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Most New York public schools have a “gifted and talented” program for aspiring students. Annual performance tests are offered to identify outperforming children in standard disciplines. Those who qualify are enrolled in advanced placement programs with more demanding programs, which gives them an easier path to gain admission to better colleges. The programs are open to everyone and cost nothing extra, so every family has the opportunity to try and accommodate their children.
Unfortunately for Gotham’s parents, the results fell short of the expectations of the wide-awake crowd that ran the city government. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor of Schools Richard Carranza have repeatedly complained that the testing program is “unfair” because the students who end up in the program “do not reflect the diversity of the city’s population.” . In other words, not enough black and Hispanic students are found in advanced programs. So how does the town hall brain trust plan to “solve” this problem? It’s pie. They are going to remove entry tests. (CBS New York)
A big change is coming for New York’s “gifted and talented” programs for students.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chancellor of Schools Richard Carranza say the city will start phasing out the entrance exam.
Critics said the lineup of programs did not reflect the city’s diversity.
The chancellor taken to twitter to try to paint lipstick on this pig.
Gifted and talented programs cater to a small percentage of children, but we know a lot more @NYCSchools the students are exceptional. We need to move away from testing and develop a system that reinvents academic and enrichment programming for our most exceptional students.
– Chancellor Richard A. Carranza (@DOEChancellor) January 13, 2021
So you go “rethinking academic and enrichment programming for our most exceptional students? ” What does it mean? You can’t really have an advanced placement program without having a way to identify students who are really advanced and who would be able to thrive in a more difficult educational environment. Besides the placement tests, how do you propose to do it?
Mayor de Blasio has been denouncing gifted and talented programs for years, but it has always been a difficult issue for him to solve. The problem is, the “lack of racial diversity” he likes to complain about doesn’t normally collapse. If this was just a case where the lion’s share of program seats went to white students, he could just play the race card and trample the programs. Unfortunately for them, this is not the case. Year after year, the majority of seats have gone to Asian students.
The difference in results is particularly striking when you look at the per capita scores. Asians make up just 14.1% of the city’s population, far behind black, Hispanic and white residents. And yet, their students greatly outperform the others. This largely deprives Blasio of the chance to play the racing card. And if he eliminates the testing program, he will cut off one of the city’s minority populations in a massively disproportionate manner.
Unfortunately for the students who will be most affected, when Democratic politicians talk about minorities, they almost always forget about Asians. In their mind, the word “minority” applies only to black and Hispanic residents, although both outnumber Asians in all communities except a few local communities.
So if you want to remove the admissions testing system, how do you replace it with something that produces the desired demographic outcome? If it just works to be some sort of lottery, then why have an advanced study program? You are not going to choose the most advanced students at random. Plus, how is that fair for the kids? If a child who fails to perform well on placement tests is suddenly pushed into a much more advanced program, they will almost certainly flounder. Then you have to either bring them back to the regular school curriculum or lower the advanced class to the point where they can pass. If you go the latter route, you’ve eliminated the benefit of having a gifted, talented program in the first place.
It’s just more reporting of Blasio’s administration virtue and ranking racial insanity. All they’re going to do is further erode New York’s public school system and make it even harder for kids to get into college. But that’s obviously a small price to pay when trying to make it look like you’re actually fighting racism, I guess.
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