CSS’s Lazar Treschan and Council Member Cornegy Talk Gifted & Talented on “BK Live”
The deadline to register for gifted and talented testing in New York City is November 9th. Testing is open to all students entering grades K-3 in 2016—but not all city school districts offer gifted and talented programs. CSS's Director of Youth Policy Lazar Treschan went on the air with City Council Member Robert Cornegy to talk about how this lack of access to gifted and talented programs at neighborhood schools can limit educational opportunities through high school and beyond.
Treschan’s latest report on admission to New York City’s eight elite specialized high schools finds that 85 percent of students offered admission to these top schools came out of city gifted and talented programs or otherwise selective middle schools. Meanwhile, at more than 40 percent of the city’s public middle schools, not a single student was offered admission to a specialized high school. “We need to be sure that young people in every community get the resources and support to get into gifted and talented programs,” says Treschan; “but we also need to keep looking up the scale [to higher grades] and make sure there are on ramps.”
Council Member Cornegy urges all eligible families to register for the test to show that the demand for gifted and talented programs is citywide—even in districts that don’t support their own programs. Check out more of this engaging conversation from “BK Live” on Bric TV: