Improving Selective Public School Student Diversity

A op-ED piece SUBMITTED to the NYTIMES (but unpublished)

 Recently the New York Times pages have given much needed emphasis to the failure of the city’s elite public schools to recruit talented Black and Hispanic students. The city’s elite high schools, particularly the larger, and more established ones like Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, have fewer than 15% of their enrolled populations of Hispanic and Black ethnic backgrounds. Hunter High School, Bard Early College, two other notable examples of the city’s most elite public schools, have similar minority under representation challenges. It’s important that we recognize that minority under representation in elite educational institutions is a national problem, and NYC public schools simply mirror what is the case at high schools and universities across the nation. This is a national not just a city problem. Furthermore, recently released school admissions data suggest the situation is worsening, rather than improving.

However, it’s important to note that at least some of the city’s new, smaller specialized and selective high schools like Brooklyn Latin and CUNY-MSE are doing significantly better, with enrollments of minority students in the 20-40%. The public school I lead, Columbia Secondary School, a highly selective (12% admissions rate), new science-math and engineering secondary school in Harlem, developed in partnership with Columbia University, has over 70% minority student enrollment. For three years now, both our applicant pool and our admitted classes largely reflect the ethnic, racial and socioeconomic diversity of upper Manhattan. For those interested in securing that academic excellence is available to students of all backgrounds, there are, I think, important lessons to be learned from the recent success of the city’s small school models. Our experience at Columbia Secondary, suggests the following:

1)      The admissions process needs to be personalized, with the leaders of the school intimately involved in all aspects of the process. Highly centralized standardized admissions processes tend to create barriers to which Hispanic and Black families are particularly sensitive to.

2)      For many minority families, language and culture can be significant barriers; the school leader’s language and ability to reach out to Hispanic and Black culture are critical.

3)      Hispanic and Black parents are interested in smaller, more personal schools, where their children can get more individualized attention and can become part of a community of meaningful scale.

4)      Continuity is important for Hispanic and Black families; hence 6-12^th grade schools like Columbia Secondary are more desirable than 9-12^th grade school model like Bronx Science.

5)      It’s important to start early, in middle school, with an academically rigorous program that addresses and compensates for the real achievement difference that are intertwined with race, class and parent educational background. These differences are difficult to make up in high school, but much more manageable if begun in 6^th grade.

6)      Academic excellence, rigor and challenge are desired by all parents, but student prior education, and family cultural and socioeconomic factors, interfere with highly demanding academic expectations. Schools with academically talented but diverse student populations must address these comprehensively – and be ready to provide academic supports typically unnecessary in low diversity schools.

7)      Admissions protocols that rely entirely on standardized entrance tests can be misleading – in our case they only predict about 35% of the variance in academic success of our students, and appear to particularly under predict the academic potential of both females and minority students.

8)      Finally the school’s academic program need to be distinct from the standard specialized school offerings – in part to adapt to the significant differences in opportunity, experience and prior educational background of more diverse student bodies. Columbia Secondary, for example, offers 7 years of engineering and philosophy, as required core courses. We offer an array of electives and creative arts courses that greatly expand the educational horizons of our students. We even have a study abroad and field expeditions programs to provide our students with the kinds of experiential learning and personal development opportunities typically provided by socioeconomically advantaged families. Through the generosity of our main partner Columbia University, our advanced students may enroll in college level courses at Columbia University, a significant motivator, cost saver and college admissions booster.

While it is too early to tell if this alternative model for the city’s academically elite schools will serve well its much more diverse student population, early signs are highly positive – and suggest that diversity and high levels of academic rigor and achievement are indeed possible. Clearly, our academically talented minority students deserve better than we have historically provided them.

The author, Dr. Jose Gabriel Maldonado-Rivera, is Principal of Columbia Secondary School and Adjunct Professor of Science Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.