NYC Gifted and Talented Program and Testing


Secrets to acing the OLSAT test
May 18, 2017, 11:38 am
Filed under: tests | Tags: , ,

Types of questions on the OLSAT test

So, when kids first see the different types of questions on the OLSAT test, they think they’re weird and they don’t understand them right away. As a parent, you want your child to experience their confusion in seeing these questions for the first time when they’re at home with you, and you can help them (contrary to what “they” tell you!). Not when they’re all alone at school under the pressure of taking an actual test without you there to support them. Especially, if you have a younger child ages 3 to 5 years old who has never (ever!) taken an actual test and has no idea of the different between a right and wrong answer.  No matter if you live:

  • Brooklyn,
  • Staten Island
  • Manhattan
  • Bronx
  • Queens

it’s imperative you prepare your child for the upcoming NYC gifted and talented test. The OLSAT test is no joke and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Even if your child it taking the OLSAT test next year there’s really no time to waste. Whether your child’s test is in three days or three months, working with  practice questions and online prep games for the OLSAT can make all the difference. These are just a few examples of the types of questions that are on the gifted test. Naturally, the questions get harder as children go up in grade levels. If your pre-K to sixth grader is taking the OLSAT and you’d like to learn more about the types of questions on this test. You can try a few practice questions for the OLSAT test here!

 

OLSAT
Test Subset		 Grade Pre-K and K
Level A
Verbal Questions
  • Verbal Comprehension
 No
  • Following Directions
 Yes
  • Antonyms
 No
  • Sentence Completion
 No
  • Sentence Arrangement
 No
Verbal Reasoning Questions
  • Aural Reasoning
 Yes
  • Arithmetic Reasoning
 Yes
  • Logical Selection
 No
  • Word/Letter Matrix
 No
  • Verbal Analogies
 No
  • Verbal Classification
 No
  • Inference
 No
Nonverbal
  • Pictorial Reasoning
 No
  • Picture Classification
 Yes
  • Picture Analogies
 Yes
  • Picture Series
 Yes
Figural Reasoning
  • Figural Classification
 Yes
  • Figural Analogies
 Yes
  • Pattern Matrix
 Yes
  • Figural Series
 Yes
Quantitative Reasoning
  • Number Series
 No
  • Numeric Inference
 No
  • Number Matrix
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Not enough gifted and talented seats in the Bronx
May 12, 2017, 2:20 pm
Filed under: tests | Tags:

The lawmakers passed a bill for parents to be better informed of the NYC Gifted and Talented Program for the Bronx, specially in district 10.  As more and more kids take the test citywide (including the Bronx) that means more and more kids are receiving a qualifying score to entry into this competitive program across all five boroughs in the city. The Bronx and Staten Island are the only two boroughs that currently do not have a citywide program and have a short supply of district wide programs for both.  This new plan from lawmakers requires that all parents of pre-K students receive multiple notifications of the NYC Gifted and Talented Program .  Many parents complain (rightfully so) of how hard it is to get information from the DOE web site that honestly needs a complete overhaul and better usability.

Many advocates of better communication are pushing that all pre-K students take the G&T test and the parents will need to opt-out of taking the test. This of course would dramatically increase the raw number of kids taking this test, especially in lower income areas of the Bronx. The hopes would be more qualifying students since most parents would not opt-out of their child taking the test. We’ll see if this proposal moves forward since this would not only impact the Bronx but all other boroughs for children in the universal pre-K program in NYC. The implications of have even more kids taking the test leads to the larger issue of where are all the kids going to get a seat in the G&T program that’s already in short supply.

 

Right now, there are only two district wide programs in district 10:

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Does the NYC gifted and talented program pave way to the specialized high schools?
May 5, 2017, 5:19 pm
Filed under: NYC Gifted and Talented Program | Tags: ,

Does NYC G&T program mean specialized high school entry?

The great debate continues! According to an article Chalk Beat getting your 4-year-old placed in a gifted program in kindergarten may lead the way for their future high school admissions into one of the NYC specialized high schools.

These schools include:

The gifted and talented program that spans all 5 boroughs for grades kindergarten through 5th grade only make up 30% of black or Hispanic students. Although, the overall student population for these two groups is 70%. This disparity is even more drastic as students enter into high school and take the SSHAT test for one of the specialized high schools. These schools only compromise 10% of black and Hispanic students.

Is the NYC G&T Program a “gateway drug” to the specialized high schools? It seems that out of 357 students who did attend citywide gifted middle schools from 2011 to 2015 that 1/3 of those were admitted to specialized high schools. When looking at the demographic information of those 357, 40% where of Asian or white and 14% were Hispanic or black students.  Even high achieving students who are black or Hispanic are less likely to get a seat at a specialized high school. Granted, this is a non-scientific analysis and there could be other contributing factors in play. The takeaway is the breakdown seems to happen middle school.  With 530 middle schools in the city 60% of 7th graders who went to a specialized school were from only 45 middle schools. Most of these 45 were specialized middle schools (code word for gifted and talented programs).

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