New York City ~ Testing 3 Year Olds?

What

City education officials are searching for a new gifted admissions test for kindergarteners.

Why

• To correct for low minority representation in gifted programs and
• To address concerns that professional test preparation services allow wealthier kids to outperform other students.

Also

Test could work for children as young as 3 years old, in order to speed up admissions as well as simplify admission process for parents.

School Choice International Asks

How does testing affect a 3 year old?

From New York Times article, “New Gifted Testing in New York May Begin at Age 3”

Interested in the debate? Read more in The New York Times.

The School of One: Education of the Future

From The New York Times

The Problem

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American model of education is “fundamentally the same as it was a 100 years ago,” according to Joel I. Klein, New York’s chancellor of public schools.

High student-teacher ratio of about 25:1 makes effective teaching difficult.

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The Solution

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Supported by Cisco Systems, Google and Michael Dell, the New York City Department of Education is running a pilot program called School of One focuses on middle school math (due to the variety of computer programs available). The program allows teachers to effectively measure mastery of content, skill and achievement and individualize learning plans for each student.

The program features:

Playlists

In the morning every student receives an individualized schedule (or “playlist”) with lessons for the day. Overhead monitors display these playlists much like flight schedules in airports.

“Multiple Instructional Modalities”

Students benefit from several teaching styles including:

• Teacher led instruction (traditional instruction with one teacher to several students),
• One on one tutoring (with an adult),
• Independent learning (which may take place on a computer or in small groups), and
• Virtual tutors.

Daily Quiz

Students take a quiz at the end of the day, allowing a computer program to measure “mastery” and whether the child will move onto a new subject the next day.

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The Future

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Students who participated in a trial run last year scored 42% to 70% higher on math tests.

While the program is still in pilot mode, if it continues to be successful in educating students effectively, the model can be easily expanded as “all the analytics can be done centrally with cloud computing,” says Joel Rose, who runs the experiment

School Admission for Gifted Children

Here’s a great link to a documentary chronicling the enrollment process for gifted children in New York City. FASCINATING – whether you have kids or not!

~ CLICK HERE ~