FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Officials in several states are considering major changes to the way the nation's top-rated public high schools admit students.
In Virginia, a task force is weighing changes at its 19 Governor's Schools, particularly Thomas Jefferson High School in the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
At the elite Stuyvesant magnet high school in New York City, diversity proponents want to change a system whose sole determinant of admission is a standardized test.
For decades, Black and Hispanic students have been underrepresented in the schools.
Not all are on board with the push for change, however. Some alumni and parents say they are worried that admissions standards will be relaxed and that as a result, the schools' quality will decline.
