Amid mounting debate about how New York City public schools can improve education equity, Amy Stuart Wells, Professor of Sociology and Education, argues in the Gotham Gazette that new recommendations by the city鈥檚 for overhauling 鈥済ifted and talented鈥� education programs are solidly based on research.
Amy Stuart Wells, Professor of Sociology and Education. (Photo: 麻豆原创 Archive)
Wells and her coauthor, NeQuan C. McLean 鈥� both members of the advisory group that made recommendations to the New York City Department of Education 鈥� write that the city鈥檚 current gifted and talented programs 鈥渁dmit students based on an arbitrary cut-off score on one standardized test鈥� and 鈥渁re disproportionately located in affluent areas of the city and relatedly, serve a disproportionate number of white and Asian students.鈥�
鈥滻t鈥檚 time to let go of our 20th century model of educating a small number of students with poorly-defined academic "gifts" and adopt a 21st century model of appreciating the many different gifts within students and the family and community cultures that foster them,鈥� they write.
Read the full op-ed in .