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PS 54 to Get New Gifted Program
1 of Only 4 in Region One

By LAURA SAYER

Starting in September 2007, 28 first-graders will take their seats in a brand new gifted and talented program at PS 54 in North Fordham, as part of the city’s plan to open four new “self-contained” gifted programs in Region One, which covers the western half of the Bronx.

PS 54 was the last school added to a list that originally only called for new gifted programs at PS 53, PS 109, and PS 24, according to Marvin Shelton, the president of District 10’s Community Education Council. While PS 24 is in District 10, PS 53 and PS 109 are both in District 9.

“The Chancellor [Joel Klein] originally announced only one site, PS 24, for this district,” Shelton said. “But [Regional Superintendent Yvonne] Torres pushed to get PS 54 as well, to equally represent Districts 9 and 10 for Region One.”

The New York City Department of Education (DOE) explained its selection of PS 54, saying: “[PS 54] was selected because of its strategic location in the lower part of District 10,” and also that PS 54 had the “space for an incoming first grade class.”
PS 54 was “an underutilized space and transportation was easy, it being right on Webster Avenue,” Shelton said.

The new “self-contained” programs put gifted students together for the entire school day, unlike existing gifted programs, such as the Schoolwide Enrichment Model and school-based honors programs, which have more flexible admissions and group students for shorter time periods. While Region One schools have had both of the existing programs for some time (although not for first grade students), these four new, self-contained programs mark a first for Region One.

After the program received its final applications on Dec. 1, Shelton said the unofficial count for Region One is 380 applications. Of these applicants, only students who live in District 10 are eligible for the programs at PS 54 and PS 24, as well as three Manhattan schools that accept talented and gifted students from all five boroughs: New Explorations Into Science, Technology and Math, on Columbia Street; PS 12, on East 109th Street; and the Anderson School, on West 84th Street.

Parents will receive notification of testing dates soon and testing will take place in December and January, said Lindsey Harr, a DOE spokesperson.

Bronx and students in the four other boroughs will be the first to undergo a comprehensive standardized assessment administered citywide. Before, the tests differed from district to district.

The assessment includes two parts: the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) and the Gifted Rating Scale (GRS). “The OLSAT, which consists of verbal and non-verbal items, is a ‘moment in time’ measurement of a child’s cognitive ability. The GRS, administered by a teacher who knows the child well, rates specific gifted behaviors that the teacher has observed over time,” Harr wrote in an e-mail.

Both the DOE and Shelton agree that the purpose of the standardization is to give everyone an equal opportunity, which is also why students can test in eight different languages.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz supports the programs, but said that two first-grade classrooms aren’t proportionate to the needs of thousands of Bronx students in District 10.

Dinowitz, who says he is “a longtime advocate of gifted and talented programming,” said that up until now, this has been the “only [region] in the city without a single seat for gifted and talented students.”

The new program was a topic of discussion at the latest educational council meeting, Shelton said. The biggest concern voiced by Dinowitz and others at the meeting, Shelton said, was that PS 54 is a school in need of improvement.

“While 54 is a new facility, it’s also a failing school, meaning its performance is not where it should be,” Dinowitz said in an interview. “And I think, unfortunately, that many parents will find it less than appealing to send their kids there.”

PS 54 administrators did not return several calls requesting comment.

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