McLEAN, Va. (AP) – It’s an annual rite in Fairfax County, one of the wealthiest counties in America: hundreds of second-graders trooping off to private psychologists, taking IQ tests to prove they’re worthy of the county’s advanced academic programs.
Data obtained by The Associated Press show the system exacerbates a problem plaguing gifted programs in Fairfax and across the nation: worthy black and Hispanic students are mostly left out.
In Fairfax County, all second-graders take intelligence tests to help determine whether they should be placed into gifted programs. Parents who don’t like the results can file appeals, supported by tests they pay for themselves.
But only 3 percent of the kids admitted to the gifted program through these appeals are black or Hispanic, even though they make up a third of the school-system population.
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