Elite or elitist? Lessons for colleges from selective high schools

Admissions policies at some of the nation’s most selective schools are under intense scrutiny. But we’re not talking about colleges or Operation Varsity Blues. Selective high schools, a feature of the public education system of many U.S. cities, are under increasing pressure to become more representative of the cities they serve. 

Selective high schools have much lower proportions of Black, Hispanic and low-income students than the districts they are located in. For example, of the 895 students earning a place in the freshman class at Stuyvesant, New York City’s most selective public high school, just seven are black. 

Read more at Brookings