Seattle's highly capable program need to be integrated

Seattle's highly capable program need to be integrated

Don’t get rid of gifted and talented programs in the name of integration. Integrate them.
Seattle Public Schools is one of several districts looking to dismantle gifted and talented programs as a way to end racial segregation within schools, but will the solution hurt more kids than it helps?

The Seattle School Board is taking steps to dismantle a gifted and talented program at one of its middle schools to make room for a more racially inclusive curriculum. Gifted and talented, or G&T programs, are directed at children whose outstanding abilities and potential for accomplishment will not otherwise be challenged and developed.

But, too often, gifted and talented programs create separate tracks that end up creating segregated systems within schools. For instance, Seattle Public Schools began offering advanced courses in the 1980s through its “Individual Progress Program” to prevent white families from leaving the district. According to school district documents, the separate track of courses, which was limited to “extremely gifted” (read white) students, appealed to white families. These courses evolved in the 2000s into what’s known now as the “highly capable cohort” program (HCC).

However, the racial composition of the highly capable cohort looks like the original conception. Black students comprise about 15 percent of the district’s overall enrollment but represent only about 1.6 percent of students in the highly capable cohort program. The program is offered in several of the district’s schools.

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These racial disparities prompted the Seattle Public Schools superintendent, Denise Juneau, to call the program’s legacy “unacceptable and embarrassing.” She has sought to abolish the program altogether and replace it with a more integrated model. But the school board, in response to opposition by livid parents, failed to pass the resolution to phase out the program last year. So this year Juneau put forth a new proposal that would phase out a highly capable cohort program CONTINUE READING: Seattle's highly capable program need to be integrated