Val, I think that's a terrific and simple idea. Of course it fits with my definition of giftedness: Special Educational needs that aren't likely to be met in the regular classroom.
Since 'the regular classroom' is certainly one's neighborhood school, and has nothing to do with someone else's neighborhood school across town taking the top 90% in each district seems totally logical if the district is rather uniform in demographics.
Since then, there have been two major developments, neither looking much more equitable than the old system. Blacks and Hispanics in gifted kindergarten programs dropped to 27 percent this year under the test-only system, from 46 percent under the old system (66 percent of city kindergartners are black or Hispanic).
I find this to be so sad. But I'm hopeful that a new system of some kind will be tried and perhaps a few more new systems will be tried until people find a way to get a reasonable outcome.
shrugs and more shrugs,
Grinity
