Press

Schools Ask: Gifted or Just Well-Prepared?

When the New York City Education Department announced that it was changing part of its admissions exam for its gifted and talented programs last year, in part to combat the influence of test preparation companies, one of those companies posted the news with links to guides and practice tests for the new assessment.

The day that Pearson, a company that designs assessments, announced that it was changing an exam used by many New York City private schools, another test prep company attempted to decipher the coming changes on its blog: word reasoning and picture comprehension were out, bug search and animal coding were in.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/nyregion/new-york-city-schools-struggle-to-separate-the-gifted-from-the-just-well-prepared.html?pagewanted=all

City Ends Sibling-Preference Rule in Gifted Admissions

New York City education officials are rolling out several changes to the admissions process for gifted programs as they confront an explosion in the number of children qualifying for seats.

But none have created quite as much furor as the new policy that could send Rachel Fremmer’s daughters to different schools. “How does it benefit the schools to have parents’ time and money split between different schools?” said Ms. Fremmer, who has a 7-year-old daughter in the second-grade gifted program at P. S. 163, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and a 4-year-old daughter in preschool hoping to enroll there next year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/nyregion/new-york-ends-sibling-preference-for-gifted-program-admissions.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

公校資優班招生華生搶進

紐約、加州、伊利諾州等公校系統資優班近期陸續開始各類測試，由於近年來公校中普遍存在學生人數過多、教室擁擠問題，教育經費削減導致師資流失、教育質量漸趨惡化。越來越多家庭希望子女能擠進公校資優班，且為了提高勝算概率，不少家長在孩子剛學會走路就開啟「應試教育」，而年滿四歲參加至關重要的幼稚園資優班考試前，華人家長亦不惜重金送子女補習。

全美有37個州公校設立資優項目，但紐約市資優班規模為全美之最。去年有1萬2000多名學生參加資優考試。今年資優班考試申請報名截止時間為本周五(11月9日)。市教育局規定，凡2008年出生、將於明年9月入讀幼稚園的孩童均可報名，考試時間是明年1月至2月。

http://www.worldjournal.com/view/full_living/20661808/article-%E5%85%AC%E6%A0%A1%E8%B3%87%E5%84%AA%E7%8F%AD%E6%8B%9B%E7%94%9F-%E8%8F%AF%E7%94%9F%E6%90%B6%E9%80%B2?instance=usliving

New Gifted and Talented Test Leaves Parents Stumped

The new gifted and talented test isn’t just tough for 4-year-olds — it’s also stumping their parents.

The Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test — which preschoolers have to ace to win one of the city’s coveted public gifted and talented kindergarten seats for fall 2013 — quizzes kids on their spatial reasoning skills, asking them to analyze complex geometrical patterns.

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20121024/new-york-city/new-gifted-talented-test-so-hard-it-even-leaves-parents-stumped

Conflicted Over Gifted

All across the city, the Tiger Moms (the Tiger Dads, too) are awakening. It’s Gifted and Talented testing season, and the stakes have never been higher.

If you don’t have a child or plans for one, you can stop reading here. If you are fortunate enough to be able to shell out $30,000+ every year for private school, go back to your Hamptons house listings.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444734804578065011540940292.html?mod=WSJ_NY_RIGHTTopCarousel_1

Gifted and Talented Admissions Season Begins, With Big Changes

Gifted and talented application season has begun — and a new, harder admissions test could make it tougher than ever for kids to win a seat.

This year, 4-year-olds who hope to get into one of the elite public kindergarten programs will have to ace a spatial reasoning exam called the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test, which experts say is harder to prepare for than the tests used in previous years.

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20121012/new-york-city/gifted-talented-admissions-season-begins-with-big-changes#ixzz29HO0JaIG

Big Change in Gifted and Talented Testing

A new test for admission into New York City’s gifted and talented program will account for the bulk of a student’s score, upending a testing regime that a growing number of children had appeared to master.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444070104578042783816300100.html?mod=WSJ_NY_MIDDLELEADNewsCollection

Kindergarten Gifted and Talented Test to Get Harder, Experts Warn

The high-stakes test that determines which 4-year-olds get into the city’s gifted and talented program is about to get even harder — which means fewer kids may qualify for the sought-after public school seats in the future, experts say.

http://www.dnainfo.com/20120416/manhattan/pre-k-gifted-talented-test-will-get-harder-next-year-experts-warn

