G&T info sessions begin this week
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Parents who plan to test their kids for Gifted and Talented programs may attend Department of Education information sessions to learn details about the G&T process, from test to placement. Evening sessions - one in each borough - are held in schools with large auditoriums. Parents generally fill up the seats quickly, so plan to go early. The sessions run from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The first session is tomorrow, Oct. 14, in the Bronx at Roosevelt High School. Next week there are four sessions: In Brooklyn at MS 113 on Oct. 19, on Staten Island on Oct. 20 at New Dorp High School; in Queens on Oct. 21 at Long Island City High School; and in Manhattan on Oct. 22 at Brandeis High School.
Reminder: the deadline to request a ticket to the test is Nov. 6. A Request for Testing form (RFT) is included in the handbook, and you may file it online or at your child’s school. You can read the handbook online or pick up a copy at your neighborhood school. Non-public school parents may pick up the testing form and handbook at a Borough Enrollment Office and must file it there. A sample OLSAT test is included.
Handbooks in translations to eight languages will be online soon, according to the DOE. The languages translated by the DOE are Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu.
Let us know if you plan to go. If you do, please share what you learn about the process!
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I want to give my son another chance to have OLSAT test for his 1st grade next year.
He is in the District G&T program now. If he got a perfect score, then he would have a chance move up to the Citywide program; if he got a bad score, is it possible that he will be kicked out from the current District G&T program?
Thank you for your advice
Comment by Brooklyn Dad — October 14, 2009 @ 6:06 pm
Meanwhile, the leadership changes at NYC DOE for special education have delayed the pretty good 4-year old “system” for helping parents of preschool children with disabilities learn about their “turning 5″ process through fall district orientation fairs and the well-written “transition from preschool special education to kgn…” guide that should have been available by now. Information is barely available now — when it is needed most.
Once again, young children with disabilities and other special needs and their families, who are just as eager to start the kgn planning process, are on the back burner at the NYC DOE. Shame on the mayor, the chancellor and the new leadership for special ed and ELLs — and who thought to link these two segments of the student population together like this ?
Comment by Anonymous — October 15, 2009 @ 8:05 am
They’re linking SE and ELLs? How…typically idiotic. What does SE have to do with ELL?
Comment by Julie — October 15, 2009 @ 10:28 am
Brooklyn Dad, even if your son did not score well this time,he still gets to stay in his current district G&T program.
Comment by Anonymous — October 15, 2009 @ 2:15 pm
citywides are overrated TAG leadership and direction is the worst district programs have more time and patience
Comment by hate TWEED — October 16, 2009 @ 9:53 am
DOE needs more accelerated programs. There are not enough seats in the citywide programs, so why not allow G&T programs in the higher scoring districts (like D2 and D3) to have a more accelerated cirriculum?
My kid and all the kids in her District G&T class are capable of doing more accelerated work. DOE needs to allow the G&T teachers to teach to the kids level and not adhere to the DOE curriculum.
Comment by Anonymous — October 21, 2009 @ 10:29 am
I had a kid in district 26 G&T now in HS and also have another, in 6th grade currently. The curriculum has hardly been what it should have been for either of my childrens’ classes overall. At the elementary level IF they were lucky enough to have a teacher who was motivated, they did get some more challenging work than regular classes. (Tho NEVER in science, which should be a priority for gifted students! Science has been a disappointment at every grade level.) In middle school, other than the chance to take the math and science Regents curriculum in 8th grade, and some more enriched math in 6th and 7th grades, the rest of the subjects are taught pretty much the same as everyone else’s classes (i.e. often sub-par and not in the least challenging or stimulating to gifted students). It behooves me and the rest of the parents why they bother calling this a gifted program at all in middle schools, in this district. The district pays no attention to what actually is going on in these classrooms; the principals leave it up to the teachers who with rare exception do not differentiate between the gifted class and their other classes. Or perhaps just give them MORE of the same work “because you are the magnet class” rather than more APPROPRIATE work as a substitute or enhancement. (which is not at all beneficial to gifted kids and almost like a punishment) Why bother calling it a gifted program — to attract these kids to the school to bring up the school test scores perhaps? Or because they “have to” but would actually rather not administer the program? It’s clear that very little attention is given to making this G&T “Magnet” program what it is purported to be both at the school and the district level. It seems one is monitering the curriculum of these courses. If I would have known better years ago, I would have had my children apply to the citywide program which it seems is more what it g&t is SUPPOSED to be for these students. Or perhaps that isn’t all what it’s cracked up to be either.
Comment by Anonymous — October 21, 2009 @ 10:53 am
My two kids attends ps230 and are in the gifted class.I am amazed that most of the parents don,t like when the kids get home work.My kids does extra work at home every day of the week.
Comment by annonymous — October 21, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
i wanted my child be tested in mandarin for G&T prog. Will it effect the school option (g&t) if he score above 90% since he is tested in mandarin and not english
Comment by jean — October 27, 2009 @ 10:59 pm
How does information about the G&T info sessions and RFT deadline get distributed? I happened to be on the DOE website today looking up something else and stumbled across the fact that the deadline has come and gone.
Comment by Jessica — November 15, 2009 @ 5:29 pm
My daughter used to got to PS 56. Then she got admission to a gifted and talented program at Sputyn Duyvil in Riverdale. Now she has to wake up early and take the bus to school. PS56 had nice parent teacher workshops in which parents sometimes received free books and manipulatives. In contrast, Sputyn Dyvil keeps asking for more donations but does not have such nice programs or free giveaways. It may feel like an accomplishment to get into a gifted program, but one should try to take advantage of the advantages that less privileged places have to offer. It would be nice if a person had gotten admission to the program without officially leaving the local school. In the final analysis, the best education may not be gained by going to s school of high reputation but rather by going to different schools.
Comment by George Jacob — February 10, 2010 @ 10:56 am