GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• A parent describes a problematic test-prep assignment about sneaker-wearing horses. (SchoolBook)
• A new paper concludes that schools pick curriculum materials poorly. (Brookings via Core Knowledge)
• In a series of posts, a teacher labeled a “pervert” by a newspaper responds. (Chaz’s School Daze 1, 2, 3)
• A teacher says “hmmm” about networks’ future as several leaders become principals. (NYCDOENuts)
• Leonie Haimson offers an annotated transcript of this week’s turnaround hearing. (NYC PS Parents)
• A teacher who received an unsatisfactory rating and retired describes her life afterwards. (Norm’s Notes)
• A retired upstate principal says the state is trying to fix a non-existent test security problem. (Times-Union)
• A Long Island principal says the length of state tests is lamentable and not educational. (Answer Sheet)
• The principal of Forest Hills High School says change happens in small increments. (SchoolBook)
• New apps help parents track and analyze the data points, i.e. diapers, their babies produce. (Atlantic)
• Gary Rubinstein lists eight ways that data misuse equates to outright cheating. (Schools of Thought)
• A federal cash incentive program got districts to shift teachers to high-need schools. (Teacher Beat)
• A study finds teachers and computers generate similar results when scoring tests. (Curriculum Matters)
• A bill meant to preserve Hawaii’s Race to the Top funds died in the state’s legislature. (Politics K-12)
• TFA’s Wendy Kopp: School reforms that micromanage teachers are doomed to fail. (Atlantic)
• A study of Michigan charters finds they spend less on instruction. (Charters & Choice via SchoolBook)

More children than ever passed the city’s admissions test for gifted and talented programs this year, according to data released today by the Department of Education. But the number of children qualifying in the city’s poorest districts has actually fallen in recent years.

In four districts where qualifying scores have historically been so scarce that the city has not opened gifted programs, just 52 children scored high enough to make them eligible for admission.

The 9,416 students who scored higher than 90 percent on the city’s two tests outpaced last year’s total — 7906 — by about 20 percent. The total represents a 77 percent spike since 2008, when the city first turned to a standardized application process for its elementary school gifted programs.

The increase means that more students are eligible to enroll in district-based gifted programs, which require scores in the 90th percentile or above, as well as in five elite citywide programs that requires scores in the 97th percentile. Last year saw a drop in students who qualified for the citywide programs, but the 4,092 students who scored that high this year is 40 percent more than two years ago.

The increase in applications and qualifying scores has been largest in districts with many affluent families. This year, just 52 students posted qualifying scores in in the South Bronx (Districts 7 and 9), East New York (District 23) and Bushwick (District 32) out of 479 test-takers — 27 percent fewer than in 2009.

The Bloomberg administration standardized the admissions process for gifted programs five years ago in an effort to increase equity. Before then, admission standards varied by school and neighborhood, an arrangement that critics said benefited only the most resourceful — and affluent — families. The city also began to make a more concerted effort to provide information about the process to more families.

As a result, the number of children who took the test saw a significant increase in the first year that the reforms were rolled out, but those numbers dropped back down in 2010. The number of test-taking children in high-poverty districts has barely changed since. (more…)