Boston Mulls Changes to Exam School Admissions Rules

Education, Racial Justice

Boston school officials are exploring the question of whether to change the admission requirements for the city’s three exam schools in an effort to boost enrollment of black and Latino students.

At Boston Latin School, for instance, 8.5% of students are black, and 11.6% are Latino. By contrast, 32.4% of students districtwide are black, and 41.5% are Latino.

Several civil rights organizations — including the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice — wrote a letter in May highlighting various ways the city could change admissions policies to increase student diversity.

BNN News and the Boston Globe reported that we can promote racial diversity without looking at whether candidate A is white, candidate B is black, or candidate C is Asian.