Equity of Test Is Debated as Children Compete for Gifted Kindergarten
Yana Paskova for The New York Times
From left, Laisha Mendez, 5, Amaya Taylor, 4, and Kellie Pierre, 4, at the Bloomingdale Head Start program in Manhattan.
By MICHAEL WINERIP
Published: July 25, 2010
Teachers at the Bloomingdale Head Start program in Manhattan tell Alexis Stewart that her 4-year-old son, Chase, is bright.
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“He knows about different fish, different birds, different species,” Ms. Stewart said. “He’s on it.”
Chase took the city test for the public schools’ gifted and talentedkindergarten program, but missed the 90th-percentile cutoff, she said.
Ms. Stewart, a single mom working two jobs, didn’t think the process was fair. She had heard widespread reports of wealthy families preparing their children for the kindergarten gifted test with $90 workbooks, $145-an-
