P.S. 26 Jesse Owens

PS 26 in Bedford Stuyvesant is a neigborhood school with a "gifted and talented" program starting in 3rd grade, designed to offer greater academic challenge to bright students in black and Latino neighborhoods. 

One mother told the Wall Street Journal the gifted program "fostered independence" in her daughter, who comes home with research to tackle. "I try to help her and she says, 'No, we have to do it on our own!'" the Journal quoted the mother as saying.  Children are selected for the program "by a mix of report cards, written work and teacher recommendations," according to the Journal. 

Overall, the school gets high marks from teachers, who uniformly praise the prinicpal, Cynthia Celestine, and say they would recommend the school to parents.

One downside: the school's attendance rate is below average.

Admissions: Zoned neighborhood school. Gifted program open to students in District 16, based on recommendation of 2nd grade teachers. (Clara Hemphill, news reports, February 2019)