STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Only one black student received an offer for admission to the fall 2020 freshmen class at Staten Island Technical High School in New Dorp, according to numbers from the city’s Department of Education (DOE).

Admissions offers to Tech were sent out Thursday to 286 students, including 8 Latino students.

For 2019 fall admissions, only one black student and 11 Latino students received an offer for admission to Tech.

For the fourth year in a row, the number of Asian students offered admission to Staten Island Tech exceeded offers made to white students. Out of the 286 students, a total of 185 Asian students received offers to the freshman class, while 81 white students were accepted, data shows.

There were 27,831 students across the city who competed for seats at the city’s specialized high schools this year, according to DOE numbers. Citywide, 4,265 students received offers.

Out of those citywide offers, only 4.5% went to black students, and 6.6% went to Latino students. Fifty-four percent of offers went to Asian students, 2.3% went to multi-racial students, 0.9% went to Native American students, and 25.1% went to white students.

“I am so proud of our students, staff, and families who are adjusting to remote learning this week, and I’m happy to share in the joy of receiving high school offers today," said city Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza in a statement. "They deserve to take a moment to celebrate their hard work and achievements. At the same time, diversity in our specialized high schools remains stagnant, because we know a single test does not capture our students’ full potential. I am hopeful we’ll move towards a more equitable system next year.”

Specialized high schools are selective public schools that offer an advanced or focused curriculum based on students’ results on the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT).

The city’s specialized high schools have faced backlash after admissions offers to black and Hispanic students remained low. Some schools, like Staten Island Technical High School, have developed outreach programs to underrepresented middle schools.

The DOE said it continued its expansion of the DREAM program, a free after-school program that prepares students for the specialized exam. This year, 4,200 students completed the program as eighth-graders, compared to 2,300 last year.

It’s also the fourth year of the SHSAT School Day initiative, which allows students to take the test during the school day at their own school. Fifty-five schools are participating in this initiative.

DISCOVERY PROGRAM

As in previous years, students will receive offers to the Discovery Program later in the spring -- which means the number of students accepted into specialized high schools could increase. The program -- which was expanded last year -- aims to increase diversity by offering admission to high-need students who score just below the entrance exam score cutoff if they complete a summer program.

This year, 20% of seats at each specialized high school are reserved for students in the Discovery Program. The expected number of seats in the Discovery Program will increase to approximately 800 this year, up from 500 last year.

However, the program showed small gains last year in the number of black and Latino students that were offered admission.

Despite the DOE’s expansion of the Discovery Program last year and a change in eligibility criteria to target high-need and disadvantaged students, only 30% of total invitations, or 278, were sent to black and Latino students citywide, compared to 22.4%, or 174, last year.

NEW APPLICATION PROCESS

Students trying to get a coveted spot in one of the specialized high schools weren’t the only ones who received offer letters on Thursday. This year, a total of 78,463 eighth-graders citywide received a high school offer, according to the DOE.

It is the first time students received high school offers under the new application process that involved only one application round and a waiting list.

Under the new changes, students will be placed on a waitlist for each school listed higher on their application than the school to which they are offered admission. They will be informed of their spot on the waitlist and immediately offered admission off these wait lists as seats become available.

The second application round was eliminated.

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