How New York fails students who are gifted but poor

The New York Post reports:

New York is leaving gifted children behind.

Scads of K–3 students in low-income neighborhoods aren’t even taking entrance exams for gifted programs. Four of the city’s 32 school districts don’t even have programs for gifted students, and many that do aren’t getting the word out. Which leaves it to savvy, pushy parents and watchful teachers to nudge kids forward, an arrangement that nearly always works better in middle-class communities.

Officials promised to continue trying to boost these numbers — but that’s not all that ails New York City’s approach to high-ability learners.

Every January, K–3 students who sign up for it may take a test to get into one of the city’s generally oversubscribed gifted programs. There’s a single city-wide score used to separate the wheat from the chaff: Pass, and you’re in; fail, and you’re not.

Progressive education: achieving equality by making sure talented kids have similar outcomes as non-talented kids.