![]() For those enrolled at a city pre-K program, a teacher from the school was charged with deciding whether that child should be eligible for the program based on questions about students’ “curiosity, approaches to learning and play, relationships and interactions,” according to an education department official. It was a stunning move from the panel typically seen as a rubber stamp for City Hall’s policies and priorities.Īfter forcing Mayor Bill de Blasio to rethink gifted and talented admissions this year, the city decided to let parents nominate their children for spots. In response to those long-standing concerns, the city’s Panel for Educational Policy - which approves school system contracts or major policy decisions - voted down this year’s contract for the annual gifted and talented test. That came as little surprise to critics of the G&T test, who believe that well-resourced families are more likely to apply and be in a position to navigate the admissions process. The district, which includes well-heeled neighborhoods such as TriBeCa and the Upper East Side, continued that trend, with more than 1,200 applicants and more than 300 offers. Manhattan’s District 2, spanning some of the city’s most affluent ZIP codes, typically has the most applicants and offers. In past years, some seats went unfilled because of “eligibility and demand,” officials said. Those are districts where the percentage of students who are economically disadvantaged exceed the city average of 73%.Īlso, for the first time since at least 1990, when the city began keeping records related to gifted and talented, every program is filling its seats. But they did highlight that this year’s application process resulted in a 42% increase in offers in the 19 districts with the largest shares of students from low-income families. Officials warned against comparing this year’s data to previous years, since the admissions method has changed. It could also point to the general drop in kindergarten admissions: Overall applications fell 12% for the upcoming school year compared to the year before. The dip may have resulted from fewer families being aware of the change or not knowing how to navigate the application process. This year’s interest fell short of the 15,000 rising kindergartners who typically take the gifted and talented test, which is offered one-on-one with a verbal section and a spatial reasoning portion. The next mayor will take office in January 2022. But a new system could be up to Eric Adams, who is expected to win the general election for mayor after recently winning the Democratic primary. After this year, the city plans to collect feedback from families on what admissions should look like in the future. Of those, roughly 10,000 children were deemed eligible by pre-K teachers or the city’s Office of Early Childhood Education to enter a lottery, resulting in offers for nearly 2,400 seats.įamilies who received offers on Tuesday have until July 30 to accept. ![]() This year, parents and guardians nominated 11,600 rising kindergarteners. The education department said they could not yet release racial and demographic information because many of these incoming students are not yet enrolled in city schools. At the same time, nearly 80% of seats went to Asian and white students, despite those children making up about 40% of last year’s kindergartners.īut it remained unknown whether the new - albeit temporary - admissions method resulted in more offers to Black and Latino children. Last school year, gifted classes enrolled just 14% of Black and Latino students, even though they make up nearly 60% of all kindergartners. The G&T test, widely criticized for being given to such young children, is often seen as driving segregation in the program. Instead, this year’s incoming kindergartners were offered seats through a nomination and lottery process. The charged debate over these sought-after classes came to a head this year as officials were forced to abandon the test typically given to preschoolers for entry. Roughly one out of every five 4-year-olds who applied for kindergarten seats in New York City’s gifted and talented program received a spot, according to preliminary data the education department released Tuesday.
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