City Council to Propose Overhaul of City’s Gifted and Talented Programs

This article was written by C. Zawadi Morris.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, D-Manhattan, will propose legislation today that calls on city officials to double the number of schools for gifted and talented children and add slots to existing programs over the next nine years, The New York Times reported.   

The proposed overhaul would create 8,700 new seats and move to diversify the pool of students who would have access to such programs - particularly those students from disadvantaged backgrounds.   

Quinn said the city’s elite academic programs had become havens of privilege that “in no way, shape or form reflect the diversity of our city.”  

The new plan would also provide a greater options for children from middle- and upper-class families, whose parents have long complained about the level of academic rigor at neighborhood public schools.   

However, a DOE spokeswoman said that relaxing the city’s requirements for admission into programs for high-performing students would only make it easier for those well-connected parents to pull strings.