NYC’s Elite Specialized High Schools Admit Disproportionately Few Black Students

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Of Staten Island Technical High School’s nearly 300 offers, just one went to a Black student.

At Stuyvesant, that number was three — the lowest number since at least 2014, which is as far back as the city’s public data goes. And at the High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering, there were six Black students who received offers, according to Education Department admissions data released Friday.

The dearth of offers to Black students to the city’s eight schools that require the Specialized High School Admissions Test, or SHSAT, as the sole basis for admissions is nothing new.

And Mayor Zohran Mamdani, himself a specialized high school alum — he attended Bronx Science — plans to look more closely at the results, his spokesperson said.

“The mayor believes we must root out the deep racial and economic inequities that persist in our public school system, and our administration will be reviewing these results carefully,” Jenna Lyle, a spokesperson for the mayor, said.

About 3.5% of the roughly 4,000 offers in total went to Black students, edging up slightly from last year’s 3%. About 6.5% of offers went to Latino students, down slightly from 6.9% the year before.

Overall, Black students made up 19.3% of students this year; Latino students made up 42.3% of the nation’s largest school system. About 17% of the students who took the SHSAT last year are Black, while 25% are Latino.

The number of offers to Asian American students at specialized high schools ticked up to 56.5% from 54% the year before. Offers to white students fell slightly to 23.5% from about 26%. Asian American students make up 18.7% of students citywide; white students make up 16.1%.

The city’s specialized high schools enroll about 5% of the city’s public high school students, yet they draw an outsized amount of attention because they are often considered among the best in the country. For years, integration advocates have called to change the testing admissions system to these prestigious schools.

Mamdani said on the campaign trail that he would keep the SHSAT in place.(He did, however, say he would like to push back the start of gifted and talented programs from kindergarten.) Earlier in the mayor’s race, he indicated that he would order a study of racial and gender bias in the admissions exam. In a 2022 questionnaire before he ran for mayor, Mamdani said the test should be abolished.

Another 800 students were invited to participate in the Discovery program, which offers disadvantaged students who scored just below the test-score cutoff a chance to enroll in a specialized high school. The program faces ongoing legal challenges from families who say it discriminates against Asian American applicants. Of this year’s 800 Discovery participants, 11% are Black, 16% are Latino, 62% are Asian American, and 7% are white.

Roughly 26,100 students took the SHSAT, which was offered online for the first time. This coming year, the digital test will be computer adaptive, meaning that students’ responses will affect the level of difficulty of their subsequent questions.

Beyond the specialized high schools, about 58% of rising ninth graders got their first choice in high schools, and 82% received one of their top three choices. For middle school, 77% of rising sixth graders got their top choice, and 94% got into their top three schools. Those numbers were on par with the previous year, officials said.

A Focus on 3-K Expansion Shows Results

Mamdani, who didn’t make K-12 education a major focus of his campaign or his first six months in office, has devoted significant attention to expanding access to the city’s free childcare programs.

He launched a free program for 2-year-olds for the first time this year in five school districts for roughly 2,000 kids. Families who applied to that program will get their offers Aug. 4.

Despite an energetic effort to publicize the city’s free 3-K and prekindergarten programs, Mamdani’s administration did not see an uptick in those applications, which stayed flat compared to last year.

But officials did succeed in placing more 3-K applicants in programs closer to their homes in response to complaints from some families in previous years about having to make significant commutes with toddlers in tow. City officials added roughly 2,000 new 3-K seats in areas of high demand to address the issue.

This year, 70% of 3-K applicants got their first choice program, up from 65% last year, according to the Education Department data. Of the roughly 5,100 families who didn’t get into any of the 3-K programs they chose and had to be placed in a program by the Education Department, 63% were put in a program within a mile of their home — up from 39% last year.

Looking ahead, here are some key dates to know:

• High school admissions will run from Oct. 6 to Dec. 4, with SHSAT registration closing on Oct. 30. Offers will be sent March 4, 2027.
• Middle schools admissions will run from Oct. 14 to Dec. 11. Offers will be sent April 7, 2027.
• Kindergarten admissions will run from Dec. 9 to Jan. 22, 2027. Offers will be sent March 30, 2027.
• 3-K and pre-K admissions will run from Jan. 13 to Feb. 26, 2027. Pre-K offers will be sent May 11, 2027, and 3-K offers will be sent May 18, 2027.

Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy atazimmer@chalkbeat.org.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael atmelsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

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