Giving Compass' Take:

· In light of discrimination charges filed against New York specialized high schools, Christina Veiga provides four key takeaways from New York City's response to the lawsuit. 

· What are specialized high schools? What was NYC's response to the discrimination charges? How is New York working to integrate specialized high schools?

· Here's more on New York City's specialized high schools. 

New York City lawyers are asking a judge to allow the education department to move forward with admissions changes aimed at better integrating the city’s elite specialized high schools, saying the tweaks are not meant to discriminate against Asian students.

Instead, lawyers for the city argue the changes serve the “most disadvantaged” students, leading to “greater geographic and socioeconomic diversity” in the schools, “which may in turn increase racial diversity.”

At issue: The city’s plan to expand the Discovery program, which offers admission to students who score below the cutoff on the examthat currently stands as the sole entrance criteria to eight specialized high schools. The city also wants to change who qualifies for the program, limiting Discovery to students who attend schools where at least 60 percent of their peers are economically needy. (Previously, eligibility was based only on each students’ individual need.)

In December, Asian-American parents and organizations sued the city, claiming the reforms would discriminate against their children. They asked for a preliminary injunction, which would prevent the changes from going forward until the court case is decided — and affect the current admissions cycle already underway for eighth-graders enrolling in high school next year.

Read the full article about New York City's response to charges in specialized high schools lawsuit by Christina Veiga at Chalkbeat.