Demographic segregationFull briefing
NYC's most demographically diverse schools serve mostly low-income kids
The longer form of the briefing for this story: the original thesis, the supporting findings the data team flagged, and the reporting directions a journalist could follow. For the short version and the data analysis, see the main story page.
Thesis
The schools with the most-balanced racial mix in NYC — the closest to a 25/25/25/25 split — tend to be in neighborhoods with mixed housing, often serving primarily low-income families across racial groups. They look more like 'genuine integration' than the wealthy-and-white schools that dominate top-outcome lists.
Supporting findings
- Highest Shannon-entropy diversity index (2024-25) schools include:
- PS 18 Edward Bush (Brooklyn) — 13% Black, 68% Hispanic, 15% White
- Brooklyn Prospect Charter — 33% Black, 52% Hispanic
- Prof. Juan Bosch (Manhattan) — 4% Black, 79% Hispanic, 11% White
- PS 287 Bailey Ashford (Brooklyn) — 64% Black, 29% Hispanic, 3.5% White
- These schools are 'diverse' in the multi-group sense but rarely include substantial Asian or affluent White cohorts.
- PS 748 Brooklyn Global Scholars stands out: 28% Hispanic, 27% White, 42% Asian — the only top-diversity school with substantial Asian + White co-enrollment.
- Diversity correlates with outcomes weakly — high-diversity schools span proficiency from 20% to 80%.
- True integration story: what would it take for the wealthy-and-white schools to look like PS 748?
- Compare with controlled-choice districts (Cambridge, Berkeley) that have engineered diversity.
- Profile PS 748 specifically — voluntarily integrated school, what's the parent demand pattern?
Reporting directions
- Compute diversity index for all 2,131 schools and chart the top 20.
- Profile PS 748 in depth (also strong outcomes, also among our sample).
- Look at IntegrateNYC + NYC Coalition for School Diversity advocacy.
- Map diversity index by census tract — schools more diverse than neighborhood is the integration win.