DOE! Non-Asian Minorities Scarce In Specialized High Schools

Stuyvesant High School (Wiki).

In 1995 the Department of Education (then the Board of Education) started a program called the Specialized High Schools Institute with the goal of getting more black and Hispanic students into the city's top-tier specialized high schools (i.e. Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech). But it isn't quite working out the way it was expected to.

Last year the program got 357 of its students (38 percent of those who completed the 16-month program) into schools like Stuy but only 38 of those students were black (up from 31 last year) and only 39 of those were Latino (also up from 31 last year). At the same time the percentage of black and Hispanic students in the program has dropped in the past few years as the number of Asian and white students has steadily climbed.

For what it is worth, by the Department of Education's definition, the $2 million dollar program is still doing what it is supposed to. Last year the focus of the program shifted, after a Supreme Court decision barred school districts from using race as a factor in admissions, to focus on attracting low- and middle-class students into the schools.

Earlier this month, amidst concerns over a racist video made by white Stuyvesant students, it was revealed that the makeup of the crown jewel of the Department of Education has grown increasingly out-of-sync with the racial makeup of the city as a whole. While the student population at Stuyvesant is 71.6 percent Asian, 24.1 percent white, 2.9 percent Hispanic, and 1.2 percent black, the last census pegged New York City's makeup at 33.3 percent white, 22.8 percent black, 12.6 percent Asian and 28.6 percent Hispanic.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in News on March 25, 2011 5:15 PM

Comments [rss]

Donot Friendme

Tiger moms, nuff said.

Bernie_Geotz_Squirrel_Luv

The hispanics jumped ahead of the blacks, who knew that would happen?
What's going on?

smorrebrod

The DOE should stop publishing racial statistics of schools.

NlGGAZ

This shit is bloody loco son! Bloody Loco! Somebody get on this ASAP! ASAP Yo!

Gwinny

A-f*cking-SAP!!

hanbush

Wow only 1.2% now? When I was there it was three times that, and I don't think I ever had 2 black classmates in the same class. Keep in mind this was only 3 years ago. The faculty however, is much more proportional. The most brilliant teacher there (Mr. Mott!) happens to be black.

LazyNanny

Can we please stop parsing everyone into smaller and smaller groups simply based on their skin color?

Inconcievable de Impublishable

Who cares? People are people. Kids are kids. Breaking things down by race just brings attention to cosmetic differences.

Eric Luke

These statistics aren't surprising at all. While I can't speak for everyone, it's not cool to be smart in the 'hood, while Asian households drill their kids hard. The results are pretty apparent.

This is affirmative action on the high school level, and it's sad. We should be encouraging achievement & intellect in inner-city schools, not lowering our admission standards for black & Hispanic teenagers.

Ph

I'm curious to know what your experiences are either living in or doing any kind of educational activities or outreach in predominantly african american poor and working class neighborhoods.

I'd like to hear you expand on these experiences to shed light on your observation that blacks tend not to place any weight on education at all.

Eric Luke

I've had my fair share of time spent in other schools and talking to kids in poor neighborhoods, through extracurricular activities & community service.

Just "culturally", the expectations in poorer schools are completely different. Kids think it's some brilliant achievement to even pass high school, and those who do take school seriously certainly get picked on. I'd ask about their dream colleges & future career plans... nada. I was pretty friggen shocked to hear this. But you'd really need to be ignorant not to see it loud & clear.

It doesn't matter how wonderful your teachers are- if you're goofing off, skipping class, and making a joke out of your education, nothing is going to improve. I can't speak to everyone, of course, but I just saw this happening much more in poor communities.

It will take a fundamental shift in thinking to change these race-statistics. "Work hard, study well, achieve in school, and succeed (aka MAKE MONEY), or else you'll amount to garbage" Yeah tough, but this is the genuine motivation most productive adults have. My family & peers taught me this, NOT my grammar school teachers. Our society needs to instill this spirit of success into our culture of idiotic mediocrity. Or else America is fucked.

caroline_is_awkward

I did not see any mention of admission standards being lowered, and I'm not quite sure where you got that impression. The Specialized High Schools Institute is an "extracurricular high school preparation program that prepares middle school students for the academic challenges of high school and to compete more effectively when taking the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test." The standards for admission are still the same at these schools and are entirely based on the score of the SHSAT test. I think it's great that the city offers a program for motivated eleven year olds (of any race) who aspire to attend a top school, and the low numbers of non-asian minorities who are making it into Stuy etc can certainly be indicative of crappier, minority-heavy neighborhoods receiving crappier education.

BottomlessChips

In 1995 the Department of Education (then the Board of Education) started a program called the Specialized High Schools Institute with the goal of getting more black and Hispanic students into the city's top-tier specialized high schools (i.e. Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech). But it isn't quite working out the way it was expected to.
While not explicitly stated by the link, if that is its goal, that's terrible.