Statement from Comptroller Brad Lander on NYC’s Gifted and Talented Program

“Segregating learning environments for elementary students, based on a teacher’s or test’s assessment of how smart they are, is not sound education policy. We’ve seen repeatedly that stand-alone G&T programs lead to racial segregation.

“Elementary school students benefit from learning alongside peers with different backgrounds, abilities, and interests. Let’s be clear: that’s one of the core virtues of public education.

“Scaling up a program which separates students, often along lines of class and race, is a retrograde approach that does nothing to improve quality education for the overwhelming majority of our students.”

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