Here is an article from The New York Times 
about recent changes in admissions exams for the most selective Boston high schools. Very interesting approach….wonder if this will be the direction taken by Stuy and Bronx Science in the future?
I couldn’t help but wonder as I read this if the answer isn’t to just make the program bigger. If the kids who are there are doing fine and other kids who could do fine are excluded, why not just make this program bigger and cut another? They are all part of the same school system. I realize it’s not quite that simple but they are still paying to educate these kids. It just feels like they could solve the problem of inclusion AND of providing an excellent education to kids who can do the program with a different approach.
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The same is true of much of the Ivy League and similar schools. They certainly have the resources to increase enrollment.
There’s a difference between what they could do vs. what they should do. They are under no obligation to increase enrollment just because they can.
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Agreed, but the difference here is that these public districts are paying to educate these kids regardless. And the students want a different school than the one they’ll be assigned to if they aren’t admitted to the selective one.
I’m more sympathetic to the private institutions, even the well-resourced ones, because they may have other considerations.
Harvard, Yale et al. are much, much richer than urban public school systems. And clearly, they are turning away many super-qualified applicants, even while accepting others, for various reasons, with less stellar objective qualifications. And there are many, many super qualified PhDs they could hire to teach, etc.
I’m not sure I understand your point? School districts are charged with educating all of the children in the district. If the best of district resources and opportunities are generally accessible to only those who can afford to play the game, then that is good reason for the district to explore other approaches.
Harvard is under no comparable mandate. It chooses who it will educate.
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I don’t know how Boston has chosen the kids for its “elite” public schools, but it’s my understanding that in New York, Bronx School of Science and Styvesant have tried to choose the brightest and hardest-working kids, many of whom happen to be from middle-class and lower-income families who probably couldn’t afford boarding schools. These kids and families didn’'t “play the game,” they worked and studied their butts off to qualify for a school that can give them the best education possible, benefiting the kids, the local community and the world at large.
Yes, Harvard chooses who it will educate, so long as it does not discriminate based on race, religion, gender, etc. But it could choose to be more inclusive by increasing its numbers of students, like The University of Chicago has done, without sacrificing quality.
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Perhaps you should take a look at the linked article which is being discussed.
As for your Harvard critique, I still don’t see what that has to do with the situation in Boston public schools, but I guess if you haven’t read the article, maybe there is no connection.
Sorry that this news is now a few weeks old, but thought some of you may want to know….
NYC schools overall seem to have higher income flight to private schools, since something like 70% or more are eligible for free or reduced price lunch (but NYC schools decided to give free lunch to everyone). The exam-entry high schools’ students are not as poor, but still have over 40% eligibility for free or reduced price lunch.
Some prep school alum heading to the Summer Olympics…
Tabor Academy news…
Looks like a public dust - up at Spence School, a prominent NYC all - girls independent school ? Hope things get resolved. Wonder if more NYC families will be considering northeastern boarding schools in the 2021-22 admission cycle ? Could be interesting to monitor ?
Let’s give credit where credit is due. The Daily Mail, itself hardly the bastion of balanced British journalism, picked up the story from the NY Post
You can also find coverage of the story on FOX News. 
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So a parent sent an angry letter to a school board, and the NY Post says “sources” say “a group of parents” agree with that parent? And the Daily Mail says the NYPost says a group of parents agree? And this is somehow national, errr . . . international news? Could these outlets be trolling any harder for culture war clicks?
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And, of course, for whatever reason, it’s filed under “critical race theory.” Because of course.
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Celebs who prepped together…yes, I know there are more than listed in this story.
Update on Portsmouth Abbey School?