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Andrea Gabor

Elite High Schools Can Be Both Exclusive and Inclusive

Rigorous admission policies don’t have to keep out black students. Look, New York: Here’s how Chicago does it.

It’s hard to get in. — It’s hard to get in.
Photographer: Susan Watts/NY Daily News via Getty Images

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April 10, 2019, 1:30 PM UTC

New York City is riveted once again by the latest episode in a long-running drama: a dispute over admissions to the city’s most elite public high schools.

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal to scrap the specialized entrance exams reignited the debate in March, when only seven black students — the lowest number in years — were among the 895 winning a place in the freshman class at Stuyvesant, the city’s most selective public high school.