepted to New York City's specialized high schools this year. But the new numbers are unlikely to move the needle on Mayor Bill de Blasio's proposal to do away with the admissions exam.
On Monday, the city's eighth graders got their high school offer letters, a source of stress for many.
It's especially true for those seeking entrance to the city's eight specialized high schools, entrance which is based on a single exam known as the SHSAT.
And as in past years, admissions data released Monday shows blacks and Latinos will be severely underrepresented at the eight schools, receiving just 10.5 percent of the offers, a number virtually unchanged from last year. That's despite making up 44 percent of test takers and 66 percent of all public school students.
At Stuyvesant, the most selective of the eight schools, Asian students were by far the most well-represented, with 587 students accepted, two-thirds of the total. There were 194 whites accepted, 33 Latinos, 20 multi-racial students, nine Native-Americans, and just seven black students — less than one percent — plus 45 unknown.
In response to the results, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said in a statement, "We're once again confronted by an unacceptable status quo at our specialized high schools. We need to eliminate the single test for specialized high school admissions now."
"I don't think these seats in these schools should be determined by a single test anymore," Mayor Bill de Blasio said during his weekly "Mondays with the Mayor" interview on NY1.
The mayor's controversial proposal to eliminate the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) met fierce opposition last year, including from the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation, whose president said the latest numbers are only further proof of system-wide failure.
"The test is not discriminatory; it's the lack of educational opportunity that the city provides these communities that is in fact discriminatory," Larry Cary said.
Meanwhile, Albany continues to show little interest in the mayor's plan. State Sen. John Liu of Queens says any changes will only follow a lengthy process that also addresses larger problems.
"The numbers are in, but there's no news," he said. "The lack of diversity in our public schools has been an intractable problem for a very long time."
"We want to work with every single community, we want to find a plan that's fair. But what we know is the status quo is broken, and we've got to go somewhere different," the mayor said. "That's a conversation that will ensue with the legislature. They get to decide in the end."
There was very little impetus to pass de Blasio's proposal during this budget season, as the mayor was more focused on achieving an extension on mayoral control of city public schools.
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