I somewhat disagree and agree. The gifted test in NYC pre NNAT was biased for school readiness - there was no reading, no writing, no math. It was biased in that it rewards 4-5 year olds who would walk into a room and choose answers in response to questions from a stranger. Not all bright kids can or will do that. It is biased for income level in that if you had never seen worksheets because you didn't do them at home or you didn't do them in preschool then you might not realize that the first answer isn't the best answer.

But Wren hit the core of it - there are not enough slots - they do lottery for the citywides since there are more kids who score 99 than there are seats. The crime is that the city is selecting amongst the qualified rather than placing all the qualified.

There are a lot of kids in NYC who would benefit from an accelerated program - there are only 5 in the city for a total around 350 seats. For any program there has to be a cut off. And there is a huge difference in the kids readiness to be accelerated among those who got 99 versus those got 95. All kids over 90 are entitled to gifted enrichment but not acceleration. I think a lot of people see these programs and the wonderful opportunities they offer - a room full of bright kids, an engaged and donating PTA, excited and engaged teachers and administration - and ignore what acceleration really means. When you compare the citywides with the top regular publics in the city, the citywides move much much faster and deeper - not all kids are ready for this - but the kids that go all seem to be

My personal feeling is they need to provide acceleration for all the kids who meet the criteria. The Hunter elem test process is a portion of the SB-5 and if you make the cut off you go to a playdate. 250 or so make the cut off and then 25 boys and girls go to the school. No one complains nearly as much because there is a means to discriminate within the kids all making the grade. The frustration for the citywides is that you can make the grade and just not win the lottery - and the biases in who goes to the citiywides is by convenience - not everyone can get there so don't even select - it is selection bias by the parents on top of the lottery.

That being said, its still not sufficient for DYS kids.

DeHe