(An unintended irony in New York City: Fewer pre-kindergarten and gifted opportunities; unfilled seats)

Buried at the end of the fascinating New York Times analysis of a new policy that has effectively shut some of the city's poorest children out of gifted kindergarten programs is fundamental question about equity and access: How fair is it to test four-year-olds and make educational decisions for them based on those scores?

New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's initial idea of screening all kindergartens has met with fierce opposition, including from Deborah Stipek, the dean of Stanford University's education school. She believes such testing only increases inequities.

Klein has since backed away from the idea due to budget cuts. Bu the concept remains on the mind of parents in New York City who have been furious with the Department of Education's attempts to centralize pre-school admissions. Already, that's led to several children being shut out of pre-school altogether and of siblings -- including twins -- being split up into different schools throughout the city, in many cases far from their neighborhood.

Savvy New York parents -- being New Yorkers, of course, where parenting can be a competitive sport -- would likely find a way to prepare for such tests, notes one participant on Insideschools.org, which is keeping careful track of the kindergarten issue.

"In a competitive world parents who have the access and the means will do whatever it takes to give their kids an edge--whether that means buying kits that teach skills similar to those tested .... having the child tutored, or even purchasing copies of the testing instruments themselves,'' the blog participant noted.

That same edge was not available to the many children who did not make the cut-off scores the Department of Education established for this year's programs.