New Gifted School for Fort Greene
Next September, the city will launch a new gifted and talented program at PS 20 in Fort Greene. Called the Technology, Inquiry, Enrichment and Research (TIER) Program, the new effort will launch with one kindergarten and one first-grade class in the fall and will ultimately expand through the fifth grade, reports the Inside Schools blog….
Next September, the city will launch a new gifted and talented program at PS 20 in Fort Greene. Called the Technology, Inquiry, Enrichment and Research (TIER) Program, the new effort will launch with one kindergarten and one first-grade class in the fall and will ultimately expand through the fifth grade, reports the Inside Schools blog. The PS 20 building at 225 Adelphi Street between Dekalb and Willoughby already houses a 450-student K-5 school and a middle school, the Urban Assembly School for Arts and Letters. The city is also adding one gifted program in Bay Ridge and one in Astoria. To qualify, students need to score in the 97th percentile or better on the OLSAT and the Bracken School Readiness Assessment.
Three New Citywide Gifted & Talented Schools [Inside Schools]
3 New Gifted Programs to Open in September [NYT/Cityroom]
New Brooklyn Citywide G and T Schools [MySidewalkChalk]
Photo from Bridge and Tunnel Club
I’m dubious about the program at PS 20. It is to be overseen by the current PS 20 principal, who has a history of extremely difficult relations with parents. While it’s true that PS 20 has participated in the District 13 gifted program, called LEAD, that’s nothing like the true gifted programs at the existing citywide gifted schools. I would be more enthusiastic about this one if it was to be run by someone experienced with real gifted programs and with children who are exceptional learners. Does this have anything to do with the fact that enrollment at PS 20 has been dropping? Is this new program slated to replace PS 20 in the long run? Why on earth did they choose the current PS 20 principal to run it? And why didn’t the announcement about new gifted programs in the outer boroughs include middle schools?
But does anybody know what this program will actually entail?
I’m not investigating schools, actually, just an interested bystander & neighbor– but a friend of mine who has a kid in a g&t program says that it’s just like the regular curriculum only faster.
Will that be the case with this program, too, or.. what does “inquiry,” “research,” etc. mean in this context?
Wasder, thanks, good to know. I was looking at the B69 route also, which seems better. Now all the kid needs to do is test in. 🙂
“With a five-year-old, the Ft. Greene one looks to be a 10- or 15-minute walk from the G train.”
Prof–its a bit misleading the way the subway exits are marked on the google map. The G train exits at Clinton and Lafayette and the school can be accessed from Clermont I believe. So even with a five year old it is more like 5-10 mins than 10-15.
it seems as if the ft. greene “school” is really some kind of middle ground between the current citywide programs and a regular district g&t in terms of structure…and that the bay ridge school is really the one designed to be competitive with the manhattan citywides. i definitely support the idea of the ft. greene school. but i wonder, if the current administration at ps 20 can’t do better than they are with the school they already have, how they’re going to manage with a new “self-contained” program within the school. hopefully the DOE will give him lots of support.
We are applying for kindergarten in the fall and are awaiting the G&T test results. It’ll be interesting to see how many people apply to these new citywide programs and whether they become as sought-after as the three Manhattan-based programs. I suspect not, mostly because of the locations and placement within already-functioning schools. Also, I’d probably rather send our child to a district G&T, which is more conveniently located and has a track record.
This is great news — the one thing that might have gotten me to move back to Manhattan is if my son eventually tested into the citywide G&T program. It’s great that there are now Brooklyn options.
It is annoying, however, that, like the existing NEST school on the LES, neither Ft. Greene nor Bensonhurst is anywhere near a subway stop. With a five-year-old, the Ft. Greene one looks to be a 10- or 15-minute walk from the G train.
After reporting on these school openings on my blog http://www.mysidewalkchalk.blogspot.com it was brought to my attention that 50 Ave. P is not in Bay Ridge. I am not an expert on the neighborhood boundaries but it seems more appropriate to list it as Bensonhurst.