SHSAT Sunset

Tag: statistics

  • Elite New York High School Admits 8 Black Students in a Class of 781

    Just over 4,000 students received acceptance letters for the fall semester after nearly 26,000 eighth-graders took the exam last fall. Black and Latino students made up more than 44 percent of all test-takers.

    Another highly competitive specialized school, the Bronx High School of Science, made 21 offers to Black pupils and 55 to Hispanic students, in a freshman class of 738, down from a combined 97 offers last year.

    Some of the schools admit less homogenous freshman classes: Roughly 18 percent of seats at Brooklyn Latin in Williamsburg went to Black and Hispanic students.

    Starting next fall, students will take a digital version of the entrance exam for the first time. Some test preparation organizations have expressed concern that the shift could worsen inequality and place students who are less proficient with technology at a disadvantage.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/nyregion/specialized-high-schools-black-students-stuyvesant.html

  • Fewer Black and Latino students win offers to attend specialized high schools

    Just 3% of offers at eight of the city’s specialized schools went to Black students, down from 4.5% last school year, according to Education Department data released Thursday. Meanwhile, 6.9% of offers went to Latino students compared with 7.6% a year ago. Across the city’s public schools, nearly two-thirds of students are Black or Latino.

    Asian American students received nearly 54% of the offers, a slight increase. The proportion of offers that went to white students, about 26%, was flat. Nearly 17% of public school students are Asian American and about 15% are white.

    Specialized high schools command outsized attention because they are widely considered to be some of the most prestigious public schools in the country, even as they only enroll about 5% of the city’s public high school students. They also contribute to the city’s status as one of the nation’s most segregated school systems.

    Admission to eight of the city’s nine specialized high schools depends entirely on a student’s score on a single standardized exam. Five of the eight specialized schools that rely on the Specialized High School Admissions Test, or SHSAT, admitted 10 or fewer Black students this year. Out of 781 offers to Stuyvesant High School, the most selective of the specialized schools, just 8 went to Black students.

    Overall, nearly 26,000 eighth graders took the SHSAT, and 4,000 were offered a seat based on their score, according to the data.

    https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2025/07/31/nyc-specailized-high-school-admissions-data-eric-adams-segregation/

  • IBO Report: The Specialized High School Admissions Pipeline

    While about one third of traditional public and charter school 8th grade students took the SHSAT during the 2021-2022 school year, far fewer students received offers of admission and ultimately enrolled. IBO examined admissions rates by disability status and found students with disabilities were less likely than their peers without disabilities to take the SHSAT, to receive offers of admission to a specialized high school—and to enroll.

    Students with disabilities took the SHSAT three times less frequently (12.4%) than their peers without disabilities (38.3%).

    The disparity between the two groups increased as students moved through the admissions pipeline. Students with disabilities received offers of admission eleven times less often (0.6%, compared with 6.7%) and they enrolled nearly twelve times less than their peers without disabilities (0.5%, compared with 5.8%).

    This really should be a federal ADA lawsuit.

    https://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/the-specialized-high-school-admissions-pipeline-june-2024.html

  • Can You Create a Diverse College Class Without Affirmative Action?

    Although colleges can no longer employ racial preferences in admissions, several legal scholars said they believe schools can still consider race in recruiting strategies. The Supreme Court, in turning away another recent legal challenge, has also signaled — at least for now — that it’s permissible for colleges to pursue diversity as an end goal so long as racial preferences aren’t the means to achieve it.

    Of the scenarios we’ve shown, an expanded recruiting strategy requires the most work from colleges. But it’s also “the big overlooked gold mine here,” said Richard Sander, a law professor at U.C.L.A. who has worked on admissions strategies at the law school level.

    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/09/upshot/affirmative-action-alternatives.html

  • Black and Latino enrollment in NYC specialized high school integration program still lags

    after 4,050 test takers received an offer based on their test scores, the city extended offers to 855 students to participate this summer in the Discovery program. (Not everyone who gets invited into the program will accept the offer or end up enrolling at a specialized high school.) Nearly 60%, or 509, of the participants in this year’s Discovery program were Asian American, according to city data. That’s even higher than the share of Asian Americans who got offers to specialized high schools based on the SHSAT, which was about 53%.

