NYC Gifted and Talented Program and Testing

The time has arrived for OLSAT and NNAT-2 test results to be released!

Earlier this week parents across all five boroughs were disappointed or elated depending on the scores they received for their talented tot who took the NYC G&T test in January 2018.  Parents across Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Bronx and Staten Island have tons of questions about the city wide programs and district wide programs. Here are questions that parents are asking themselves and others after receiving the test scores:

• My son scored a 98th percentile on the NYC gifted and talented tests. Do you provide advice on the quality of specific G&T school programs?
• My child scored 99th percentile, which gives him a chance for lottery at any of the five city-wide G&T schools. I think the fact that my child has an older sibling in one of the five city-wide G&T school almost guarantees him a spot at that school. However, if I rank other city-wide G&T schools (without sibling priority) before this city-wide G&T (with sibling priority), will that hurt his chance of getting into the G&T with sibling priority (if he didn’t get a spot in other city-wide G&T)? In other words, do I have to rank the city-wide G&T first to be sure that he will at least get into one of the city-wide? (1 of 2)
• Will you provide a little bit more information on the five city-wide in terms of their respective strength, focus, advantages, etc.? ( 2 of 2)
• My son scored a 98th percentile and has no siblings so will not get into citywide gifted program. Can he go to a district G&T not in our district?
• How do placements for the District G&T programs work? Do the kids who score 97 and above have priority over those who score in the 90th-96th percentile?
• My daughter scored in the 95th percentile. Any sense of her chances of getting a District placement?
• Would a sibling of a current District G&T program who scored less than my daughter have higher priority than my daughter for such program?
• What are the chances of a child with a score of 97 getting into a citywide program?
• I would like to know what happens if you have accepted a placement in your district G&T school and then move during the summer months. Are you then able to get a seat in September at your new local district G&T school or is it just tough luck from that point on?
• What should be the next step? My child got a 95th percentile
  •  Can I apply to any school, in any district with a 99, or just schools in my district and schools designated as “citywide” schools?
  • Does the overall score matter for applications or do they look at how many correct out of tested questions child got correct? For example, do they look at 99 percentile or 36 out of 40 correct?
• How do we tour the schools if the deadline for choosing top choices is so near?
• Question: if my child qualified for citywide can he apply to any district wide g&t or is he limited to a g&t in his district?
• We are in district 2, and wanted some feedback on schools in district 2 (or even other districts) and chances of him getting offer being at 98th percentile. He doesn’t have sibling, and being at 98 we feel getting into 1st grade is bit difficult given than schools offer very few seats for new 1st graders.
• I’m interested in the details of the lottery process. Is it done at each school? If so, since each applicant can select multiple schools and there’s an order which shows preference, how is that handled.
  • Based on this year’s numbers, would a 97 percentile child without sibling priority have any chance at all for a citywide G&T program?
  • Would a 97 percentile child without sibling priority have any chance at all for a district gifted program without district priority (program not within the district where the child resides)?

Here’s a good article that answers many of the questions above and more!