Once again, few black and Hispanic students received offers to attend New York City’s most prestigious high schools.
Taking a closer look at the numbers released Monday, there are clear differences in who is taking the admissions exam, who is scoring high enough to get accepted into the schools, and which schools those students hope to attend.
White and Asian students were not only more likely to take the test, they were also more likely to score high enough for admission.
More than 30 percent of test-takers were Asian and more than 18 percent were white — percentages that are higher than the citywide public school enrollment for both demographic groups. This year, about 30 percent of test-takers from those racial groups received an offer for a specialized high school, while less than 5 percent of black and Hispanic test-takers were accepted.
The data also shows that demographics vary across the eight testing schools. Each school has its own test cutoff score for acceptance, and the schools differ significantly in size. Geography could also be a factor affecting the differences, since some students may want to attend the specialized high school closest to their home, and New York City neighborhoods tend to be segregated.
Here are the latest numbers for specialized high school offers.