City Lowers Gifted, Talented School Standards

Gifted and talented admissions scores are coming in, and it seems that when the city raised the test cutoff in November, it may have overestimated two factors: gift and talent.

The overhaul set out to reach a broader applicant pool and set a single standard of admission; more students would apply, and they would have to score in the 95th percentile.

Now, to keep the programs roughly the same size as they are this year (about 2,300 students are expected to get offers compared to 2,400 last year), the city is moving to lower that standard to the 90th percentile — even though the number of applicants has more than quadrupled to 50,000.

The department is also moving to lower the number of students needed for a gifted program to be created to eight from 10. Even with that change, figures suggest that Districts 4, 7, 16, and 23 might not have enough qualified students to fill the minimum, meaning students would have to travel to a program in another district. Their low figures are not final, however, and more data could come in, a schools spokesman, Andrew Jacob, said. Other districts are also likely to get more gifted and talented classes, Mr. Jacob said.

Parents will receive their children's test scores in the mail by the end of this month, Mr. Jacob said.