Giving Compass Take:

· In an op-ed on Chalkbeat, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio addresses the lack of diversity in specialized schools and discusses ways to improve accessibility to reflect the true talent of students and the reality of who lives in the city.

· Admission to the most prestigious public schools relies on a single exam that doesn't reflect the talents and intelligence of all students. What can the rest of the country learn from what New York City is trying to do to level the playing field?

· Read more about the segregation in NYC's top high schools.

I visit schools across this city and it never fails to energize me. The talent out there is outstanding. The students overflow with promise. But many of the smart kids I meet aren’t getting in to our city’s most prestigious high schools. In fact, they’re being locked out.

The problem is clear. Eight of our most renowned high schools — including Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School — rely on a single, high-stakes exam. The Specialized High School Admissions Test isn’t just flawed — it’s a roadblock to justice, progress and academic excellence.

If we want this to be the fairest big city in America, we need to scrap the SHSAT and start over.

Let’s select students for our top public high schools in a manner that best reflects the talent these students have, and the reality of who lives in New York City. Let’s have top-flight public high schools that are fair and represent the highest academic standards.

Read the full article about diversity in specialized schools by Bill de Blasio at Chalkbeat.