School
NEW YORK CITY, NY (77WABC) – Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans Friday to scrap the Gifted and Talented program in New York City public schools.
The controversial program, which critics claim favors white and Asian students, will be replaced with a new plan called Brilliant NYC. The new program will roll out in December.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the change will help tens of thousands get advanced instruction, instead of just a select few.
“The era of judging 4-year-olds based on a single test is over,” he said in a statement. “Every New York City child deserves to reach their full potential, and this new, equitable model gives them that chance.”
The entry exam identifying students as “gifted” will be eliminated, officials said Friday. Under the old status quo, about 2,500 incoming kindergarteners per year passed the optional exam, going on to spend their elementary school years in separate classrooms and schools.
Under Brilliant NYC, all students will receive “accelerated instruction” featuring real-world projects about topics like robotics and community organizing starting in kindergarten, according to officials. Instruction will begin in kindergarten and the city says it will hire more teachers who are trained to apply this type of instruction.
City officials say the new plan will serve 26 times more students than the current gifted and talented program, which admits 2,500 kindergarteners, city officials said.
The Gifted and Talented test also known as G&T was scrapped last year amid the pandemic. The last group of students in the program will still take G&T classes in their current form over the next five years.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, the Democratic nominee for mayor, campaigned on promises to keep the gifted exam for 4-year-olds and expand the number of separate gifted classes across the city.
Republic nominee Curtis Sliwa has also been a proponent of G&T and tweeted today, “It is disgraceful that Mayor de Blasio just announced the elimination of gifted & talented programs. As NYC Mayor, I will immediately re-implement gifted & talented programs, while also increasing testing resources so all students can adequately prepare for the admissions exam!”
