@EdWorkingPaper{ai26-1526,
title = "The Geography of Gifted Education: Exploring School and Neighborhood Predictors of Access to Gifted & Talented Programs in New York City",
author = "Katherine Strickland, Wendy Chan, Daniel Hildreth, Michael A. Gottfried, Samantha Peters",
institution = "Annenberg Institute at Brown University",
number = "1526",
year = "2026",
month = "July",
URL = "http://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1526",
abstract = {This study examines the community factors associated with the presence and geographic availability of Gifted and Talented (G&T) programs across New York City public schools from 2010 to 2024. Using machine learning methods (Random Forest and Classification Trees) and cross-classified multilevel logistic regression, we identify school and neighborhood characteristics associated with G&T program placement and explore how program presence varies across schools, neighborhoods, and districts. We find that most variation in G&T program presence occurs between neighborhoods rather than between districts, indicating that neighborhood context and community factors are strongly associated with where programs are located. Among neighborhood characteristics, homeownership remained positively associated with G&T presence in the fully adjusted model (OR = 1.25, p = .005), after controlling for school demographics, district membership, and measured neighborhood education, poverty, and foreign-born population share. Finally, we compare the city's 2022-2024 G&T expansion to this historical placement pattern. Expansion schools were located in higher-poverty, lowerhomeownership, and more racially diverse neighborhoods than those that historically hosted programs, indicating broader geographic availability in the expansion period..},
}