NYC Gifted & Talented for fall 2027,
with no test

There is no separate G&T application. You add G&T programs to your child’s regular kindergarten application, and eligibility is decided after you apply.

If your child is in pre-K at a district school, a Pre-K Center, a community organization (CBO) or a charter school, their pre-K teachers evaluate them. If your child is in a private or parochial pre-K, or not in school, the Division of Early Childhood Education contacts you after the application closes to set up an interview, and early childhood experts nominate eligible children.

The nomination form has three parts, and each looks at behavior a teacher has seen more than once:

• Curiosity: questioning, observing, exploring, creating and problem-solving, in words or without them.
• Approaches to learning: initiative, persistence, creativity and imagination, and self-reflection.
• Social perception and self-direction: working with other children, and exploring and solving problems independently.

Current kindergarten to grade 3 students in NYC public schools are eligible if their most recent report card shows a 3 or 4 (or the equivalent) in math, reading and writing, and they had no 1 in any marking period this year in math, reading, writing, social studies or science.

Charter and private school families email the report card grades to ESEnrollment@schools.nyc.gov with the subject "Grades 1-4 G&T Eligibility" and hear back within two business days. NYC converts other grading scales: 90-100 or an A counts as a 4, 80-89 or a B as a 3. Homeschool families email in the spring with the second or third quarterly report.

Children already in a district G&T program can apply only to citywide programs. Children in a citywide program do not reapply to stay.