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Brooklyn School Votes to End Gifted and Talented Programs to Diversify Classrooms
ny1.com ^ | June 19, 2019 | Jillian Jorgensen

Posted on 11/02/2019 12:06:01 AM PDT by grundle

As the city grapples with how to better integrate its schools, one Brooklyn elementary school has a suggestion: Getting rid of its gifted and talented classes.

"A test that kids sit for when they're three or four is not a measure necessarily of their academic capacity, but really a measure of the access to resources that they've had," said Kirsten Cole, co-chair of the school's Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

P.S. 9's school leadership team voted to send the proposal, which would phase out the program starting in 2020, to the district superintendent for his consideration.

The school, in Prospect Heights, is diverse. Cole said black students are underrepresented in gifted and talented classes.

"As the neighborhood has gentrified, the G&T track has gotten more and more white, more and more affluent," she said.

Most parents at the meeting were in support. But one said other alternatives, like his proposal to add diversity screening to gifted and talented classes, hadn't really been part of school discussions on the issue.

"I felt like the process that led to the G&T phase out proposal wasn't well considered, that it was set up in such a way that not everyone felt that they could have their voice heard," Michael Heimbinder said.

The school leadership team didn't recommend his proposal, with some saying gifted and talented classes are problematic by their very nature.

"I think that these programs foster a sense of entitled in these students that is not beneficial to the students themselves over the long term," school leadership team member Andrew Case said.

The vote comes as the city moves to end the use of a single test for admission to elite high schools and gifted and talented programs, which test much younger students, could be next. While some lawmakers, including State Senator Leroy Comrie, have proposed increasing gifted and talented classes in an effort to diversify the top high schools, Chancellor Richard Carranza has been skeptical.

"When you're talking about gifted and talented as a panacea, you're talking about further segregating children," he said earlier this year.

As for what comes next citywide, the mayor's School Diversity Advisory Group is set to issue recommendations on gifted and talented programs in the coming weeks.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: education; newyork
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To: grundle

“has gotten more and more white”
Well, says the leftist, we can’t have that! We can’t have Whiteys doing better than non-Whiteys! Every lefty “knows” that all races are equally gifted. Yes, and those test scores that continually and consistently show that Whitey does better than non-Whitey, well that means the tests are racist and we have to eliminate tests and just give everyone the exact same amount of money even if they are indolent and stupid.


41 posted on 11/02/2019 4:58:49 AM PDT by I want the USA back (The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. Orwell.)
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To: grundle

There are two ways to fix the “problem”. If they think the lack of black kids in G&T classes is due to lack of parental resources, provide additional resources to the black kids. If they think the problem is that black kids aren’t as smart as white and asian kids, eliminate the classes. They chose the latter option.


42 posted on 11/02/2019 5:04:44 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude
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To: jonascord

Separation of School & State

Public School is child abuse.


43 posted on 11/02/2019 5:20:35 AM PDT by TheNext (Leader of the Happy People of the World)
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To: grundle

And well... there you have it. Remember that we’ve joked about taking that A you got in your test and giving it to the class clown as a demonstration of socialism?

The schools are doing that now.


44 posted on 11/02/2019 5:21:42 AM PDT by Skywise
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To: TheNext

Brooklyn is child abuse


45 posted on 11/02/2019 5:21:46 AM PDT by bert ( (KE. NP. N.C. +12) Progressives are existential American enemies)
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To: Captain Rhino

In the story, intelligent people were subjected to loud distracting noises in their earphones. People now do this to themselves voluntarily.


46 posted on 11/02/2019 5:23:25 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: yldstrk

“If you have ever been in a class where the stupidity of the level of students had you impatient and upset, you get it.”

That was me all through grade school and high school, with a lot of boredom thrown in. There was no gifted and talented program in either school.

In second grade, I remember reading the reader on the first day and thinking, “Now what?”


47 posted on 11/02/2019 5:30:29 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: grundle

Make everyone there dumb - less work for the so-called teachers.


48 posted on 11/02/2019 5:33:38 AM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: Alberta's Child
Gifted & Talented is just normal. It is motivated, free children learning.

General public school is malnormal. It is abusive teachers dumbing down children.

Excellence is targeted for destruction.

Teachers hurt children.

Then they blame the parents. It is vicious teachers walking that picket line and pushing coerced bond measures, to rip off the kids.

Teachers are screwing the kids, and they know it, and do not care.

That is the tough reality. Quit holding them on a pedestal.

