A SINGLE SCORE NO MORE - RETHINKING THE ADMISSIONS SYSTEM FOR NEW YORK CITY’S SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Hazel

Despite decades of litigation, achieving diverse student populations in U.S. schools remains controversial, and New York City’s specialized high schools face allegations of racial and ethnic discrimination in admissions. This Note critiques Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2018 proposal to expand Black and Hispanic/Latino enrollment and evaluates it against Supreme Court affirmative action doctrine. It then proposes a semi-holistic, multi-factor admissions model adding an explicit diversity measure while preserving academic rigor and enabling increased underrepresented minority access in a constitutionally permissible way.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages40

Reading Time1 h 41 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

I. New York City’s Specialized High Schools

A. The Elite Eight—Prestigious Public Institutions of Secondary Education

B. Lack of Student Body Diversity and Past Efforts to Address It

C. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Proposal for Reforming Admissions to Increase Diversity

II. Proposal for Reforming the Specialized High Schools Admissions System

III. Potential Constitutional Challenges to This Alternative Plan

A. First Element—The Compelling Government Interest of Diversity in the Secondary School Setting

B. Second Element—Narrow Tailoring: Racial Balancing or Critical Mass?

Conclusion

A SINGLE SCORE NO MORE: RETHINKING THE ADMISSIONS SYSTEM FOR NEW YORK CITY’S SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS TO PRESERVE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AND PROMOTE STUDENT DIVERSITY PRISCILLA A. CONSOLO* Despite decades of litigation and court case rulings, pursuing the goal of diverse student populations in schools, including through affirmative action policies, remains a controversial subject. In the present day, discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity by educational institutions is still a divisive issue in the United States. In our nation’s most populous municipality, this contentious subject has been debated as a result of the lack of diversity at New York City’s eight “testing”Specialized High Schools (SHSs). Due to the disproportionately low number of Black and Hispanic/Latino students admitted, the prestigious SHSs have not been spared from allegations of racial and ethnic discrimination occurring in their admissions process. Over the past decade, critics have claimed that the admissions system for the SHSs, renowned for their rigorous, career-based academic curricula and ability to produce successful alumni, is discriminatory. Relatedly, there has been a renewed focus on promoting student body diversity in these elite schools, including a plan announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio in June 2018 to increase the number of Black and Hispanic/Latino students admitted. This Note explores the flaws of the Mayor’s proposal and presents an alternative plan for reforming the SHSs’ admissions system—a timely and controversial topic—that fits within the Supreme Court’s doctrine on affirmative action in educational contexts. This Note begins by providing background information on the SHSs and their current admissions process. Then, this Note discusses the schools’ lack of student body diversity and past efforts aimed to address this issue, including de Blasio’s * Copyright © 2019 by Priscilla A. Consolo. J.D., 2019, New York University School of Law; B.A., 2016, Fordham University, Fordham College at Lincoln Center. First and foremost, I must give thanks to God, for through Him all things are possible. Also, I am extremely appreciative of my family, especially my parents, Marylou and Peter, and my sister Gabriella for their sacrifices and all they have done to contribute to my success. I am also deeply grateful for my fianc, Adam, for motivating me and loving me unconditionally, and for my longtime mentors who have always believed in me, Rev. Thomas F. Leach, Dr. Roger Panetta, and Dr. Chris Toulouse—all of whom have provided encouragement and advice over many years. Moreover, I want to acknowledge Sejal Sanghvi, Anthony & Beatrice Welters, and the AnBryce Scholarship Program for all of their guidance during my legal education and support of my career goals. Furthermore, I am indebted to the many people who helped this Note come to fruition with their instrumental contributions: Professors Troy McKenzie, Hilary Meltzer, Christine Billy, and Jessica Bulman-Pozen, as well as my former clinical supervisor Andrea Fastenberg. Lastly, thank you to the editors of the New York University Law Review for all their tireless work and commitment, especially Evan Gilbert, Andy Kim, Chloe Lewis, Jenny Lotova, Eric Wang, and Juan Bedoya, as well as my dedicated editing team, Joy Kim, Hannah Miles, Erica Ma, and Melodi Dincer. November 2019] A SINGLE SCORE NO MORE 1245 recent plan. Next, this Note proposes a novel admissions process for these eight schools, which was created based on the Supreme Court’s precedent on educational affirmative action and the guidance of several experts in this field of law. Under this proposal, a semi-holistic, multi-factor process involving four measures of academic performance—SHSAT score, GPA, rank in eighth grade graduating class, and rank among eighth graders citywide—would be used to evaluate applicants, as well as an explicit fifth factor of diversity. This plan would allow the City’s Department of Education to

FAQs

What problem does the Note address regarding New York City’s specialized high schools?

The Note addresses the lack of student body diversity and allegations that the SHSs’ admissions process discriminates on the basis of race or ethnicity.

How does the Note evaluate Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2018 admissions reform proposal?

It explores flaws in the proposal and situates the discussion within Supreme Court affirmative action doctrine in educational settings.

What admissions alternative does the Note propose for the eight specialized high schools?

The Note proposes a semi-holistic, multi-factor process using SHSAT score, GPA, rank in the eighth-grade graduating class, citywide eighth-grade rank, and an explicit fifth factor of diversity to achieve a critical mass of underrepresented minority students.

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Hazel