Florida School District Changes Standards To Increase Minority Enrollment Into Gifted And Talented Education Magnet School.

The Florida Times-Union (9/26, Thompson) reported Duval County Public Schools in Florida is working to increase minority enrollment in gifted education programs. The district recently opened a gifted and talented education magnet school in a poorer neighborhood to make it more accessible to minority students. The district also created an alternative set of criteria for students to be admitted to the program called the Plan B option, which uses less stringent criteria to identify a study as gifted or talented. Some parents have complained that the changes have “watered down and lowered the bar” for the program decreasing its value.