There are not enough G&T seats in NYC

Alina Adams runs the numbers and shows how NYC lacks seats for advanced students

Last week, New York City families found out if – and where – their children had been offered a place in one of the public elementary school citywide or district Gifted & Talented programs. The process used to select students at this grade level is notorious for going against the documented science on how it should be done.

But it’s also more or less moot. Very few spots are available for entry in grades 1 through 4. The majority of public school G&T seats are allocated at the Kindergarten level, using a different process than the one for higher grades.

Not that the K process is any better. In my 20+ years of working as a school consultant, I have tried to explain to parents just how badly the odds are against them, no matter how “gifted” their child is.

To help drive the point home, I’ve broken it down by the numbers:

Even if you assume that intelligence testing for a 4/5 year old is valid (I don’t, and I have the research to back it up), then 1 percent of NYC kids would score in the 99th percentile.

In a city where some 70,000 students apply to every grade level, that means 700 kids. (That’s in theory, in practice over twice that amount tested in the top percentile, when compared to national norms.)

Hunter College Elementary School only accepts 50 Kindergarteners. In all five of the public citywide, accelerated schools (i.e. Anderson, Nest+M, TAG, BSI and 30th Ave), there are about 300 seats total at the entry level.

Throw in the “Divine Dozen” of “top tier” (another term I don’t like) private schools for an additional 600 or so seats, and you’ve got under 1000 possibilities. (And that doesn’t take into account that you probably won’t be able to travel to all of them, and that some of the private schools are single-sex, so not available to you.)

But even Hunter CES moves the top 2 percent to their second round. So now you are talking about 1400 “highly gifted” NYC kids. Citywide G&T’s used to accept the top 3 percent, so a theoretical 2100.

Back when there was a test for public school G&T, the top 10 percent of applicants were eligible for district gifted program seats. So that’s 7000 “gifted” students competing for only 2500 public school spots citywide.

Now, with no test, just a teacher or parent nomination, over 10,000 qualify... for the same 2500 placements in public school.

Whenever I talk to parents, they hem and they haw, and then, eventually, they come out with, “I know every parent thinks this, and I know every parent says this, but I really believe that my child is advanced -- and their teachers agree!”

My standard response is, “I believe you. I believe that the majority of NYC kids are capable of doing work at a higher level than what public schools offer. I believe that if you are spending the time and money to speak to me, your child has been parented well enough to qualify as “gifted” based on the tests we have available. Yes, they are advanced. But, the problem is, so are many of their peers. The good news is, whichever school you land at, odds are, most of your child’s peers will be equally “gifted” so you don’t have to worry about them feeling different or like the odd man out. The bad news is, if you have your heart set on a particular school, know that, yes, your child is likely perfectly qualified for it. But so are 1000s of other children.”

And, when it comes to private schools, if Admissions has a choice between a child in the 99th percentile needing financial aid, and a child in the 98th percentile who can pay full, whom do you think they will select? Is that 1 point on a meaningless test really worth giving up tens of thousands of dollars that can be used to keep the lights on for all students?

“But, that’s not fair!” the parents I speak to protest.

They’re right. It’s not.

But here is the problem: It’s unfair to everyone, not just you.

As long as parents focus only on getting the best education available for their child, and ignore the fact that the majority of children could benefit from an “accelerated” curriculum, they will be hurting all students.

I was born in the former Soviet Union. I am about as far away from a Marxist as it is possible to be. And, yet, if anything will get me to admit that ol’ Karl might have had a teeny, tiny point about one thing, it is this: The people in charge ARE pitting families against each other, as a way to hoard privilege for themselves.

They do it when they pit Asian immigrant families against Black and Hispanic families over Specialized High School admissions.

They do it when they remove middle school honors programs in the name of “equity” and call anyone who doesn’t agree racist. (And if you’re a person of color who doesn’t agree, then you’re brainwashed. Or a tool.)

And they do it at the very earliest level, by imposing an artificial scarcity on “gifted” programming, despite their own metrics suggesting the majority of students would benefit from it, so that families will be kept busy fighting over scraps, instead of demanding an overhaul of the entire public school educational system.

We shouldn’t be arguing over what qualifies as “gifted” or who should have access to the pathetic programming that NYC deems as “advanced.”

We should be fighting to raise the bar for all children, at all schools. And give every child the education they need – and deserve.

Alina Adams is the author of “Getting into NYC Kindergarten” and “Getting into NYC High School,” and a school admissions consultant. Got questions for her about your child’s gifted education options - or anything else? Join her “Ask Me Anything (About NYC Schools)” workshop on Wednesday, June 24th. RSVP here.