Education

N.Y.C. Candidates Support Gifted and Talented Program


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N.Y.C. Candidates Support Gifted and Talented Program

Both of the major-party candidates for New York City mayor, Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa, said they supported continuing the gifted and talented program in city schools, but with some changes.

Mayor de Blasio has announced a plan to phase out the existing gifted and talented programs. You both disagree with that decision. The programs include a controversial exam given to 4-year-olds. Will you keep the same test? And if so, how will you address the racial imbalance that results from the process? There’s only 2,500 slots available for gifted and talented out of 65,000 children who go to kindergarten. One of those was my son. I sat in the assembly hall. He went in for his test. He lost out. He did not get into gifted and talented, but we seem to be taking it out on Asian families and Southeast Asian families because they’re doing so well. We need to expand gifted and talented. So it’s in all schools, even if only three or two children qualify in the Bronx or Brooklyn. There should be gifted and talented in those schools. Education is so important to me. I shared over and over again, going through public school with a learning disability, undiagnosed until I got into college. That is why I believe that not only should we expand opportunities for accelerated learners, make sure it’s in every district in our city and every ZIP code. But we should also look at those children who learn differently. It doesn’t mean they can’t learn. We need to do dyslexia screening. We must make sure that we go for children with learning disabilities, so the opportunities and the barriers to education will be removed for all of our children. [Moderator] “Mr. Adams, your time is up. But just to pin you down on the question, will you keep the same test that is currently being used?” I made it clear that we need to look at that exam. I don’t believe a 4-year-old taking the exam should determine the rest of their school experience.

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