It’s not just Seattle that’s struggling with a disproportionately high number of white and Asian students enrolled in gifted courses. If you’re paying attention to the conversation here, these stories might interest you:
- In Memphis, a school district changed the way it sorts students into gifted education. The old method relied purely on teachers’ recommendations. Now, Chalkbeat reports, the Shelby County school district is expanding testing for gifted-ness to all students in elementary and middle schools. “As a result, more black students are represented in the program’s newest K-12 cohort,” the publication states. Officials there noticed similar demographic mismatches to the ones that have plagued Seattle administrators for decades.
- While New York City, the nation’s largest school district, considers ending gifted programs across the board, one school there, PS 9 in Brooklyn, has agreed to phase it out. This fall, the school will begin to move to a model that offers “school-wide enrichment,” USA Today reports. The move comes after years of discussion tipped off by concerns of segregation within the diverse school.
- And in Olympia, Washington state senators have proposed legislation that would intervene in Seattle’s plans for changing gifted education. Our own Dahlia Bazzaz has the details about Senate Bill 6282, which, she reports, “would attach legal strings to one method school districts use to offer gifted education — in separate classrooms, away from other students.”
If you missed our earlier coverage, here’s your chance to catch up.
- What’s next for Seattle schools’ gifted programs? Here’s what we know so far
- Seattle Public Schools leans on history to change its gifted education program. Here’s what the archives show.
- Seattle School Board rejects proposal to blend gifted, general students at Washington Middle School
- A STEM partnership that would blend gifted education at Washington Middle School inches forward, awaits final approval
- Here are some of the recommended changes for Seattle’s advanced learning programs
- How equitable is gifted education in Washington state? And how can it improve?
- The push to find more gifted kids: What Washington can learn from Miami’s wins
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