The plight of the New York City parent with the Harvard crest in her mind’s eye has always been an anxious one. But with population growth leading to a dearth of kindergarten spots and longer waiting lists at top public schools from Park Slope to Sunset Park, the competition has intensified earlier. Yesterday the DOE released results of the test that scores whether incoming kindergartners can qualify for gifted and talented programs in the eyes of the city’s public-school system, launching the annual cycle of unease over where their single-digit-aged child will end up in the fall.
This year, 13 percent more kids took the test and 13 percent percent more scored in the 90th percentile or above. The kindergarten tests for private school showed a similar uptick in gifted scores. Emily Glickman, president of Abacus Guide Educational Consulting, which helps parents through private-school admissions, can explain it in three words: test-prep effect, citing the increased work, and resources, expended to qualify. Not that it’s helping.
You know our educational system is in need of reform when people who can afford admissions consultants for kindergarten can’t even get their second choice.
