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The mayor’s plan for the future of gifted education is similar to a proposal made in 2019 by a working group he assembled on school integration measures – a plan he had, until present, largely ignored. Friday’s announcement will be good news for many activists who have said the current gifted system is outdated and unfair.
While the outcry from these advocates undoubtedly played some role in the mayor’s decision, nearly eight years of private pressure was even more significant from the three chancellors of the mayor’s schools, all of whom were skeptical. , even totally opposed, to Classes.
The mayor’s first chancellor, Carmen Fariña, got rid of the gifted classes at Manhattan Elementary School that she led for many years as principal. Second Chancellor Richard A. Carranza resigned earlier this year, in part because he was frustrated by what he saw as the mayor’s reluctance to take bold action to educate the gifted and talented.
If Mr. de Blasio’s announcement represents a major change for New York, it is hardly a pioneer. Many districts across the country have already moved away from separating children because of their perceived academic abilities, and education experts largely agree that New York’s practice of sorting 4-year-olds into gifted classes was not supported by research.
Labeling students as gifted and removing them altogether from general education classrooms often exacerbates segregation, removes resources from mainstream public schools and undermines education for all other students, experts say, while children who are need special support can still receive appropriate attention in regular classrooms and schools.
But teaching children with a wide range of abilities in one classroom is difficult, which means that much of the success of the plan will depend on the city’s approach to training educators.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Teachers’ Federation, said he believed crucial details of the plan would be worked out by the next administration. Mr Mulgrew, who has consistently called for the elimination of separate gifted classes for K-2 children, said he believed some children in Cycle 2 of elementary school would still end up being sorted by ability, despite the mayor’s new plan.
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