As parents seeking enlightenment about the city's public school gifted and talented offerings crowd into information sessions this week (tonight in Queens; tomorrow night in Manhattan), a new private school is recruiting students whose families are able to pay up to $28,000 for a G&T education.
The New York Times reports the opening this fall of the Speyer Legacy School on Manhattan's Upper West Side with 26 students in kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade. According to the article, 76 children applied for the slots. This contrasts with the 14,822 youngsters who tested for the public programs last year. Of those, 1,345 scored at the 97th percentile or above, qualifying them for 325 seats in citywide programs.
Meanwhile Hunter College Elementary School, open only to Manhattan residents, had 1832 applicants for 50 kindergarten seats.
The assessment process is different for private and public programs, and experts continue to debate the value of testing children as young as 4 years old. However, the demand for such programs is clearly there....will the supply increase? According to the Department of Education, the opening of new citywide programs is still under consideration.
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