The latest admissions numbers for New York City’s Specialized High Schools are difficult to see. For many different reasons.

As a Stuyvesant alumnus, and now as Executive Director of our Alumni Association and Director of StuyPrep, I believe it is important to acknowledge these numbers honestly. They do not reflect as much of the extraordinary talent that exists in every neighborhood of New York City as they could.

If we want Stuyvesant and the Specialized High Schools to remain an attractive option for families throughout our city – including those considering charter and private schools – we need to raise awareness, reach students earlier, and encourage talented young people from every community to imagine themselves joining the tens of thousands of outstanding individuals who have walked these halls.

But acknowledging the challenge is only the beginning. The more important question for us is: What can we do about it?

StuyPrep was founded by alumni in 2016 around a simple premise: talented students should not miss an opportunity because their families did not know about the Specialized High Schools, could not afford private test preparation, or did not have access to the same academic resources and guidance as other families.

Today, StuyPrep provides free preparation for the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), the admissions exam – and still the only criterion for admission – for Stuyvesant and seven other Specialized High Schools.

Our approach is not about lowering standards or changing admissions. It is about giving more students the tools to meet those standards and compete successfully.
And the challenge is more complicated than any single statistic.

Thousands of Black and Latino students take the SHSAT each year, yet comparatively few ultimately gain a seat at the Specialized High Schools. Students enter the process with vastly different academic foundations, access to enrichment, knowledge of the schools, opportunities for test preparation, and encouragement to envision themselves attending a school like Stuyvesant.

Those disparities begin long before eighth grade.

That is why we increasingly view StuyPrep as more than a test-preparation program. We are building a pipeline.

StuyPrep has grown substantially in recent years and today serves nearly 200 students annually, with the overwhelming majority of participants coming from communities historically underrepresented at the Specialized High Schools.

Students receive instruction from professional test-preparation partners, take multiple practice examinations, and benefit from the support and mentorship of Stuyvesant students and alumni.

And we are seeing results.

In recent years, approximately 20% of StuyPrep participants have earned admission to one of New York City’s Specialized High Schools. This September, former StuyPrep students entered Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, as well as many of the newer Specialized High Schools across the city.

We celebrate every one of those students.

We also recognize that success cannot be measured solely by an offer letter. Students who attend other high schools leave StuyPrep with months of rigorous academic preparation, stronger study habits, greater confidence, mentorship, and a better understanding of the educational opportunities available to them.

Perhaps some of our most important progress is happening outside the classroom.
Over the years, StuyPrep has developed relationships with more than 100 schools throughout New York City and approximately a dozen community-based organizations that help us spread the word to students and families in communities across the five boroughs.

We attend school and community fairs, host family information sessions, work with educators and guidance counselors, and partner with organizations that already have the trust of the families they serve.

Sometimes the most important StuyPrep conversation happens years before a student takes the SHSAT.

I recently spoke at a school fair where many of the families had children only in third, fourth and fifth grades. That may sound early to discuss high school, but that is precisely the point.

Families should learn about these opportunities while there is still plenty of time to strengthen reading and mathematics skills, pursue enrichment, develop strong academic habits, and understand the choices that will eventually be available to their children.

We want a fifth grader in East New York, Harlem, the South Bronx, Queens – or anywhere else in our city – to know that Stuyvesant and the Specialized High Schools are options for them.

Our responsibility does not end when a student walks through Stuyvesant’s doors.

Students also need to know that they belong once they arrive.

That is why the Alumni Association has invested in programs supporting our current students of color, including the BIPOC Youth Summit, Hispanic Heritage and Black History Month gatherings, the ASPIRA and Black Students League Stepping Up Ceremony, visits to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and opportunities for alumni of color to return to Stuyvesant as speakers, mentors and role models.

These programs send an important message: You belong here. Your experience matters. And there is a community invested in your success.

Conversations about Specialized High School admissions can too easily become conversations about one community competing against another.

That is not what StuyPrep represents.

We celebrate every student who earns admission to Stuyvesant and the Specialized High Schools, regardless of race, ethnicity, neighborhood or background.

Expanding access to preparation for one community does not require diminishing opportunity for another.

StuyPrep is not about taking seats away from anyone. It is about reaching talented students who might otherwise never consider a Specialized High School and giving them the information, preparation and encouragement they need to compete.

Our role is not to decide who should be admitted. Our role is to make sure more students have a meaningful opportunity to try.

We should also be candid about what StuyPrep cannot do.

A program serving approximately 200 students cannot by itself overcome disparities that begin years before students reach seventh grade.

We need stronger academic pipelines. We need earlier enrichment and advanced learning opportunities in communities where they have historically been less available. We need greater awareness of the Specialized High Schools. We need meaningful partnerships with elementary and middle schools. And we need sustained investment in students long before they sit for the SHSAT.

We also need better data.

We want to understand not simply who receives an offer, but who takes the SHSAT, how well students are prepared when they enter the process, how their scores progress, which Specialized High Schools they consider, and where students encounter barriers along the way.

We need to understand our own results better, too. As StuyPrep grows, stronger longitudinal tracking will help us determine what works, what does not, and where our resources can have the greatest impact.

And above all, we need to continue listening – to students, parents, educators, alumni and communities throughout New York City.

I remain enormously proud of Stuyvesant.

I grew up in Brooklyn, the son of immigrants and the first in my family to graduate from college. Stuyvesant opened doors for me that I could not have imagined when I was younger. Thousands of alumni can tell their own version of that story.

That is why our Alumni Association describes our vision for Stuyvesant as “a beacon of hope for all New York City students.”

Those words carry a responsibility.

If we believe Stuyvesant can change a young person’s trajectory, then we should want more families throughout our city to know that opportunity exists.

We should help students prepare for it.

We should encourage them to reach for it.

We should welcome them when they arrive.

And we should invest in their success once they are here.

The latest admissions numbers remind us how much work remains.

StuyPrep is not the entire answer. We do not pretend that it is. But it is something tangible that our alumni community can do right now – and we intend to keep doing it, learning from it, expanding it and making it better.

Talent exists everywhere in New York City.

Our job is to make sure opportunity does too.