In a reverse course from the previous administration, Mayor Eric Adams will not only keep the Gifted and Talented program, but he’s also expanding it in New York City schools.

After former mayor Bill de Blasio tried to axe the learning model at the eleventh hour, Adams and Schools Chancellor David Banks announced Thursday morning the addition of 100 kindergarten seats and 1,000 new third grade seats for the fast-track program. 

They also promised to extend Gifted and Talented to all districts, and rework how the city assesses young children’s academic prowess and without a test for four-year olds.

“For far too long, we had districts in our city that did not have Gifted and Talented programs,” said Adams. “We are giving every child, in every ZIP code, the chance that has been denied too often. I heard this over and over again on the campaign trail, and that denial ends today.”

Gifted and Talented has been criticized for favoring families with the time, resources and awareness to ace a test-based admissions process. Its detractors argue the program and its classrooms fail to represent the racial and socioeconomic makeup of the larger public school population.

“In the past, some of our families felt that they might have to fight tooth and nail to even get access or be considered for these programs,” said Banks. “Then if families were invited to attend, some were told that their young children would have to travel a long distance because there was no program available in their home district.”

“And today we are ending that scarcity mindset,” he said.

City officials said the new policy was shaped by three priorities: expanding the number of seats, creating a more equitable screening process, and providing entry points for third graders in all districts.

The plan keeps universal screening for pre-K students, meaning all youngsters will be evaluated by their teachers through a questionnaire meant to assess problem solving, perseverance and curiosity. Those nominated will receive letters to apply before the application opens, then be selected through a lottery.

Additional seats expand the program to all districts for a total of an estimated 2,500 seats for the city’s youngest learners.

The DOE is also adding a third grade entry point for at least one program in every district, for a total of 1,000 seats. Officials cited research that assessing kids in later grades could more accurately reflect their abilities.

Based on grades in core classes, the top 10 percent of second graders in each school will be invited to apply — an approach that officials said would ensure district programs reflect all the kids in its schools. 

Banks said the plan is still a “work in progress” that will involve working with superintendents that have the interest and capacity to host multiple programs, parents to respond to demand, and researchers to consider other ways to assess giftedness.  

“Today, we are simply setting a baseline — not the ceiling,” Banks said. 

That was welcome news for Lisa Marks, a mom who had to leave the workforce to get her three children to and from three different schools. Though they live downtown, her son attends P.S. 77 Lower Lab School for Gifted Education on the Upper East Side, the only accelerated program he got into. Her other grade-school child is waiting to apply to the Gifted and Talented program. 

“It is a strain on our family,” Marks said. “We are hopeful that for the next year, with today’s announcement, that there will be a way she can apply and go to the same school as her brother.”

Under the new administration’s plan, siblings will have priority in admissions, as will families who live in-district. 

“There’s no reason to limit the number of seats when so many kids in New York City are qualified,” she said.

Last fall, De Blasio announced the phasing out of Gifted and Talented, replacing it instead with Brilliant NYC, a program offering students ages 8 and older accelerated learning opportunities in their regular classrooms. 

Adams had repeatedly signaled he would break with his predecessor’s plan, but tweak the program to serve more families geographically and from diverse backgrounds. 

“The system — as it stands now, without improvement — was segregated. We did not give opportunities to black and brown students, to immigrant students,” Adams said at the time.

Still, some said the plans don’t go far to address those criticisms. 

“Segregating learning environments for elementary students, based on a teacher’s or test’s assessment of how smart they are, is not sound education policy,” said Brad Lander, the city comptroller.

“Elementary school students benefit from learning alongside peers with different backgrounds, abilities, and interests,” Lander said.  “Scaling up a program which separates students, often along lines of class and race, is a retrograde approach that does nothing to improve quality education for the overwhelming majority of our students.” 

Applications open on May 31.