Finding the Next Einstein Will Take Work.
The seminal, bi-partisan education legislation in America was called “No Child Left Behind” — which focused on bringing all students to a base level of knowledge. By definition, the focus on students falling behind ignores an important equity consideration: what about top students from disadvantaged backgrounds?
The New York Times’ Thomas Edsall wrote “We are Leaving ‘Lost’ Einsteins Behind” this weekend that highlighted the work that we as a society need to do to ensure that brilliant students from K-16 cannot continue to be left behind by our education system. Edsall quotes a study that shows that “children at the top of their 3rd grade mathematics class are much more likely to become investors, but only if they come from high income families.”
The “best” thinking of most large school districts is the dole out precious gifted and talented programs to students by lottery or some other metric (see the recently enacted New York City School District lottery to the University of Texas strict 10% rule).
Researchers now show that these ill-conceived allocation of spots does not actually identify the truly exceptional talent who happened to be born poor or BIPOC. Instead, its clear the answer is to test every student for gifted programs. Once those top students are identified, explicitly call them out as gifted and accelerate their studies so systemic racism does not hold them back.
The gifted math students of the 3rd grade will be the innovators of the digital age and lead the creator economy. America must re-orient to systematically identify the truly gifted and allocate the resources to enable them to be successful. Ironically, the shift to focusing efforts on top students may be the most important equity initiative of all.
Talent is evenly distributed but opportunity is not.