49 posted on 11/02/2019 5:34:15 AM PDT by TheNext (Leader of the Happy People of the World)
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To: Savage Rider

Our schools did away with their gifted/talented programs before my son could benefit from them. One of my nephews was in them though.

At the time the intent was to keep these kids from being bored and keep them learning and pushing themselves.

When i found out they did away with the program I started shopping at a local ‘teacher’s store’, asking them what i could do to keep my son challenged. He was spelling 3 letter words before he could talk or walk.

By the time he started kindergarten he was doing 500 piece puzzles.

He did excel in math and science and tested in the top 1% in the nation for his ACT score.

In middle school the school tried to pull a fast one and on his paperwork for high school they had some code on the form and i kept asking different people about it. Turns out it signified that he could not read. LMAO Like i mentioned earlier, they get extra funding for students that can’t read or need extra assistance.

I just didn’t understand why they didn’t use students that actually needed the help and not put something like that on a students paperwork when they were high performing students.

You have to be vigilant and watchful of the schools.


50 posted on 11/02/2019 5:45:52 AM PDT by Netizen
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
1. Problem: Black students are over-represented in suspensions and expulsions. Solution: End suspensions and expulsions.
2. Problem: Black students are underrepresented in gifted and talented classes. Solution: End gifted and talented classes.

3. Problem: White students are under-represented in athletics. Solution: End school sports.

51 posted on 11/02/2019 5:46:36 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
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To: Cowgirl of Justice

Sounds like they put you in a holding pattern, and just waited for the others to catch up with you.


52 posted on 11/02/2019 5:48:10 AM PDT by Netizen
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To: grundle

“Cole said black students are underrepresented in gifted and talented classes.”

The only possible reason for this is, of course, racism.


53 posted on 11/02/2019 5:57:08 AM PDT by bk1000 (I stand with Trump)
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To: grundle

God, save us from the Kirsten Coles of the world.

What an idiot she is.


54 posted on 11/02/2019 6:01:57 AM PDT by bkopto
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To: TheNext
In my state a few years ago there was a scandal in the news that was the exact opposite of the meritocratic “gifted & talented” story you see here. In that case, you had parents of intelligent, high-achieving kids gaming the system so the kids would be diagnosed with “learning disabilities” that entitled them to taxpayer-funded private tutoring at home, waivers of some course requirements, special conditions and extended time for standardized tests, etc. So you ended up with a ludicrous scenario where kids from the “remedial education” program were getting near-perfect scores on SAT exams and scholarships to top Ivy League schools.

It just goes to show you that “public education” is really nothing more than a racket that serves as a job program for a lot of people who would otherwise be unemployable.

55 posted on 11/02/2019 6:09:25 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.")
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To: grundle

I just love watching the left soiling their own nest, whether it be with the homeless, crushing taxes, things like this.

Is that wrong?


56 posted on 11/02/2019 6:12:54 AM PDT by americas.best.days... ( Donald John Trump has pulled the sword from the stone.)
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To: grundle

The Chinese develop their bright kids as a resource. We punish ours in the name of diversity.


57 posted on 11/02/2019 6:33:38 AM PDT by cyberstoic (I)
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To: Midwesterner53
The ultimate solution is to just get rid of white and Asian students completely and then the system will have utopia.

They are looking ahead, to future generations. Have you noticed the commercials on TV that contain couples? Rare to see one with same race pairs.

58 posted on 11/02/2019 6:40:46 AM PDT by Vinnie
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To: grundle

Of course..Gotta level that playing field because some little genius might be so interested in things of the mind that he/she will grow up to find out how to heal awful human disease and suffering. Then, that little genius might actually take some power away from the power mongers who control who learns and who doesn’t, who lives and who dies. That is hanging out there in the future if we cannot allow nature to decide what gifts people have that end up helping all the rest of us. This is disgusting. Trump is leaving NYC and I am sure, since he has lived there all his life that it isn’t easy. I feel sorry for the people who are trapped there without hope of ever getting out.


59 posted on 11/02/2019 6:53:39 AM PDT by jazzlite (,)
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To: grundle

This is the true sausage factory of public education. They wouldn’t dare cut programs to the “learning impaired” because they have carved out programs to put their parents on the government dole and they can control those votes. America’s Communist indoctrination plan has been in place for nearly 70 years and they keep hoping for that pure socialist generation for their revolution.


60 posted on 11/02/2019 7:35:04 AM PDT by Steamburg (Other people's money is the only language a politician respects; starve the bastards)
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