The Gifted and Talented students entering New York City public schools next year will find themselves in a newly revised program, one defined by what the Department of Education calls clear standards of giftedness and equalized access for all students.

The DOE’s Panel for Education Policy voted last week in favor of proposals to revise the Gifted and Talented program, which provides more challenging and faster-paced instruction for students who test into and choose to apply to the program. Students with a composite score on the tests in the top-fifth percentile will receive applications for district Gifted and Talented programs, and those in the top-third percentile can apply to one of the three citywide programs.

In keeping with previous reforms, students in the system will take two tests to see if they qualify for advanced instruction. Before, tests were only offered at a few locations in the city. Now, testing will be held at each school.

Parents contributing to a citywide online Web log have written that the program “appears to be headed in a more positive direction” and that the more easily-accessible testing “would really change the G&T landscape.”

Currently, some districts have many more Gifted and Talented programs and students than others. New reforms may redistribute programs throughout the school system to achieve the “equalized access” called for in the proposal. The plan states that each district will offer at least one program with 10 or more students involved.

The Upper West Side in particular has a disproportionate number of Gifted and Talented programs as compared to other parts of the city, with over 1,000 students enrolled in the accelerated classes. Many worry that some of the programs will go in light of the new policies in place.

In the Upper West Side’s District 3, the Community Education Council has said it is possible new reforms would lead to closures of local Gifted and Talented programs. Patrick Sullivan, the Manhattan representative to the Panel for Education Policy, sympathizes with the Upper West Side concerns. Sullivan was the only one of the nine-member panel to vote against the new policies. “It’s not clear that the proposal brings us any closer the stated goal of a more equitable system,” he wrote.

Opposition to new G&T reforms also comes from parents and officials who worry that the program reforms might put students not qualified for the program at a disadvantage. Specialized classes can affect the distribution of important resources within the schools, like teachers and classrooms. Leonie Haimson, local parent and executive director of Class Size Matters, said, “The more G&T programs there are, the harder it is to equalize class sizes across the school.” The Gifted and Talented classes themselves are subject to the same class-size regulations as other classes.

Alicia Outing can be reached at news@columbiaspectator.com.