My son was sitting in the bathtub one evening a few months shy of his second birthday when he started to sing the ABC's. He also proceeded to count to 10. As his mother, I was totally unaware that he was able to do this. Although part of our bedtime ritual was to read books and whenever we were in a vehicle we would always be listening to children songs, I couldn't take full credit of his knowledge. Fortunately, our son went to a very active childcare/preschool. Ever since he was a year and a half, I knew he wouldn't have any trouble in school and could quite possibly go to any college of his choice.
I came across an article in the New York Times, that spurred my interest because of my son, about schools that are ONLY for the gifted students in the New York area. The first paragraph of the article started talking about a one and a half year old that also knew his alphabet, his numbers, as well as his colors. Although this particular student seemed gifted, none of the gifted and talented schools in the Upper East Side, Upper West Side, and Lower East Side would accept him. So his parents enrolled him into a school for precocious children in the West side called Speyer Legacy School. Annual tuition at this school that only caters to advanced learners is $28,500.
Since more and more families opt to live in the BIG CITY and also have multiple children, New York has limited gifted classes. Last year around 14,822 four year olds were tested to enter the city's gifted kindergarten programs. 3,231 of these children scored within the 90th percentile, qualifying them for the gifted programs in their neighborhood. 1,345 of the 14, 822 four year olds made the 97th percentile, qualifying them to enter a gifted program of their choice within three surrounding cities of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. But there's a problem...there's only a TOTAL of 325 seats. So that means fewer than half of the four year olds who scored in the 99th percentile (the highest possible score) are eligible for any gifted and talented school within the New York City area.
Now what? According to Rebecca Daniels, former president of the Community Education Council for School District 2, said that some families on the Upper East Side decided they were better off at their neighborhood school and others have quit the system for private schools. Private Schools in NYC use the same written curriculum as general ed classes, but add more complex themes and content.
Speyer Legacy School plans to admit 32 to 36 kindergarten students next fall. As of now, the school only goes up to 2nd grade, but hopes to expand to a total of 324 students in K-8 by 2015. "With gifted children, if you don't let them reach their potential, they will feel pressure to be the same as other kids, and that can cause them to shut down," said Lillian Yang a parent of a child who attends Speyer.
Our son attends a public school and we are very pleased with the results. The staff is very accommodating and our son still loves to learn.
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Denise,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic. I think that we have more gifted students in the U.S. than we know. When I think of a "gifted" student, I believe that the giftedness has more to do with than just academics.
However, I have mixed emotions about having schools ONLY for those recognized as gifted. Yes, this allows the school staff to focus on teaching them to reach their full potential. But what about the potential of students helping other students? What about differentiated learning? I believe all these can take place in a regular classroom unless there is a student who is so off the charts that they have a difficult time relating to others socially.
It's definitely something to think about.
Denise,
ReplyDeleteI found your article quite interesting. I too experienced my daughter reaching landmarks without knowing she was capable. Very exciting. I was very disappointed to learn that my child WILL NOT be a genius though because the Baby Einstein videos are a fraud. I simply can't believe it. (sarcasm oozing) I do have the videos and I love them, but didn't expect magical things from them.
It should definitely be the parents prerogative if that is how they want to spend their money on a 5 year old. I don't see how it is any different than a fine arts school. It is simply a speciality school and that is what they chose for their child. I have to be honest, if there was a music school around me I would not hesitate to put my daughter in it - if she wanted to. I say that assuming money was not object! They have to deal with the fact that there are limited openings for these schools as well.
I think there is the option for a differentiated classroom at the "gifted" level as well. Just because they are gifted children, doesn't mean they are are learning the same way.
When I was in elementary school, I was part of a gifted program. It was held within my regular school and I went to "Omnibus" once every two weeks for about an hour. We got to do higher level things at no charge to our parents and yet remained part of the regular class and school. I thought it was a pretty good way to go.
Elizabeth Haraseth
When I first read the title of your blog, I thought, “I want to teach only gifted children.” Now that I have read all the stats on the topic, I am thinking how thankful I am to be where I am. Since it is such an elite group of students who get to attend these ‘gifted/privileged’ schools, I am wondering what the attitude in the building is like. Do the students act like they do not have to listen to the teachers because they are part of the chosen ones? I also think the teachers would be under pressure to get students to meet their maximum potential.
ReplyDeleteThat is truly amazing. I wish we rewarded the super achievers more so than held them back in regular classes. The bad thing is there is no money to expand. These rigorous and challenging courses are the only way to encourage students who can do more than the minimum and change our futures someday. Leaders need to see this is critical to improving America. When I was in high school, I hated being in regular classes because of the apathy of classmates. Yet I didn't always want to do the work in honors. The theory was you did more work, not necessarily harder or challenging work. That theory seems to be disappearing as they are seeing IB programs become more stringent. The unfortunate thing at my high school was that the year after I graduated, all AP classes went to open enrollment. No more requirements to be smarter than average or take several honors courses beforehand to meet qualifications. This meant that every meat head who had a parent concerned with their school wanted their child in the classes. The result - my AP English teacher went from 2 AP classes to 4 and a diminished return on students actually willing and able to complete her coursework. Talk about dumbing things down. What sadness.
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