In an effort to continue the conversation regarding the lack of diversity in selective high school programs, the Sacramento City Unified School District hosted a second community forum in the McClatchy library on Monday, March 12. Last month, a controversial science fair project attributing the racial imbalance in McClatchy’s selective HISP program to people of color having lower IQs than whites and northeast Asians brought attention to the skewed racial demographics in programs like HISP.
While the first meeting was mostly a platform for district officials and community members to make public statements, the more recent forum focused on dialogue. Attendees were split into small groups for facilitated discussion of prompts including “How have you seen individualized racism play out on your campus or community?” and “What current recommendations do you have for change?”
Before the breakout discussions, SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar gave an update on the district’s efforts to diversify elite academic programs.
Mr. Aguilar said the district has been studying the pool of “eligible non-applicants” in the district — students of color who would qualify for rigorous programs but don’t apply — to find ways to encourage those students to apply.
Aguilar also emphasized the importance of strengthening early education so that the pool of eligible applicants can grow. “This isn’t an issue of 8th graders, this isn’t an issue of 7th graders,” he said. “This is an issue that goes deeper, down to pre-K … We are not seeing the quality pipeline that our community deserves.”
Regarding HISP in particular, Aguilar expressed desire to “centralize” the admissions process. Prospective HISP students must write an analytical essay to apply, and Aguilar wants to train “a cadre of diverse teachers” to evaluate the essays on behalf of the district, taking the only subjective aspect of the admissions process out of the program’s hands.