Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new program that is launching in elementary schools citywide beginning next year as the city phases out the Gifted and Talented Program instruction.

By offering Brilliant NYC to approximately all the 65,000 kindergarteners rather than the small 2,500 group, it will serve 26 times more students than the current Gifted and Talented Program. The standardized test 4-year-olds generally take to see if they are eligible for access to these programs will no longer be offered.

"Instead of providing support for accelerated learning for a few, we want to provide it for the many. And we recognize so many kids' gifts have not been or weren't recognized because there was no venue for them to be seen and supported," says de Blasio.

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter said additional teachers will be hired in neighborhoods that historically had little to no Gifted and Talented instruction. Senior Department of Education leaders will we going out to communities over the next two months in all school districts to speak with parents.