San Antonio is using school choice to integrate its schools — and to raise test scores, report Beth Hawkins on The 74. San Antonio’s booming economy hasn’t reached the 78207 zip code on the West Side, she writes. Three years ago, a new superintendent, Pedro Martinez, “created a map showing the depth of poverty on each city block and in every school in the San Antonio Independent School District.” With an enrollment that’s 91 percent Latino and more than 6 percent black, Marti

“Gifted” programs are becoming “enriched studies” in Montgomery County, Maryland, reports Dana Goldstein in the New York Times. The goal of the huge school system, which is both high performing and diverse, is to qualify a broader mix of students for advanced work. In hopes of closing “the excellence gap,” Montgomery County has turned its elementary magnets for “highly gifted” students into Centers for Enriched Studies, which are supposed to enroll “students who are outliers

Screening all children for giftedness could help close the “gifted gap” and reduce inequality, suggests a Fordham report. Only 6.1 percent of students in high-poverty schools have access to advanced learning, compared to 12.4 percent of students in low-poverty schools. Photo: Wisconsin Center for Academically Talented Youth Failing to develop the potential of capable students from low-income families means “we lose potential Einsteins,” write Amber Northern and Checker Finn i

Gifted classes in Miami schools include a mix of low-income and minority students, reports Claudia Rowe for the Seattle Times. That’s because the district uses a different standard for identifying disadvantaged children as “gifted.” In Miami, middle-class and affluent kids need IQ scores of at least 130, while low-income children or those whose first language is not English can get in with scores 13 points lower — provided they rate highly in measures of creativity and academ

School doesn’t prepare students for life, writes Rich Stowell on Medium. It prepares them to comply. His creative, bright extroverted son is considered a mediocre student “because 1) he gets bored quickly in class; 2) he speaks his mind when he should politely lie; and 3) he needs more attention than his more introverted classmates,” writes Stowell. His introverted son, too shy to speak up in class, is considered “a model student.” The adult world doesn’t punish people who ar

Gifted pits a mellow, loving uncle against his cold, controlling mother in a custody battle over a cute little mathematical genius/orphan. Should she go to the local public school with normal kids (yay!)  or a school for the gifted, where she’ll develop her talents (boo! hiss!).  Mom was a mathematical genius who committed suicide. Apparently, growing up as a happy, normal genius is not an option. #genius #gifted

The U.S. expects less of students than many countries in Asia and Europe, writes Alina Adams on New York School Talk. Why not accelerate learning for all students whose parents think they can handle it? she asks. In most schools, at least 10 percent of students are performing above grade level, estimates a Johns Hopkins report. In some classrooms, as many as 50 percent of students are above grade level. Yet gifted programs are reserved for only a few, writes Adams, a New York