Axing gifted education hurts our kids, our classrooms and us all

Schools are ending gifted and talented programs: They will no longer separate kids by ability.Why?To address “inequity.”“This is so misguided,” education researcher Michael Petrilli told me.“These equity people say, ‘Oh, we’re against gifted education.’ At the same time, they’re upset that universities aren’t very diverse.”But those same equity advocates “are a big part of the problem,” he said.“They stand in the way of kids of color and low-income kids getting what they need in elementary and middle and high school so they could compete.”Different level classes haven’t always been controversial.Testing, then putting kids on different tracks was standard when I was in school.“It’s super hard to teach reading to everybody if some don’t know their letters and others are reading ‘Harry Potter,’” Petrilli explained.The change began in 1985, when education theorist Jeannie Oakes wrote “Keeping Track,” a book that complained that tracking students created racially segregated classrooms.Instead of tracking, teachers are supposed to use something called “differentiated instruction” to address different skill levels — adapting methods and expectations to match each student’s learning ability.“Differentiating instruction!” laughed Petrilli.“Magically, you look out at 30 kids and figure out how to teach them all at the same time ..

.This led to a big anti-tracking movement, a big effort to get rid of ability grouping, to just say kids should be mixed together, all the time.” I pointed out that richer parents sometimes hire tutors, and as result, disproportionate numbers of white and Asian kids get that fast-track education. “But it is not mostly about race,” replied Petrilli.

“It really is mostly about class, family structure, culture.”“Many Asian kids came from severe poverty, and do well,” I noted.Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a val...