gifted and talented programs massachusetts

Rita Green works for the local NAACP office, a racial justice organization. The selection committee will also consider input from teachers, family and community members. They are no longer required to take a test to enter the program. Students will be admitted based on their performance. School leaders have since approved changes to the program. In its own recent study, Seattle public schools found only 0.9 percent of Black children had been identified as gifted, compared with 12.6 percent of its white students. She blamed it for worsening school segregation.

In Seattle, a former top official of the school system tried to end its gifted and talented program. They say it also cuts off a chance for students to move up, especially for those from poor families without the means to attend private schools. Critics of the push to end them say it punishes successful students. Gifted and talented programs aim to provide more demanding instruction for students who feel limited with the regular program. But only 4.5 percent of Hispanic and 3.5 percent of Black students are identified as gifted. New York City wants to phase out its program for gifted and talented studentsĪn Associated Press study of recent federal data found that nationwide, 8.1 percent of white and 12.7 percent of Asian American children in public schools are considered gifted. 5 Port Morris, an elementary school in The Bronx borough of New York. 17, 2021 file photo, students write and draw positive affirmations on poster board at P.S. The study found these students were disproportionately Black, Latino and Native American.įILE - In this Aug. But an additional 3.6 million who should have also been considered gifted were not included in the programs. schools identified 3.3 million students as gifted and talented. Gentry co-wrote a study two years ago that followed the racial inequities in gifted and talented programs. She is a professor of education and the director of the Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute at Purdue University in Indiana.

'I get the burn-it-down and tear-it-down mentality, but what do we replace it with?' asked Marcia Gentry. It is a question that is driving the debate over whether to grow gifted and talented programs or end them completely. They are trying to find ways to teach strong learners while continuing to help other students succeed. School leaders and parents increasingly have to deal with difficult questions over equity. They were created to compete with high-performing private schools. Many programs began as efforts to keep white families from leaving racially diverse public schools in urban areas. If it goes forward, that would be a big win for groups supporting an end to similar programs from Boston, Massachusetts, to Seattle, Washington.įrom the start, gifted and talented school programs drew worries they would produce an unequal education system in U.S. In early October, the mayor of New York City announced plans to end the gifted and talented programs in the country's largest school system. Some parents say they worsen racial segregation and inequities in the country's education system. Such programs have been under much criticism in recent years. American school systems usually have gifted and talented programs for students that show a high level of success.

Gifted and talented programs massachusetts