Upon the announcement of changes in the admission test of the Gifted and Talented programs by the New York City Education Department, several test preparation organizations started coming up with new preparatory content such as the NNAT 2 material by Bright Kids. In addition, many schools are also concentrating on altering their admission process such as a public school named Hunter which instead of allowing parents to choose a tester out of 16, lowered the choice of one out of four testers (Anderson, 2013).
The reason for changing the admission test exams by the New York City Education Department was mainly because of the underlying fact that the student test scores were being greatly influenced by the test preparations. This was noticeable from the idea that during the year 2012-2013, over 5000 children qualified for the Gifted and Talented program; a number which has greatly increased over the past five years. This rise was attributed to the role being played by the preparatory companies. Moreover, the function of preparatory tests was also visible when George P. Davison of Grace Church School found that students having siblings in the school scored low on admission tests as they knew they would get more preference as compared to other kids who did not have a sibling at that respective school (Anderson, 2013).
Although the aim of the Gifted and Talented program is to test the unpredictable true cognitive abilities, IQ and reasoning of 4 years old that compete for the precious seats, the preparatory companies hold the opinion that admissions are not invalidated because of preparatory classes as they are only helping children to succeed. Furthermore, even the mother of a child named Natalie spent days and nights to get her help from the Bright Kids NYC and was of the opinion that taking help from such preparatory companies was not bad. These companies say that not all the kids who take preparation classes qualify for getting admitted to schools as Natalie was unable to qualify for the Hunter College Elementary School. In contrast, while taking a preparatory exam test just a month prior to the school entry test, she answered all the questions correctly (Anderson, 2013).
Thus, although school admission tests serve the process of filtering and aiding the best students to be a part of the Gifted and Talented program, preparatory companies play an influential role by tutoring, guiding and providing materials so that students pass the entry tests. In my opinion, a school is a place that transforms individuals improving them in different areas and polishing the best potential of each and every student. With the belief that every child is talented and gifted, the Talented and Gifted program must not have an admission test. Even if it has, one way of minimizing the impact of preparatory classes could be by not revealing the change in the admission test. This surprise could be mentioned earlier to the families in order to avoid any later actions. On contrary, the preparatory classes help polish the skills of children to pass the admission tests. However, they should be strictly administered so that they do not provide answers to the kids enabling them to brush and utilize skills on their own.
Reference
Anderson, J. (2013, February 17). Schools Ask: Gifted or Well-Prepared? The New York Times, p.1
