Karen Blumstein and Michelle Barmazel, co-presidents of the Massachusetts Association for Gifted Education, said cuts to gifted programs have resulted in an 'equity chasm.'
Widespread concerns over equity in education have helped fuel a decline in opportunities for gifted minds across Massachusetts, advocates argue, leaving child prodigies and their parents frustrated and forced to turn to costly alternatives to satisfy their child's needs.
Michelle Barmazel and Karen Blumstein, co-presidents of the Massachusetts Association for Gifted Education , speculate that same fear might also be behind their state's reluctance to offer more gifted programs. Blumstein, for one, told the Boston Globe that Northeastern states in particular are concerned that such programs would seem 'elitist.
Right now, advocates fear only gifted children whose families can afford a private education or extracurricular programs receive instruction that is rigorous enough to satisfy these exceptional students, but, for families unable to dish out the funds, the consequences are long-term. 'We get families that reach out to us every week, with their kids in crisis. Kids get depressed.
Blumstein mentioned grade-skipping as a cost-effective solution to help place kids where they need to be to correspond with their intellectual abilities. On top of the equity debate, the state also fell short in maintaining such programs over time, especially compared to other states. The 2019 study found that 'only 3.7 percent of schools in Massachusetts reported having a gifted and talented program' compared to 57.6 percent of schools nationwide offering such programs.
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