Many Asian parents protested a proposal from Mr. de Blasio last year that would have removed an admissions exam to some selective high schools in the hopes of increasing abysmal black and Hispanic enrollment. Backlash to the proposal was severe in part because the exam has served as a pipeline to the schools for many Asian students. The proposal required approval by the State Legislature in Albany, and went nowhere. For many white parents, the gifted and talented programs have served as a reason to remain invested in the public schools.

Of course, black and Hispanic parents have also sought alternatives for their children: Thousands have abandoned their neighborhood schools for charter or private schools. Others have said they want more gifted and talented programs in schools that are heavily black and Hispanic. Under the current system, that would almost certainly require spending millions on test preparation for children as young as 4, a dubious exercise, according to education experts. Further, the inevitable competition for seats in fast-gentrifying neighborhoods could soon once again leave poor black and Hispanic students at a disadvantage. And, significantly, expanding these programs is unlikely to address the racial segregation so embedded in New York’s schools.

The best way to keep students in the system is to improve all the city’s schools. But the pursuit of that goal is no substitute for addressing inequality right now.

Some recommendations in the report can — and should — be adopted right away.

One important step is to ban a practice allowing high schools to give preference in admissions to students who live in the surrounding neighborhood. The high school admissions process is citywide, and thousands of students regularly travel throughout the five boroughs to attend the school of their choice. Why should it be harder for a student to win a seat at a high-performing school on the Upper East Side simply because she lives in the Bronx?

Removing the entry test for the city’s gifted and talented program is also overdue, to stop an absurd practice of testing the reasoning and language skills of children so young. Parents with resources can often spend hours — and in some cases hundreds of dollars — to prepare their children for the exam. Many experts say a better system would wait until children are significantly older, in middle school, to begin identifying advanced learners, using criteria that draw students from every background. So long as the city’s gifted and talented programs continue to exclude black and Hispanic children, there’s a strong argument for eliminating them.

Skeptics of integration efforts like to point out that there aren’t enough white students in the public school system to racially balance every city school. That’s no excuse for failing to address segregation where it’s possible to do so. Many neighborhoods are diverse, yet have schools that are nearly all-black and Hispanic, or all white and Asian. The goal should be to have more schools that reflect the demographics of the city at large, a standard the report concludes could be met in the next decade .

The commission identified nine school districts across the city where significant racial diversity in the neighborhoods hasn’t translated to more integrated schools. The panel recommended requiring those districts to come up with integration initiatives. Three , including one in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and another on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, have already done so. Another three have begun the process, according to the report. City officials say they are strongly encouraging others to adopt integration plans. Requiring every district across the city to do so, and setting measurable goals, would send a far stronger message.