Equity & Diversity

N.J. Gifted School Serves Mostly Poor, Minority Students

By Sarah D. Sparks — May 19, 2015 4 min read
Sixth grader Chyenne Roberts takes a break from gym class at the gifted-and-talented school.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Diversity in gifted education is often pitched as a matter of equity, of benefit for the poor and minority students entering a mostly wealthy and white advanced program.

While true, that focus omits much about how fresh perspectives can deepen learning for all students, argue teachers at the Paterson Academy for the Gifted and Talented here.

The 200-student magnet program for grades 2-8, housed within Public School 28, enrolls more than 80 percent low-income students, all of them accelerated a grade level or more in math, language arts, or science. Unlike many districtwide gifted magnet programs, the academy’s enrollment mirrors the district: roughly 60 percent Hispanic, 20 percent black, 5 percent white, and the rest students from Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern backgrounds. The halls are lined with science-fair projects from students, while the walls show off graphed algebra equations and research projects on the origins of idioms.

Elainie Alfonso, a 6th grader at the Paterson Academy for the Gifted and Talented, in Paterson, N.J., said she’s glad to finally have friends “whose brains work like mine.”

Maureen Bruins, a grades 5-6 science teacher and a former state teacher of the year, said the project-based format allows for easier differentiation in classes where some students are accelerated a year or two and others work three or four years above their grade.

Ms. Bruins said in schools where she has previously taught it was hard to support advanced students. “There were always one or two who were accelerated, and they did a lot of work on their own. I was working hard to differentiate at all levels, but there’s no extra support,” she said.

The cultural, linguistic, and economic diversity allows for richer explorations of the curriculum, according to 6th grade humanities teacher Tai D. Matthews.

We have some conversations that would just knock your socks off,” Ms. Matthews said. “In one group of six, you’ll have four or five different perspectives, because this one is Syrian, this one from Bangladesh, this one from across the street [in the public-housing tower], so you have all these cultural influences.”

See Also

Poorest Students Often Miss Out on Gifted Classes

Last year, a Syrian student left to visit relatives, returning while CNN was buzzing with news of the civil war there. “The perspectives that she was able to bring, where do you get that? You get that in Paterson, because we have that diversity,” Ms. Matthews said.

The district tries to identify 1st graders with potential through teacher recommendations and those who score in the top 10 percent on the standardized Cognitive Ability Test in language, mathematics, or nonverbal skills such as understanding puzzles, patterns, and unusual solutions to problems, according to Rita Routé, the district’s supervisor of gifted and talented education. Test scores alone aren’t necessarily a good predictor of how students will do at the academy, Ms. Routé said. “We’ve had some students who came in that first year, and they didn’t have the best tests, but they had a lot of motivation and they persevered; and then we have students who scored at the 99th percentile ... and they are struggling,” she continued.

Several teachers noted that many students had a bit of a culture shock when they arrived. Nicole Slota, who teaches a grades 2-3 combined classroom, said the school tries to teach study skills and perseverance as it ramps up rigor.

The Riverview Towers, a low-income housing complex, looms over Public School 28, which houses the gifted-and talented academy. The school is located in one of Paterson’s most impoverished neighborhoods.

“It was frightening for me at first,” said Chyenne Roberts, a 6th grader. “At my old school, I was always the first one finished. [Here,] the work was challenging; you had to really sit and think about it.”

Ms. Bruins said Chyenne initially talked a lot and had to be told to focus frequently, but as she becomes more confident, “she is just blossoming; she goes above and beyond not just in science and language arts, but in her community service.” She reads and gives short science lessons to kindergartners at PS 28.

The academy has benefited from support from Paterson Superintendent Donnie W. Evans and Principal Nancy Castro, but it’s not always been an easy sell to parents. The hulking five-story PS 28 sits across from low-income housing in a high-poverty neighborhood along the Passaic River. “Some parents were not happy about that,” Ms. Routé said.

See Also

Unmet Promises is an occasional series examining the challenges facing disadvantaged students who show academic potential.

Unmet Promises: High-Achieving, Low-Income Students

Since the school started, the number of high-potential students in Paterson has grown significantly, from 125 in grades 4-8 in 2012 to 200 in grades 2-8 this year, and 250 expected in 2015-16. In 2012, 3 percent of students performed at the advanced level in language arts on state tests, and 80 percent did so in math. By 2014, more than 14 percent were advanced in language arts and 85 percent in math. The school plans to become certified to provide pre-International Baccalaureate programs for the middle school and expand to lower grades.

As the academy’s success and popularity grow, it remains to be seen how long its focus will stay on economically disadvantaged students. From 2012-13 to 2013-14, the percentage of low-income students at PS 28 dropped from 94 percent—just above the district’s 92 percent poverty rate—to 84 percent.

Coverage of the experiences of low-income, high-achieving students is supported in part by a grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, at www.jkcf.org. Education Week retains sole editorial control over the content of this coverage.
A version of this article appeared in the May 20, 2015 edition of Education Week as At N.J. Gifted Academy, Most Are Poor, Minority

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Equity & Diversity Teacher, Students Sue Arkansas Over Ban on Critical Race Theory
A high school teacher and two students asked a federal judge to strike down the restrictions as unconstitutional.
2 min read
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs an education overhaul bill into law, March 8, 2023, at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. On Monday, March 25, 2024, a high school teacher and two students sued Arkansas over the state's ban on critical race theory and “indoctrination” in public schools, asking a federal judge to strike down the restrictions as unconstitutional.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs an education overhaul bill into law, March 8, 2023, at the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark.
Andrew DeMillo/AP
Equity & Diversity Opinion What March Madness Can Teach Schools About Equity
What if we modeled equity in action in K-12 classrooms after the resources provided to college student-athletes? asks Bettina L. Love.
3 min read
A young student is celebrated like a pro athlete for earning an A+!
Chris Kindred for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Girls Are Falling in Love With Wrestling, the Nation's Fastest-Growing High School Sport
A surging number of states have sanctioned the sport, with bolstering from various groups.
6 min read
Benton's Callie Hess, left, battles Plum's Saphia Davis, right, during the first found of the PIAA High School Wrestling Championships in Hershey, Pa., on March 7, 2024. Girls’ wrestling has become the fastest-growing high school sport in the country.
Callie Hess, left, battles Saphia Davis, right, during the first round of the PIAA High School Wrestling Championships in Hershey, Pa., on March 7, 2024. Girls’ wrestling has become the fastest-growing high school sport in the country.
Matt Rourke/AP
Equity & Diversity What's Permissible Under Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law? A New Legal Settlement Clarifies
The Florida department of education must send out a copy of the settlement agreement to school boards across the state.
4 min read
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024 between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged a state law which critics dubbed “Don't Say Gay.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. Students and teachers will be able to speak freely about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms under a settlement reached March 11, 2024, between Florida education officials and civil rights attorneys who had challenged the state's “Don't Say Gay” law.
Phil Sears/AP