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Atlanta Forward: Education

Za Riyah Jones (left) and Laryssa Brogdon use pennies to test the load-bearing capacity of a bridge they built with spaghetti and marshmallows in a gifted class at Chapel Hill Elementary School in DeKalb.

Credit: Bob Andres

Credit: Bob Andres

Za Riyah Jones (left) and Laryssa Brogdon use pennies to test the load-bearing capacity of a bridge they built with spaghetti and marshmallows in a gifted class at Chapel Hill Elementary School in DeKalb.
By Maureen Downey
July 13, 2014

Nothing sparks discussion at a PTA meeting like gifted classes. Who got in? Who didn’t? A mom shares her experience learning why her smart and lively little girl did not get in and the difference between a smart child and a gifted one. Readers also share their views on public school gifted programs, prompted by a recent Sunday AJC package of stories on the criteria for admission and criticisms of the process. And in a guest column, the head of an early childhood network stresses the importance of reading to children and fostering early literacy.

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Maureen Downey has written editorials and opinion pieces about local, state and federal education policy since the 1990s.

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