The percentage of black students at New York City's best high schools has fallen over the past seven years, since the Mayor took control of public schools. Fewer black students attend seven of the eight public high schools that require entrance exams for admittance, while the number of African American students has stayed the same or fallen at 10 of the 12 schools where more than 90 percent of students graduate with Regents diplomas.
The Daily News reports that the percentage of black students at Brooklyn Technical High School fell from 18 percent in 2002 to 12 percent this year, and plummeted from 30 percent to 16 percent at Bard. City officials say the numbers don't indicate a crisis for black students. Instead, they say graduation rates and test scores are up among black students, and many are now attending new, high-performing, smaller schools like Benjamin Banneker Academy and the Bedford Academy, where 84 percent and 100 percent of students are black, respectively.
But some parents say the figures show an educational system that is failing black students. They argue that African American students have a harder time getting into top-ranking public high schools because some middle schools in low-income neighborhoods aren't sufficiently preparing students for entrance exams. "There was stuff on that test they said they'd never seen before," said Carol Boyd of the Coalition for Education Justice. "They're too busy ... preparing for the New York State standardized test, and they're not getting a well-rounded education."
