Only 3.5% of specialized high school offers went to Black students last year. City leaders are pushing for changes that could expand access without waiting for state lawmakers.
New York City’s most selective public high schools are facing renewed pressure to change how they admit students. Former schools chancellor David Banks, elected officials and community leaders are calling on Mayor Zohran Mamdani to reconsider an admissions system that relies entirely on one standardized exam. According to Elizabeth Kim’s October 26 reporting for Gothamist, only 3.5% of approximately 4,000 specialized high school offers went to Black students last school year. Stuyvesant High School admitted just three Black students, while Asian students received 56.5% of offers across the specialized schools. The numbers have intensified a longstanding debate over whether a single examination provides equal opportunity to students who attend very different middle schools.
The admissions rules are partly protected by state law. Three schools—Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Technical—must use the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test as their sole admissions criterion. But the city applies that same rule to five additional schools, even though state law does not require it. Banks and other reform advocates argue that Mamdani could change admissions at those five schools through administrative action. Supporters of the exam defend it as an objective measure that limits subjective judgments and favoritism. Critics argue that an identical test does not account for unequal access to advanced coursework, preparation materials and other educational resources before students apply.
The disagreement exposes how admissions policies distribute educational opportunity. Students enter the selection process with different levels of preparation, shaped partly by the schools and neighborhoods in which they grew up. A single exam measures performance on a particular day, but the preparation behind that score develops over years. Expanding admissions criteria could allow schools to consider academic achievement in a broader context, though any alternative would need safeguards against favoritism and inconsistent standards. The mayor’s authority over five schools creates a direct policy choice: retain a familiar selection system or introduce additional ways for qualified students to demonstrate their abilities.
Mamdani previously supported eliminating the single-test requirement but changed his position during his mayoral campaign. His administration says it is developing a broader plan to improve public education, while advocates want action sooner. Any change to admissions would affect who gains access to schools associated with strong academic reputations and competitive college preparation. But revising selection rules alone would leave the underlying differences between middle schools intact. Unless New York also addresses unequal preparation long before students take the entrance exam, the competition for elite schools will continue to reflect disparities established years earlier.