Elite, Separate, Unequal: New York City’s Top Public Schools Need Diversity; New York Times, 6/22/14

Richard D. Kahlenberg, New York Times; Elite, Separate, Unequal: New York City’s Top Public Schools Need Diversity:

"New York City’s eight selective public high schools base admissions on a single two-and-a-half-hour assessment — the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test — a practice that is unusual among other large public school systems in the nation. The N.A.A.C.P. Legal Defense and Education Fund, along with other groups, has filed a federal civil rights complaint against this arrangement.

In his campaign for mayor, Bill de Blasio called for diversifying these schools...

Demographers rank Chicago’s census tracts from most to least advantaged by six criteria: median family income, average level of education attained by parents, percentage of single-family homes, percentage of homes where English is not the first language, percentage of homeowner-occupied residences, and school achievement scores by attendance area.

The policy has resulted in far more racial and ethnic diversity than in New York City’s elite public schools."