How one test kept New York City high schools segregated

“Each spring when the New York City high school admissions results are released, there is a fresh wave of outrage by policymakers and politicians over the lack of diversity in the city’s eight specialized high schools. Yet each year, the enrollment numbers for black and Hispanic students remain consistently abysmal. About 18,000 students attend the city’s specialized high schools, and white and Asian students account for the majority of students enrolled, even though they make up just 31 percent of enrollment across grade levels. At some of these specialized high schools, black students account for less than 1 percent of student enrollment, even though they make up 26 percent of students in New York City schools overall.”