Frances Woolley looks at studies that question the effectiveness of “gifted and talented” programs.

here is my take-away: There are great wads of resources thrown at gifted education, and little evidence of positive results for border-line gifted students

The reason that borderline gifted students are important is that this is where you can measure the contribution of the program, as opposed to the ability of the student. Woolley thinks that the problem is fixable. I do not.

G&T programs are one of my pet peeves. I believe the following about them:

1. The main reason we have them is because parents love it when their kids are placed in them. It is a huge status thing for parents. G&T programs could have negative effectiveness and still be enormously popular.

2. Either you believe your bright kids should experience going to class with students who are not so bright, or you don’t. If you don’t, then pay for private school. G&T allows you to send your kids to private school while claiming they are still in public school.