While American-born children may find it difficult to pass the Gifted and Talented exam that exclusively selects New York City's talented students from the rest, immigrant children who take the test have even higher chances of failing despite the fact that it is offered in their native tongue.

After the latest scores of the Gifted and Talented test were reported in early May, the parents of numerous Bengali children spoke of the obstacles immigrant children face while taking this exam.

"For immigrant kids, this is an extra challenge, and very few can endure such a challenge," said Habibur Rahman, a Bronx father whose daughter Maksuda Habib, a 5th grader at PS 106, scored low on the test.

"Children who are growing up with multiple languages have a hard time understanding and answering questions asked in one exclusive language," Rahman said.

The exam results allow school administrators to recommend children whose scores are above average to the Department of Education's Gifted and Talented program. That special curriculum, available only at 35 selected schools citywide, provides a more rigorous education and gives children deemed to have exceptional capacities and talents the opportunity to challenge themselves.

The test is available in various languages, including Bengali, allowing bilinguals or newly arrived immigrant students an opportunity to be selected for the program.

However, Bangladeshi parents say that the language used in the translations is too sophisticated for small children, who are not fluent in either language, to comprehend. As a result, highly intelligent children are unable to enter the Gifted and Talented program, because they do not understand the test, and end up not having an "exceptional" score.

These parents, and their supporters, want Department of Education (DOE) officials to reform that aspect of the test. If bilingual students are to benefit from the opportunity to participate in this program, the department should amend the current testing system and its translations.

"There is something wrong when our kids, who do so wonderful when they interact with us cannot communicate with their instructors," said Taslima Ahmed, whose daughter Sumayaia Ahmed, a kindergartner of PS 78, is considered a bright child but scored low on the exam.

Will Havermann, an education system spokesman said the city would address the problem: "If there is any problem, we will address the issue, and to expand the program we will work extensively."

Parents and their supporters say there are problems, for certain. First, some children in the community do not even know that the gifted and talented exam is available in Bengali. Second, some children of immigrant parents do not speak English or Bengali fluently, but rather a combination of both languages. As a result they cannot understand the grammatically correct sophisticated Bengali the exam uses.

Abul Kalam Azad, a professor at Long Island City High School who teaches Bangla and works with bilingual students, said the DOE should employ better trained and experienced professionals to translate the instructions into simple and coherent language for the small children.

"[the DOE] translates some words using such ancient and obsolete words that are no longer in use in contemporary Bengali," Azad said. "I bet educated people will find them difficult to comprehend. If the translation is meant to make the test comprehensible for the young children, I would say it rather complicates the test for them."

Havermann could not immediately say how many children who took the exam in Bengali scored well enough to be admitted into this year's Gifted and Talented Program.

Testing for gifted and talented students from grades K and 1st grade took place in January and February, and was taken by 14,822 children. Of that number, 1,345 students entering kindergarten were offered admission to one of the six gifted and talented programs.

Score reports and applications for eligible students were mailed to the families in early May. Students who ranked in the 90th to 96th percentile are offered admission to their district's Gifted and Talented Program, while those that score in the 97th to 100th percentile are offered admission to the citywide program.

Five-year-old Sahla Taher, a kindergartner at PS 78 in Queens, took the test -- she did not make the cut.

"After taking the test, my daughter came home in an upset mode. She told me that she could not follow the instructions, and was looking for the actual question the whole time since she could not follow the instructor," Sahla's mother, Mary Jobaida said. "When I asked her how she answered the questions, she said that she used her imagination of what kind of questions may come with the kind of answer sheet she got."

The DOE uses instructors who read questions aloud to a group of 5 students from Kindergarten and first grade. Students are not given any questions or instructions on paper; they are only given a sheet to fill out their answers.

On the Bracken School Readiness Assessment (BSRA) portion, Sahla ranked in the 98th percentile, answering 85 correct answers out of 88 in six sections, including colors, letters, sizes, comparisons, and shapes; on the other hand, in the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test (OALSAT), a test that includes 60 questions for Kindergartners -- 30 verbal and 30 non-verbal (reasoning) -- she ranked in the 79th percentile, answering 25 non-verbal and 15 verbal questions correctly.

Sahla got the same score last year when she took the test as a pre-K student. On both occasions, she ranked in the 87th percentile overall. Students must score in the highest percentiles on both portions to be admitted into the program. By taking the average of the OLSAT NCE scores – and applicant takes the test three times – and one BSRA NCE scores. The final number is then placed on a score curve to determine the percentile.

Miss Williams, the test's coordinator of PS 78, said the verbal part is the most difficult for the bilingual children, and suggested that parents read out loud to their children at home to get them used to listening.

Still, some Bangladeshi parents find that strategy futile.

"If I read out a book to my daughter that will not be accent free, and my daughter will still face the same problem when she hears the instructions from a native speaker," Jobaida said. "She comprehends what I say. She is quick to follow my instruction, but not with the G&T instructors."

Salina Babul, whose daughter, Tazin Fahim Banu, attends the selective Bronx High School of Science, said she would be happy if the DOE changes the way it runs the Gifted and Talented children's exam: "My daughter is very bright, and I always knew that. But she never did well in her G&T test due to the lack of communication problem with the instructors." She then added, "Now that she is grown up, and understands English well, she was accepted at the specialized high school."

This story was written as part of an education reporting fellowship granted by New York Community Media Alliance.