Fight for Middle School Spots Benefits Tutoring Firms

As their parents sat anxiously in a waiting room, five children were sharpening their test-taking skills in a tutoring center in TriBeCa, underlining words that might hold clues to the answers and crossing off the illogical multiple-choice options intended to trip them up. For homework, there were more practice problems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/education/new-york-citys-tutoring-industry-grows-with-competition-for-admissions.html?_r=2&ref=education

Cramming for ‘Gifted’ Kindergarten Test

How far would you go to get your child into one of the best public schools in the country? Would you spend thousands of dollars? Give up your weekend? Well, tonight we show you three families who did just that. Desperate to get their 4-year-olds into a Kindergarten for gifted kids.

http://abcnews.go.com/watch/nightline/SH5584743/VD55192262/nightline-413-cramming-for-gifted-kindergarten-test

Parents Spend Thousands on Test-Prep to Get Kids into ‘Gifted’ Kindergartens

Stressed parents, squirming kids, expensive prepping for standardized tests — welcome to the world of applying to kindergarten.

Yes, kindergarten. Thousands of 4-year-olds across the country spend an hour every Saturday or Sunday, sometimes both, with a tutor who helps them with analogies, comprehension and pattern-recognition.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/parents-spend-thousands-test-prep-kids-gifted-kindergartens/story?id=13857020#.T4iRHlE7WAi

School Admissions? Even the Experts Are Overwhelmed

It is by now documented fact that winning admission to a New York City private school, or getting into one of the city’s public gifted-and-talented programs, or even securing a spot at a popular neighborhood public school, is no fun. It takes time, epic organizational skills and a load of cash if you choose to prepare your children for whatever battery of tests they will have to face.

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/02/23/school-admissions-even-the-experts-are-overwhelmed/

Bright Kids NYC Completes OLSAT® Series with Release of OLSAT® Level G Practice Test

Top-rated children’s test preparation publisher completes the only comprehensive line of OLSAT® Practice Tests on the market.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/1/prweb9152474.htm

Bright Kids NYC to Offer New York State ELA and Math Classes

Eighty percent of students in the Bright Kids NYC 2011 ELA/Math pilot program scored 4′s on both sections of the state exams. Marking this success, they will be expanding the number of spots available in their 2012 State Test Prep Bootcamps.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/1/prweb9090756.htm

How To Prepare Your Preschooler For Gifted and Talented Tests

Last year, 14,088 4-year-olds took the gifted and talented entrance test. Under the city’s rules, all those who scored above the 90th percentile were eligible for seats in their district’s gifted and talented programs.

http://www.dnainfo.com/20120104/downtown/how-prepare-your-preschooler-for-gifted-talented-tests

State Tests Extended to About Three Hours

New York State math and language arts tests for elementary and middle school students will each be lengthened to about three hours beginning this April.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/education/new-york-state-tests-to-grow-to-three-hours.html?_r=2

Bright Kids NYC Launches an Indispensable OLSAT® Test Preparation Guide for Levels D through F to Address the Demand in the Market for Upper Elementary and Middle School

Top-rated children’s test preparation publisher Bright Kids NYC expands impressive library to provide the only comprehensive OLSAT® Preparation Guide for 4th through 9th grade entry on the market, while landscape of Gifted and Talented entry becomes increasingly more competitive.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/olsattestpreparation/1111/prweb8985949.htm

Bright Kids NYC Offers the Best CogAT® Test Preparation Materials For New Version of Test

Top-rated children’s test preparation publisher expands impressive library to provide preparation materials for the CogAT® 7, while landscape of gifted and talented entry becomes increasingly more competitive.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/11/prweb8938882.htm

Bright Kids NYC Offers OLSAT Test Preparation Book and Guide for Children Entering Kindergarten and First Grade

Increased competition to get into the top Gifted and Talented Programs requires that children are prepared with the best OLSAT books and materials available. Last year, in New York City alone, over 15,000 children took the OLSAT test in hope to qualify for a few hundred seats in the city’s top Gifted and Talented programs. Bright Kids NYC releases the best OLSAT test preparation book and guide available to date.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/09/prweb2886074.htm

Tips for the Admissions Test … to Kindergarten

Test preparation has long been a big business catering to students taking SATs and admissions exams for law, medical and other graduate schools. But the new clientele is quite a bit younger: 3- and 4-year-olds whose parents hope that a little assistance — costing upward of $1,000 for several sessions — will help them win coveted spots in the city’s gifted and talented public kindergarten classes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/nyregion/21testprep.html