Frances Woolley reads a new study whose authors conclude that “students exposed to gifted-talent curriculum for the entirety of 6th grade plus half of 7th grade exhibit no significant improvement in achievement.” Arnold Kling gets peeved:
The main reason we have [gifted and talented (G&T) programs] is because parents love it when their kids are placed in them. It is a huge status thing for parents. G&T programs could have negative effectiveness and still be enormously popular.
Along the same lines, Meghan McArdle takes issue with upper-class parents:
[These parents] proudly note that their experience shows how great public education is, while failing to note that their schools work because these comparatively affluent parents with a great deal of social and political capital fight like hell to divert as many resources as possible–including the best teachers–into a handful of schools in affluent areas.
E.D. Kain complicates Megan's point.
The Dish 