There are programs like "reading buddies" where gifted kids volunteer to help with reading in lower classes. The success of the school and the non-magnet students have all improved signficantly over time since the magnet program started a few years ago.
DD's school also uses reading buddies. Its test scores have improved since the magnet came in--but here's the catch: the scores are only reported in the aggregate. So, who knows if the gen ed kids' scores are going up.
In our middle school, pretty much if your parents push, you get into GT (less than 5% actually pass the test, yet more than 50% of the school population is in at least some part of GT).
This is obviously not okay. In fact, it's bizarre. They call it GT, but more than 50% of the school is in it?
AFAIK, you can't fully game the system by parental pushing in our district...but I just may not have heard about it. You can request that your child be retested, but I don't think they make any exceptions as far as the cutoff goes...except that they do have an "alternate assessment" pathway meant to up representation of poor kids. (But it's like 90th% instead of 99th, or something. I think.)
