Do Gifted and Talented Programs Work?
New York is considering eliminating “gifted and talented” programs and other forms of tracking. And people are not happy about it.
On the face of it, providing gifted and talented programs to gifted and talented students seems like a no-brainer. The logic goes like this: 1) some students achieve at a very high level, and 2) putting them in a class with their low-achieving peers slows gifted students’ progress, so 3) put these students in a special program where they can really be challenged. This logic is especially compelling if your kid is “gifted.”
Attempts to eliminate these programs can sound like a crazed, communist idea straight out of Animal Farm. Like we all have to pretend that students are equal in every way all the time. But there are several reasons why gifted programs — especially gifted programs for young students — may not be a good idea.
Few Academic Benefits
The basic logic of gifted programs is at odds with many research findings. Gifted programs and other forms of “tracking” — where students are grouped by their achievement level or perceived ability — are supposed to improve academic outcomes. But there’s little evidence that they do.
Suppose we’re interested in maximizing “mean” academic achievement: the average achievement experienced by all…
