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Metropolitan New York City
De Blasio killing NYC gifted and talented program
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Anonymous
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1281134
One step closer to our glorious future. |
Anonymous
You're joking, right? |
Anonymous
| NP. I'd suggest reading the article before you comment on this. |
Anonymous
I'd actually say it's essential. |
Anonymous
Why is it "essential"? There have been many other articles written about this. What makes this one so noteworthy? |
Anonymous
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NP. I am glad for the change - every school should've had a program to address fast learners/advanced students. It says a lot that this wasn't part of NYC public schooling before.
That said, one reason why the G&T is so popular in NYC is because of Middle School. If you have a student in a terrible school district attend G&T Elementary in a much better school district, they can apply to public (and charter) Middle Schools in their home district AND their current school district, greatly increasing their changes of attending a Middle School that is performing well. Now that the City is taking the G&T away, students in underperforming districts will be stuck there. I guess the hope is that these students might end up in the local underperforming Middle School and raise the state test scores there. But I think the opposite will be the result - all of the Black, Latino and Asian families in underperforming districts are working overtime to get their kids into better Middle Schools. The Black kids are in Prep for Prep and similar programs to get into top private schools for Middle School (one of the reasons why there is underrepresentation of Black and Latino kids at the Specialized High Schools - they've been scooped up by Dalton, Poly Prep etc.). Some would stay in public Middle Schools if they were for advanced students, like the Citywide G&T schools, or other screened MSs. But if they cannot get in, I don't see them going to their neighborhood MS that's got a 2/10 rating on Great Schools. And if their 4 year olds are offered a seat at a 2/10 rated Elementary, they likely will opt for a local charter or try to get into a private looking for diversity, or they will move (either to a better school district in NYC but more likely to NJ, CT, or Long Island). BTW, there are literally not enough Middle School seats in NYC for all rising 6th Graders. That means that the DOE is relying on parents to exit the system in order to make enough space for students who stay within the public school system. It works in the DOE's interests to push students out just before they head into Middle School and into charter, parochial, and private schools. My data point: My 8 and 10 year old sons are in the G&T in a neighborhood school in a good school district (District 15). We're a mixed race family living in a not-great school district (District 13). My older son, who is very bright (147 IQ IIRC, he was 6 when he had it tested during a neuropsych) has ADHD. He's the kind of kid who takes online art, physics, and statistics classes for fun. The G&T has been a godsend for both kids but for my older son in particular. If he were in a Gen Ed classroom, he would be taking most of the teacher's time, trying to keep him focused and not stimming or bothering the other kids out of boredom and poor impulse control. In his G&T classroom, with other students who are advanced and very fast learners, he gets lots of challenging work and they are able to manage him. We're looking at Middle Schools for him and, whew, I now understand why my friends and work colleagues move out of the city. We're going to try and make it work but if there had been no G&T we would've had to make the move due to our Middle School options. |
Anonymous
I agree with much of what you have to say. However, I do not welcome this "plan", because I don't think it's a plan at all. As it is the DOE is supposed to be offering differentiated learning right now in GenEd classrooms and that's not happening. I have no faith that they would be able to pull something like this off in normal times never mind the global Covid pandemic. |
Anonymous
| All wokeness, all the time. |
Anonymous
Sounds good to me. |
Anonymous
Sounds great. Will it actually be great? Or be anything at all? I suspect it will be be a "program" in name only. |
Anonymous
| Adams now says that he will keep and expand the G&T. |
Anonymous
I mean, the second graf covers it. "It will be replaced by a program called “Brilliant NYC” that will expand the pool of students being offered accelerated learning, and not limit it to just the incoming kindergarteners who scored well on an optional exam that put them on a path to attend the city’s elite middle schools and high schools." So basically, sounds like they screened at age 4. No wonder the program being phased out was criticized. |
Anonymous
How is this being woke? Or do you actually believe children can be identified as gifted and talented at age 4 and tracked rigidly and accordingly? |
Anonymous
I'm an NYC G&T parent. The kids could take the test at 4, but they could also take the test at 5, 6, 7. There are screened academic middle schools and high schools. It's nowhere near as rigid as it has been portrayed. Unfortunately people like Nikole Hannah-Jones promoted this false narrative that the kids can only take the test at 4 and it determines who gets a good education and who doesn't. That's not true. The extent to which she consistently pushes this false narrative is irresponsible and self-serving. Also, as a G&T parent I can attest that my children and their peers are smart, even the ones who tested in at 4. It's incredible how many people think it's acceptable to make ignorant, condescending remarks about the kids. Also, be aware that in NYC there are many other programs which separate students starting in K. Those are dual-language programs, standalone progressive education schools, and charter schools. There is a group of crazy far-left wackos (hence that other person's comments about all wokeness, all the time) who are fixated on G&T and it's just weird, especially when there are many other DOE or publicly-funded programs where kids are placed in separate classrooms or schools from K. I don't understand why these programs aren't a problem as well, if G&T is such a problem. |