New Report Analyzes Diversity and Outcomes of NYC High Schools

NYC’s eight specialized high schools are “not the only game in town”

NEW YORK, NY – To increase the number of black and Hispanic students in NYC’s eight specialized high schools, policymakers are altering admissions policies—a move that has attracted controversy, including a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination against Asian Americans. But by focusing on just the eight top schools, the conversation ignores other diverse, high-achieving high schools in the city, according to a new report by Manhattan Institute education policy director Ray Domanico.

Domanico divides NYC’s public high schools into five tiers based on students’ middle school outcomes, finding that there are 50 to 75 public schools with diverse, academically gifted student bodies. If the mayor’s goal is to improve education for black and Hispanic students, then enriching these 50 to 75 schools would prove a more effective approach than fixating on the specialized schools.

Domanico also analyzes data from high schools in the lowest quintiles—such as the fact that more than 40 percent of students are chronically absent—which should inform conversations about improving schools across NYC’s complex educational ecosystem. Other findings include:

• There is a group of NYC high schools with outcomes just below those of the specialized high schools: attendance rates of 90-98 percent, combined average SAT scores of 1000-1400, and college readiness rates of 80-95 percent;
• Students residing in temporary housing are concentrated in the schools in the lowest quintile, which also serve students with the lowest average eighth-grade achievement scores; and
• Recent studies indicate that it’s likely that students’ own backgrounds, rather than specialized school environments, cause student success—so placing students who would not otherwise gain admission into specialized high schools is unlikely to improve outcomes.

Click here to read the full report.