The Department of Education is creating new citywide standards to determine who qualifies for its gifted and talented classes.

All Bronx and city students in pre-kindergarten through the second-grade who apply for the program will be tested using the same scale. According to the schools chancellor, admissions into the gifted programs had been different from district to district. Now, every student will get a fair chance to demonstrate their ability.

The new standard requires a two-part evaluation. The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) will use verbal and non-verbal items to measure a child?s ability. The second part, the Gifted-Rating Scale (GRS), will ask teachers to rate a child?s behavior. Applications for the gifted programs will be available next month.