How can I tell if my child should attend a gifted and talented program?
What does gifted mean?
How does my child’s school decide who is gifted and talented?
All good questions, parents! And ones with no easy answers because giftedness means so many different things to so many different people.
Teacher Evaluations: NYC DOE’s Gifted and Talented Program Identification Tool
In the absence of testing, you have to assume that there is a divide in any gifted and talented program between those who are high achieving versus truly gifted. Most schools have a screening and selection process to avoid arbitrarily assigning students to special programs, but NYC has abdicated this responsibility with its 2022 decision to move to teacher evaluations.
I am actually pro teacher evaluations for gifted and talented program entrance IF the following criteria are met:
- Teachers who are evaluating for nominations at the Kindergarten level are trained to look for true characteristics of G&T children AND are trained in early childhood education
- There is a published standard rubric for all teachers to follow regarding evaluations
Without these bare minimum criteria, you get the WILD WILD WEST free for all one the NYC DOE’s gifted and talented program nomination via the teacher evaluation methodology. It’s not pretty, it’s infuriating, and it’s a disservice to students who deserve to be in the program but are shut out for reasons beyond their control.
Some teachers tend to identify only students who achieve well, turn in homework on time, and listen/do what they’re told. It’s easy for a busy teacher to miss highly creative, messy, divergent thinkers. It’s also easy to miss children who come from diverse backgrounds or for whom English is a second or third language.
As with standardized tests, up to half of qualified kids may be missed when the teacher’s opinion is the only identifier. Researcher Jon Jacobs found that Kindergarten teachers nominated gifted kids with only 4.3% accuracy. Imagine what that percentage is like in PreK where there aren’t even formal common core standards to evaluate against (if the teacher cared about them as baseline standards to begin with)
What parents can do: compile a gifted trait inventory and supplement school
Here are some traits to identify and support a case for your child’s inclusion in a gifted and talented program:
- Shares the interests of older children or adults in games and reading
- Sticks to a project once it is started
- Has an extraordinary memory
- Uses many different ways or unusual ways of solving problems
- Likes to pretend and has a vivid imagination
- Asks a lot of questions about a variety of subjects
- Plans and organizes activities
- Progresses through developmental milestones at a rapid pace
There are other traits as well, but you get the picture. Self sufficiency and performing at a standard beyond the grade level’s expectations should be the minimum a parent can demonstrate when making a case for their child’s nomination.
Another things parents of PreK kids can do: supplemental learning for kids. Facts are facts. A PreK parent seeking a Kindergarten nomination who can say my child knows the following academic skills is in a much stronger position to advocate for a G&T nomination:
- All the sounds of each letter
- How to write all the capital letters and recognize all the lowercase ones
- Addition and/or subtraction facts from 1-20
- Skip counting
- Dynamic addition
- Etc.
The pitfalls of testing (and why it’s still better)
Testing has its pitfalls and isn’t fair as it penalizes test takers who are having a bad day. However, allowing a test taker to retake the test once more seems to be the fairer method, rather than abandoning standards completely and letting things play out.
Recently I witnessed an interesting exchange at Mr. 4’s pool where a child kept announcing to his parent sitting in the stands that she was a great swimmer even though she wasn’t swimming – she was putting her face in the water and not moving forward despite flailing about.
I gave that kid credit for being overly confident – fake it till you make it has always been how someone wins in the corporate world. But the fact that this 3-year old truly believed she was doing something she in fact could not yet do points to the problem with false identification of gifted and talented program admissions. It cheapens the experience for all even when there is a true need for such a program.
Parents argue that a gifted and talented program perpetrates inequality and segregation. It’s true – they do! And yet, you have to be exceedingly privileged to take away the tried and tested way for someone without intergenerational wealth or a lucrative, recession proof career path to have a chance at success without nepotism or cronyism.
The last semblance meritocracy resides in PK-12 education. Doing away with G&T programs is asinine without a plan to level the quality of education provisioning at ALL public schools. Not having standards is also asinine. One can’t fix the system, but parents can at least advocate for better outcomes and create their own gifted curriculum (to be discussed!).
Next up in the series: what to look for in a gifted and talented program (or put another way, what could really be that different between a G&T program and a general education program)?
