As the last glorious day of Spring Break washed over us in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden–a happy mess of pink petals and muddy feet–an e-mail slid silently into my in-box. At home that evening, I saw it: “your child meets the criteria for entry into a New York City Gifted & Talented program.” I glanced over at said child, who was serenading our dog while decking him in Easter grass, wholly unaware of the meaning behind that little bit of multiple choice she had done a couple of months ago.

Turning back to the laptop, I followed the link to her results, which announced that she had indeed qualified for a district program but missed the cut-off for a citywide seat. No big surprise. In order to qualify for one of NYC’s five citywide programs, such as NEST+m or the Brooklyn School of Inquiry, a child must place in the 97th percentile or above, but even those eligible for a citywide program are not guaranteed one. This year, 1,803 rising kindergartners who met the cutoff will vie for about 300 citywide seats.

My daughter Leia, however, would be guaranteed a seat at one of the three district G&T programs for which she is eligible (for us, that’s District 15), should we decide to apply. Will we? We will do some research between now and the May 10 deadline, but our sense is already "no." Her current school, PS 29, does not have a gifted track but follows a school-wide enrichment model, which provides good exposure to the arts and creative exploration of curriculum topics.<!--more-->

Some parents I've known at PS 29 have tested their children in Pre-K “just to see,” but in the end opted to keep them at the school rather than commuting to a district gifted one; others have made the decision to switch to a citywide program after pre-K. I also know those who have moved their children back into the neighborhood school from district G&T programs.

Many of us question the validity of testing 4-year-olds even as we do it.  The testing process needs a major overhaul, and should be a more thorough and thoughtful examination. What pre-K child can be assessed on the basis of a one-hour test? I've heard from  parents whose children were tracked as "gifted" at an early age, only to reveal themselves as average students later. And what about truly bright children in failing schools who miss their ticket out by one or two points? Google “NYC gifted prep” and you’ll see countless ways to game the system. It's possible that, had we prepped our daughter for the test, a few extra points could have boosted her into a citywide program. But then, would she truly have been in the right setting?

Did your child take the G&T test? Were you surprised by the results, or not? And, do you think the testing process needs an overhaul?