    Overall, Asian American students make up about 17% of students citywide.

    Meanwhile, nearly 12% of the Discovery program seats — or 99 — went to Black students, and 20%, or 172, went to Latino students. That’s higher than the overall percentage of Black and Latino students who got specialized high school offers based on the test, 3% and 6%, respectively.

    It’s still not representative of the school system as a whole: Roughly 24% of the city’s students are Black across the city, and 41% are Latino.

    https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2023/6/14/23759303/nyc-specialized-high-schools-discovery-program-integration-diversity

  • Stuyvesant High School Admitted 762 New Students. Only 7 Are Black.

    Gaps at many of the other schools were also stark: Out of 287 offers made at Staten Island Technical High School, for example, two Black students were accepted — up from zero last year — along with seven Latino students.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/nyregion/stuyvesant-high-school-black-students.html

  • Report Shows School Segregation in New York Remains Worst in Nation

    A new report from the Civil Rights Project finds that New York retains its place as the most segregated state for black students, and second most segregated for Latino students, trailing only California. The report also makes clear that New York is experiencing an acceleration of demographic changes outlined in the earlier 2014 report. White students are no longer the state’s majority group as they were in 2010. the proportion of Asian students increasing sharply to more than 17% in 2018, and Latino students becoming the largest racial/ethnic group, from 35% in 1990 to 41% in 2018. Conversely, there has been a significant decline in the black student population. The new research also examines the expansion of school choice and charter schools and how they may have contributed to the continued segregation of the city’s schools. The research underscores that many in New York City are engaged in important efforts to integrate schools and there are a significant number of schools showing signs of reduced segregation.

    https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/news/press-releases/2021-press-releases/report-shows-school-segregation-in-new-york-remains-worst-in-nation

  • NYC’s specialized high schools continue to admit few Black, Latino students, 2022 data shows

    While the share of Black and Latino students taking the test increased this year by more than five percentage points, to almost 47% of test-takers, that did not translate into more students earning a score high enough to qualify for admission. (There is no cut-off score for admission. Rather, offers are based on ranked scores, starting with those earning the highest marks.)

    Almost 28,000 students took the entrance test this year — 4,000 more than last year.

    https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2022/6/15/23169817/nyc-specialized-high-school-admissions-offers-2022

  • WERE BLACK AND HISPANIC KINDERGARTENERS UNDER-REPRESENTED AND RACIALLY SEGREGATED IN GIFTED & TALENTED PROGRAMS IN 2018-2019?

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    Asian and white students comprised more than three-quarters of students across all Gifted & Talented programs in 2018-2019, despite being about a third of the overall kindergarten cohort.

    Conversely, Black and Hispanic kindergarteners comprised 63 percent of the kindergarten population but only 16 percent of students in Gifted & Talented programs.

    The disparity was particularly acute for Hispanic students. Despite being much more numerous across all kindergarten programs (40.1 percent) than Black students (22.9 percent), Hispanic students were only moderately ahead of Black students with respect to participation in Gifted & Talented programs (9.3 percent versus 6.7 percent).

    https://ibo.nyc.ny.us/cgi-park2/2021/03/were-black-and-hispanic-kindergarteners-under-represented-and-racially-segregated-in-gifted-talented-programs-in-2018-2019/

  • The Effects – Intended and Not – Of Ending the Specialized High School Test

    Our findings also lead us to some larger conclusions about flaws inherent in New York City’s entire system of choice in public high school admissions. Because under this system, there is no simple, direct relationship between an individual applicant’s academic strengths and the caliber of the high school she or he ultimately attends. Myriad other factors intervene, including: exposure to and awareness of the application process and the range of high-quality school options available; quality of middle school counseling; ability or willingness to undertake long inter-borough commutes to school; and others. 

    Success on the SHSAT and in the high school choice process often go hand-in-hand, because both require resources above and beyond academic ability alone. For evidence, one need only look at the expensive “arms race” of prep tutoring and courses for the SHSAT that many families take part in every year. 

    http://www.centernyc.org/the-effects-intended