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Hundreds More 4-Year-Olds Qualified for Gifted Programs This Year

By Julie Shapiro | April 13, 2012 4:53pm

MANHATTAN — Hundreds more 4-year-olds won a coveted spot in the city's gifted and talented program this year compared to last year, the Department of Education announced Friday.

A total of 14,249 preschoolers took the hour-long gifted test this winter, and more than one-third of them — 4,912 — qualified for one of the sought-after kindergarten seats, the DOE said.

That's nearly 900 more kids than qualified last year, when 14,088 preschoolers took the gifted test and just 29 percent scored high enough to get a seat, the DOE said.

Michael McCurdy, co-founder of TestingMom.com, believes kids are doing better on the test because their parents are working harder to prepare them.

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Gifted & Talented Quiz
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Billy Figueroa

"More parents are taking test preparation seriously and are not leaving it to chance," McCurdy said. "Parents are much more in tune now to what happens on the test…and the impact the test has on children's future."

Families whose children qualified for a public school gifted and talented seat now have until April 20 to submit an application listing the schools they would like their child to attend.

Children who scored a 90 or above can apply to any of the G&T programs in their district, while those who scored a 97 or above can also apply to the five elite citywide gifted schools.

This year, the school district with the most gifted and talented test-takers was District 2, which stretches from TriBeCa to the Upper East Side. Nearly 1,800 preschoolers in the district tried for a gifted and talented seat, and 949 of them qualified, the DOE said.

Other school districts with hundreds of high-scoring kids include the Upper West Side's District 3, where 505 preschoolers qualified; southwest Brooklyn's District 20, where 333 preschoolers qualified; and southeast Brooklyn's District 22, where 286 preschoolers qualified.

While some neighborhoods saw more than half of the test-takers qualify for gifted seats, others had much lower acceptance rates.

Just six out of 79 preschoolers in the South Bronx's District 7 scored high enough to get a gifted seat, and in Bushwick's District 32, just 12 out of 98 preschoolers qualified for a gifted spot.

Families with concerns about their child's score can submit a question online or ask to view the test.