A growing number of initiatives around the country are attempting to tackle longstanding inequities, including higher rates of school dropout, incarceration, and unemployment among Black and Latino men. New York City's Young Men's Initiative (YMI) has been at the forefront of these efforts since it was launched in 2011 to address disparities in education, employment, health, and criminal justice.

YMI's educational component, the Expanded Success Initiative (ESI), focuses on the issue of low college readiness among Black and Latino male students -- a problem that has persisted in NYC even as high school graduation rates have risen. ESI is providing funding and professional development to 40 NYC high schools, aimed at helping them improve outcomes, particularly college and career readiness, among their Black and Latino male students.

The Research Alliance for New York City Schools is conducting a four-year evaluation of ESI's implementation and impact. This report, Changing How Schools Serve Black and Latino Young Men, presents our findings from Year 2 of ESI (the 2013-2014 school year), drawing on interviews and focus groups with staff at ESI schools and a set of matched comparison schools, a student survey, and an analysis of student achievement data.

This report examines the ways in which local educational institutions, legal service providers, and immigrant youth advocates have responded to the first phase of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Based on extensive interviews with stakeholders in seven states -- California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New York, and Texas -- the report identifies initiatives undertaken by educational institutions and other community stakeholders to support DACA youth's education and training success, and examine the impact of deferred action on grantees' academic and career pursuits. It provides examples of promising practices, additional challenges, and key takeaways at the high school, postsecondary, and adult education levels, as well as an exploration of the nature and scope of DACA legal outreach initiatives.

In 2006, the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation (DBAF) formed a new funding strand focused on immigrant education. The foundation's aim was to improve the educational opportunities and performance of underserved immigrant students in New York City (NYC) public schools and to maximize "students' potential to ultimately access higher education." Toward this end, DBAF directs resources to programs and institutions that have "proven effective in improving student learning and raising academic performance."

In 2006, the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation (DBAF) formed a new funding strand focused on immigrant education. The foundation's aim was to improve the educational opportunities and performance of underserved immigrant students in New York City (NYC) public schools and to maximize "students' potential to ultimately access higher education." Toward this end, DBAF directs resources to programs and institutions that have "proven effective in improving student learning and raising academic performance."

NYC's specialized high schools are well known for their elite academics, but also heavily criticized for their lack of diversity. Indeed, girls and, most starkly, Black and Latino students are under-represented at the schools. A central question has been the extent to which the schools' admissions policy -- which admits students solely based on their performance on the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) -- is to blame.

This brief examines students' pathways from middle school to matriculation at a specialized high school, and simulates the effects of various admissions criteria that have been proposed as alternatives to the current policy. Analyzing data from 2005 to 2013, we found that while the SHSAT is (by design) the most important factor determining who attends the specialized high schools, it is not the only factor. Many students -- including many high-achieving students -- do not take the SHSAT at all, and some of those offered admission decide to go to high school elsewhere.

Overall, our findings show that the disparities in the specialized high schools largely reflect system-wide inequalities. By any standardized measure, Black, Latino and low-income students are under-represented among the City's "highest achievers." Future Research Alliance work will dig into these systemic inequalities, aiming to identify strategies to expand access for traditionally disadvantaged students.