New York City’s Debate Over Race and Equity in Public Schools

A fight over who gets access to New York City’s most elite public high schools is amplifying larger questions about equity and segregation in the nation’s largest school system. Chancellor Richard Carranza talks bluntly about the segregation of schools before audiences of students, parents, and politicians and he’s pushing an agenda to uproot longstanding practices that he and others argue have denied equitable opportunities for the city’s majority population of black and Latino students. While he and Mayor Bill de Blasio are running into strong headwinds in their push to eliminate the single test that determines who is admitted to the city’s specialized high schools, other efforts—such as eliminating middle school screens in one school zone in Brooklyn—are showing promise for reducing segregation.