NYC's audition-only schools serve few low-income kids, but graduate everyone

Thesis

The 16 NYC high schools that admit by audition (LaGuardia, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, etc.) are quietly some of the most demographically-exclusive public schools in the city — and they post near-100% graduation rates regardless. Who gets in, who doesn't, and why does no one talk about audition-as-screen?

Supporting findings

• 16 NYC HSs use AUDITION as primary admission method (mostly arts).
• These schools tend to have low % SWD, low % ELL, low % economic disadvantage compared to citywide.
• Graduation rates at audition schools: confirm via /ratings/outliers?metric=graduation_rate_4yr filtered by admission_category=AUDITION.
• Audition-as-screen: families with private music/art tutoring have an obvious advantage in admissions. This is meritocratic in form but selective by class.
• Compare to SHSAT (TEST admission, 8 schools) which has been extensively reported on — audition schools haven't gotten the same scrutiny.
• Are audition schools' diversity gaps narrowing or widening over time? Look at 5-year demographic snapshots.
• Profile LaGuardia HS specifically — historically the model arts school.
• Are there audition-school 'feeder' middle schools (MS arts magnets)?
• Compare audition-school staff diversity (% teachers of color) — that data isn't in our DB but is in NYC Open Data.
• What would 'audition reform' look like? (Equity advocates have proposed weighted scoring like Specialized HS reform proposals.)

Reporting directions

• Map audition-school demographics over 10 years.
• Interview families who applied + were rejected — what was the audition like?
• Compare with arts-focused magnets in other cities (Boston Arts Academy, LACES).
• Pull NYSED report card data for grad rate + Regents pass rate at each audition school.