EXCLUSIVE – New York City's Department of Education is revamping its Gifted and Talented program for kindergartners with a woke equity agenda, Fox News Digital found.
DECE, or the Department of Early Childhood Education, posted a private training on what teachers should look for when selecting children for accelerated learning. The unlisted video has since been taken down.
According to the webpage on the program, "Students will be considered for eligibility based on behaviors that may indicate readiness for accelerated learning."
The training's slides were labeled as "DO NOT DISSEMINATE OR DISTRIBUTE."
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However, the training showed that for the upcoming academic year—2022-23—an agenda to achieve equity in schools will play a major factor in those decisions.
"Children need to be presented with opportunities to demonstrate gifted behaviors. These behaviors across all cultures, races and socioeconomic strata. The students we serve in gifted programs rarely proportionally reflect this scenario," the training said.
"Gifted education programs should reflect changing U.S. demographics… [by] equitably identify[ing] gifted students, [who] represent cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as a wide range of socioeconomic groups and geographic areas," it continued.
One of the ways students can demonstrate eligibility to teachers is if they "Refus[e] to do something when the purpose behind the task is not explained." The criterion was under the "social perceptiveness and self-direction" section.
The education department then asked participants to consider their implicit biases when choosing students for the Gifted and Talented program.
"Now we're going to take some time to examine our own biases. Becoming aware of our implicit bias and how they guide our decisions is essential for all education process professionals. The New York City Department of Education is committed to advancing equity now through the meaningful development of each of its educators," the training continued.
In April, Mayor Eric Adams expanded seats available in the program and, for equity purposes, scrapped a standardized education test that evaluated best on academic merit, leaving some parents confused about the criteria.
"I’m concerned that the rules keep changing," Sumayya Ahmad of the Upper East Side told the New York Post in December that kids "have to go through an interview process."
She added, "There’s no information on what that would mean."
A Staten Island mom Venus Sze-Tsang, said, "A test can’t tell the color of your skin," she said. "How can you tell if a student is or isn’t selected on the basis of color if the choice is so subjective?"
For the upcoming year, parents can still apply for the program, however, teachers would have the final say on whose application moves forward, according to the Post.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DOE for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
