"When mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani reiterated his intention in Thursday night's debate to eliminate gifted programs for the city's youngest students, his opponents quickly shot back with promises to move in the opposite direction. Curtis Sliwa and Andrew Cuomo pledged to open up more gifted classes. "We don't have enough slots," said Sliwa, the Republican nominee, who pledged to double the size of the kindergarten program."
"Cuomo, the former New York governor running as an independent, touted his plan to expand gifted and talented programs. Meanwhile, a group of state and city lawmakers are hoping to go even further, introducing legislation last week that would force the Education Department to scale up gifted classrooms across the city. But funneling more students into gifted classrooms, which disproportionately enroll white and Asian American students, might be easier said than done."
Mayoral candidates and some lawmakers are proposing to expand gifted and talented classrooms across the city. Curtis Sliwa pledged to double the size of the kindergarten program, and Andrew Cuomo proposed expanding gifted and talented programs. A group of state and city lawmakers introduced legislation to require the Education Department to scale up gifted classrooms. The city previously opened dozens of gifted programs in underserved areas, with 38 schools hosting new rising-third-grade programs and eight new kindergarten programs. Gifted classrooms disproportionately enroll white and Asian American students. Formal admissions fell by more than 1,000 between 2019 and 2023, while total enrollment including moved students reached nearly 18,000, about 5% of elementary students.
Read at Chalkbeat
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]