P.S. Found a reference that says 13600 of the incoming 66000 kids took the test. So about 20%. 20% of 20% is 4% and 40% of 20% is 8%.
Something has to be off in these numbers. Typo? 66,000 is a larger number than 13,600, so I can't imagine that 66,000 kids took the test if there were only 13,600 incoming students. I thought that maybe you left a zero off of the 13,600 number, but even if it is 136,000, 20% of that wouldn't come out to 66,000.
I do also think that there is a lot of studying to the test in NYC to the point that even 50th percentile IQ kids can come out in the top 3-10% on national tests, so even if the whole left side of the curve is lopped off (they didn't test), the remaining 50%, say, of kids (those who are average all the way up to HG+), aren't well distinguished. I don't doubt that a young child who is average or slightly above can appear gifted with significant teaching to the test such as with services like this:
http://www.brightkidsnyc.com/test-prep/pre-k-1st-grade/erbwppsi-iv/ that are rampant in NYC.
