FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New York, NY – Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education (PLACE NYC) conducted a survey to find out how New York City parents feel about Mayor Mamdani’s plan to end the Gifted and Talented program for kindergarten starting in fall 2027. Parents largely oppose (68%) the Mayor’s plan to end kindergarten entry to G&T; opposition is higher (73%) among incoming parents who will be applying to NYCPS (New York City Public Schools) in the next four years, understandably so as these families would be directly impacted by a mayoral decision. The 521 survey respondents represented parents across the boroughs, the majority from Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn.
Expansion and Entry Points
Two thirds of parents support an expansion of the Gifted and Talented program (66%) while 26% said they do not. When asked which grades they wanted to see an opportunity for entry, kindergarten was highest with 64%, followed by third grade 60%, first grade 49%, second grade 46%; 11% said they do not believe in a separate G&T program.
“Raising children in the city has its own set of challenges, and school is on top of that list. The thesis that parents will consider switching elementary school half way through was debunked, as programs starting in 3rd grade have struggled to attract students. If Mayor Mamdani and Chancellor Samuels are serious about stabilizing enrollment, they need to offer high quality accelerated programs, and maintain the kindergarten entry point for G&T. The latter will particularly resonate with parents of multiple children for whom sending siblings to different elementary schools is logistically impossible,” said Debbie Kross, co-Recording Secretary of PLACE NYC.
Identification Methods
A large majority of parents would like to see universal screening with opt-out (64%) but 36% are fine with the status quo of parents opting in for their child to be screened for the program.
Since ending the testing contract in 2021, NYCPS relies on PreK teacher evaluations using a questionnaire; only 8% of respondents support continuing with this. Parents overwhelmingly support using an objective assessment: 43% want a combination of teacher evaluation and objective skills-based assessment, 36% want to reinstate the test and 12% had other ideas they shared in the comments.
What Incoming Parents are Saying
Since the end of kindergarten entry affects incoming parents, we asked that subset of respondents about their plans. 70% said they will apply to G&T, 17% were unsure and 12% said they will not. We asked how long of a commute they will handle with getting their kindergartner to school. 40% said “No limit; I’ll get my child to wherever my top choice is” while 37% said no more than 30 minutes, and 23% said no more than 15 minutes.
When asked what they will do if NYC ends kindergarten entry to Gifted and Talented programs for fall 2027, nearly half of the respondents said they will not enroll in NYCPS – 26% said they will apply to non-NYCPS options (private/parochial/charter), 20% said they will move out of NYC; about one-third (31%) will apply to their local zoned elementary school and 10% said they will move to a better school district. The rest (13%) provided separate comments about their plans.
Parents Have a Lot to Say
We received 198 comments and we read them all so we can advocate for what matters to NYC families confidently, with credibility. “As we move towards a new mayoral administration, we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensuring public school families have access to appropriately challenging curriculum and high quality instruction, with academics as the core focus of education. Matching students’ learning needs with merit-based opportunities is as important as ever,” said Lisa Marks, co-president of PLACE NYC.
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