Adams Eyes Changes as Mayoral Control of Schools Hangs in Balance

New York City public schools will expand their gifted and talented programs in the coming year if Mayor Adams has any say in the matter.Mayoral control of the schools is set to expire on June 30, but Mr. Adams and his schools chancellor, David Banks, have unveiled a series of initiatives aimed at “expanding equity and access” for students across the city. “For the first time, there will be a Gifted and Talented Program in every school district in New York City,” said the mayor. “We have gifted and talented students all over the city. There’s no reason these programs were not all over the city.”Third grade will now be an important entry point, with G&T programs now offering seats for 1,000 more third graders. There will also be 100 additional kindergarten seats.The admissions criteria for these programs will also change. Pre-kindergarteners will be “screened for gifted behavior,” per Mr. Banks — meaning their eligibility will be determined by a teachers’ recommendations. For third-grade entry, the top 10 percent of second-graders in each school, based on GPA, will be invited to apply to the G&T program. Previously, parents would opt-in to the eligibility prerequisites — signing up their children for testing or requesting recommendations. Now, parents will be informed of their child’s eligibility and are only responsible for completing the application.For both kindergarten and third grade, all eligible students who apply will be entered into a lottery, from which the final determinations will be made.“I think it’s great that they’re doing universal screening,” a parent who is author of several books about New York City school admissions, Alina Adams, says. “But there’s absolutely no benefit to identifying more kids if you don’t substantially increase the number of seats available to them.”She estimates that as many as 15,000 kindergarteners could be eligible for the 2,500 seats. “Adding 100 seats is a drop in the bucket, especially if many more kids are going to qualify.”Mr. Adams’s move is perhaps best understood as a symbolic gesture of distinction between him and his predecessor. Mayor de Blasio had tried to overhaul the G&T programs and aimed to abolish them altogether. Under his leadership, the Panel for Education Policy discontinued the standardized test for kindergarten G&T admissions. In his lame duck period, Mr. de Blasio proposed eventually phasing out all separated G&T programs. This plan, known as Brilliant NYC, would have offered select students in integrated classrooms with accelerated learning opportunities at the teacher’s discretion.Mr. de Blasio’s ideas were met with harsh criticism — particularly from Asian American parents. Asian students make up approximately 43 percent of the G&T enrollment.John Liu, a state senator who represents a large Asian constituency in Flushing and Northern Queens, offered Mr. Adams lukewarm praise in a statement. “An expansion is welcome news,” he said, “although it relies on a lottery and nebulous recommendations that are a cause for concern to many parents and families. Going forward beyond this school year, the administration must be sure to engage parents and students … to address these outstanding issues.”Mr. Liu is chairman of the state senate’s Committee on NYC Education and will be a major player in deciding whether mayoral control is renewed. He has repeatedly emphasized that New York City’s public schools suffer from a lack of parental involvement in school oversight. Mayoral control, he has argued, does not sufficiently include parents in decision making processes. The mayor and the chancellor last week pointed to the expansion of G&T as an example of their willingness to listen to parents.“[W]e are expanding Gifted and Talented like never before, and we’re doing this because we have been listening,” Mr. Banks said. “We’ve only been here a few short months, but you have a full-on commitment that this administration is fully committed to listening to parents.”Still, Mr. Adams acknowledged that the issue of mayoral control is undecided, recognizing that his administration might “have to pivot and shift based on what rulings are given to us.” Nonetheless, he said that he was “extremely hopeful” about his ability to “move forward with a bold process of reforming our schools.”

Adams Eyes Changes as Mayoral Control of Schools Hangs in Balance

Adams Eyes Changes as Mayoral Control of Schools Hangs in Balance

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