Interested in next year's Gifted and Talented programs? If your child will enter kindergarten through 3rd grade in fall 2012, you may register beginning today, Sept 26, for G & T testing in January and February. The Department of Education has scheduled information sessions in October, but you can save yourself from an evening in a hot, crowded auditorium if you read the Gifted & Talented Program Handbookonline. The handbooks are also available at enrollment offices.

If you read through the directory and still are confused, then you may want to speak to a DOE official in person. Evening sessions--one in each borough except for the Bronx where there will be two--are held in large school auditoriums. Parents generally fill up the seats quickly, so go early if you plan to attend. The sessions run from 6 to 8 p.m., and begin on Oct. 5 in Manhattan. (See the schedule below).

The handbook has a list of schools that have G&T programs this year, but be forewarned there is no guarantee that they will have programs for kindergartners next year. Due to the low numbers of qualifying students there are no kindergarten G&T classes in districts 7, 9 and 12 in the Bronx, or in districts 16, 23 and 32 in Broklyn

You must sign up by Oct. 28. Register online or in person at your child's school, not by mail. A Request for Testing form (RFT) form is is included in the handbook. Non-public school parents may pick up the testing form and handbook at a Borough Enrollment Office and must file it there. A sample test is included. Whether you register online or in-person, make sure you get a receipt and hang on to it. That way you'll have proof of registration.

Last spring, the DOE said it would be selecting a new assessment tool to determine eligibility for G&T programs, but that has not happened yet and for 2012 applicants the tests remain the same: the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT), which accounts for 75% of the score, and the Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA) accounts for 25% of the score.

A child who scores in the 90th percentile, compared to students of the same age, will be guaranteed a slot in a district kindergarten or 1st grade G&T class, provided the family lists all available spots on the application. Scoring at or above the 97th percentile means a child is theoretically eligible for one of five citywide programs. However, most of those programs are filled by students scoring at the 99th percentile. Last year 970 incoming kindergartners scored in the 99th percentile, representing nearly a quarter of the just-over 4,000 who qualified over-all. That was down from 1,000 the previous year.

Here's the schedule of information sessions. And, for those who went through this process last year, please share your insights in comments below!

| Manhattan

October 5, 2011

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Brandeis High School

145 West 84th Street | Bronx

October 12, 2011

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Theodore Roosevelt Educational Campus

500 East Fordham Road | |
| Staten Island

October 6, 2011

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

New Dorp High School

465 New Dorp Lane | Brooklyn

October 18, 2011

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

MS 113 Ronald Edmonds Learning Center

300 Adelphi Street |
| Queens

October 11, 2011

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Long Island City High School

14-30 Broadway | Bronx

October 19, 2011

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

P.S. 121 Throop

2750 Throop Avenue |