Comments on: New gifted programs add outer-borough options for high scorers

By: stacey

stacey — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:52:00 +0000

what is the point anyway. My son is counting dots in his “gifted” 1st grade class and learning 3 letter words while he is doing long division and reading the ny times. It is a joke.

By: proud parent

proud parent — Tue, 19 May 2009 18:21:55 +0000

my son scored 99% this year and there are no seats in NEST for first grade and only 25 @ Anderson this city needs to be able to accodate its’ really gifted students before it lowers the bar. Why no citywide programs in the Bronx? Plyus district 3 schools are all very good these students will be very much challenged in their zoned schools Let’s not forget most all G&T school were once good regular schools

By: Michael M.

Michael M. — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:48:52 +0000

ceolaf:
Oct 29, 2007. (See link to NYT article.)

Also note that G&T cut-off has since morphed from 95th to 90th percentile for district-level programs. (I complained at the time that the bar was lowered after-the-fact for kids who had already taken the test, but there was no retest for those who had not.)

Next, what am I missing? Top 3% of 1,000,000 kids is… 30,000 seats. Six schools? Are there few-than-national-rate NYC kids scoring in the national top 3%? Are there so many NYC parents who flat out don’t prefer such programs?

Dahlia: I can’t answer straight up re how they’re going to grow the schools (“expand in future years” implies, per DOE’s typical new school practice, one grade added per year as the first crop grows up), but I know that PS77 complained that DOE did not keep a waiting list. Last, I believe, but do not know, that your son would have to re-test for the grade he’s trying to enter.

By: ceolaf

ceolaf — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:17:37 +0000

When did gifted shift from the top 1% to the top 3%?

By: District 13 mom

District 13 mom — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:19:29 +0000

I’m very sorry to hear that the announcement doesn’t include more gifted and talented programs at the middle school level, which is greatly needed in the outer boroughs. Does anyone know if the Arts and Letters school will be staying at PS 20? In other words, will they have three schools now in the PS 20 building?

By: Dahlia Johnson

Dahlia Johnson — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:15:20 +0000

Does anyone know if the new schools when they expand beyond K and 1 will be adding older grades or just increasing one grade at a time? My son is a current 1st grader. He was accepted by NEST+M for K, but I decided not to send him since the commute would have been way too long. I would love to be able to see him find a place at one of the new schools in Brooklyn, but it’s not clear if there would be any spots available for any older children.