New York City Searches for New Gifted & Talented Testing

New York City has traditionally used a city-wide gifted and talented test to qualify children as young as four years of age to the city’s gifted and talented programs. Recent concerns regarding the current testing procedures and the limited number of minority students that make it into NYC gifted and talented programs has spurred the city board of education to look for new standard testing methods.

Many argue that individual parents in some districts within the city are able to pay for professional assistance in preparing their children for gifted and talented tests, essentially leading to children from more affluent backgrounds making it into NYC city-wide gifted and talented programs. Children from poorer districts where the parents and the schools cannot afford student prep classes or gifted and talented program practice sessions have a much lower incidence of admittance to the NYC G&T program. The city’s plans for new testing criteria would ideally eliminate this economic class disparity.