Black and Asian American student enrollment are almost equal in NYC schools

Students at New York City's Stuyvesant High School.

Demographic changes in New York City schools call for updating curriculum and policies for the city's students since the share of Black and Asian American students in city schools is now less than a percentage point apart, with Black students comprising 19.5% of the system, and Asian American students 18.7%.

That’s a seismic change from the 2011-12 school year, when 28% of city students were Black, and 16% were Asian American according to  final enrollment data released last month by the city Education Department.

The shift reflects larger demographic patterns in the city. The Black population has dropped by 9% over the past two decades, while the Asian American population grew by nearly 8% between 2010 and 2020.

The new data might give Asian American parents a stronger argument claiming bias in the schools' admission programs that they alleged hurt the admission of their children to the city's elite schools. Several unsuccessful lawsuits have failed to alter the admission policies that were put in place to increase the diversity of the students being admitted to schools seen as stepping stones to college.

In New York City, Asian Americans make up over 16% of the city’s entire population, or 1.5 million people across its five boroughs, according to Census data interpreted by Advancing Justice.

In response, the school district, one of the largest in the nation, recently rolled out new efforts to teach about Asian American history and culture. But thehiring of  faculty hasn't kept pace with the changing student body, reports chalkbeat.org. 

Despite the increase of Asian American students, only 7.8% of city teachers identified as Asian American in 2022,. Of the four largest racial groups in the district, Asian American students are the least likely to have a faculty member iof the same racial or ethnic background.

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