How are GT decisions made at APS elementary schools?

[Anonymous]

I've never pushed for gifted services in my APS school and my DC was identified by various teachers throughout elementary school and middle (we're at Williamsburg now.) Also, we are totally unconnected to the PTA--in fact, we're not into networking/socializing with other parents for the most part. So, it can be done independently.


Nice it worked out for your child. My child tested in the 99th percentile on 2 IQ tests. Teacher said he he didn't seem gifted because he "doesnt seem interested in school." She's right, he's not into it! This woman wouldn't know gifted if it looked her in the eyes. It kills me that people with no training or even just general sense have this much impact on gifted services.

Where is the evidence that she has no training? Because she does not agree with you that your child is gifted? What kind of training do *you* have?

[Anonymous]

Thankfully, "gifted" is really low key in Arlington. You have to remember that APS is FILLED with high-achieving kids who test well. You can have a child in the 98th, 99th percentile in testing and they won't be offered services. They're looking for something different -- more classic "gifted" behavior. Often it goes hand in glove with other characteristics about the child, typically something not neurotypical.

It's a much better way of managing the program than the nuttery that is AAP in Fairfax.

Do you actually have a child who has been in AAP in Fairfax? They also base their decisions on classic "gifted" behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a loud mouth? That's how it works at our school. Pretty amusing to watch and definitely not the brightest bunch in the grade. Just the most annoying and obnoxious parents.

Many with the highest scores are not in it. They filled it in K/1st with the loud mouth's kids that were doing Kumon since 1. Now they don't have space for any new kids even if they are brighter.

+1. Even if you win a spot, don't expect actual services to track your kid's abilities.

This really depends on the school. At my kids' school, they don't even start referring most kids until 3rd or 4th grade.

If people don't name the schools and just bitch anonymously on DCUM, there will never been any pressure for the Superintendent or Board to take action. People need to name the schools where these things are happening. It is not APS policy or even the practice in all schools.

Take action and do WHAT? The program is fine. We don't need to assuage your ego. Arlington is one of the best school districts in the entire country. Its resources are currently strained -- they don't need to "do" anything about G&T program while they're wrestling with finding seats for everyone. For Christ's sake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Thankfully, "gifted" is really low key in Arlington. You have to remember that APS is FILLED with high-achieving kids who test well. You can have a child in the 98th, 99th percentile in testing and they won't be offered services. They're looking for something different -- more classic "gifted" behavior. Often it goes hand in glove with other characteristics about the child, typically something not neurotypical.

It's a much better way of managing the program than the nuttery that is AAP in Fairfax.

Do you actually have a child who has been in AAP in Fairfax? They also base their decisions on classic "gifted" behavior.

No, actually, they don't. They dumbed it down to include high-achieving students who would perform just fine in general ed, largely at the insistence of a fleet of helicopter parents who think their precious little snowflake is too smart to learn with the masses.

[Anonymous]

Thankfully, "gifted" is really low key in Arlington. You have to remember that APS is FILLED with high-achieving kids who test well. You can have a child in the 98th, 99th percentile in testing and they won't be offered services. They're looking for something different -- more classic "gifted" behavior. Often it goes hand in glove with other characteristics about the child, typically something not neurotypical.

It's a much better way of managing the program than the nuttery that is AAP in Fairfax.


Do you actually have a child who has been in AAP in Fairfax? They also base their decisions on classic "gifted" behavior.


No, actually, they don't. They dumbed it down to include high-achieving students who would perform just fine in general ed, largely at the insistence of a fleet of helicopter parents who think their precious little snowflake is too smart to learn with the masses.

And you have a child in AAP in Fairfax? Because I do, and this has not been my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a loud mouth? That's how it works at our school. Pretty amusing to watch and definitely not the brightest bunch in the grade. Just the most annoying and obnoxious parents.

Many with the highest scores are not in it. They filled it in K/1st with the loud mouth's kids that were doing Kumon since 1. Now they don't have space for any new kids even if they are brighter.

+1. Even if you win a spot, don't expect actual services to track your kid's abilities.

This really depends on the school. At my kids' school, they don't even start referring most kids until 3rd or 4th grade.

If people don't name the schools and just bitch anonymously on DCUM, there will never been any pressure for the Superintendent or Board to take action. People need to name the schools where these things are happening. It is not APS policy or even the practice in all schools.

Take action and do WHAT? The program is fine. We don't need to assuage your ego. Arlington is one of the best school districts in the entire country. Its resources are currently strained -- they don't need to "do" anything about G&T program while they're wrestling with finding seats for everyone. For Christ's sake.

?? PP said "Do you have a loud mouth? That's how it works at our school. Pretty amusing to watch and definitely not the brightest bunch in the grade. Just the most annoying and obnoxious parents." THAT is the kind of thing that bitching about on DCUM doesn't fix. You have to tell someone in a position to do something--and believe me, if there's anything the Superintendent is in favor of, it is consistency across schools, and he would be all over this kind of thing (if it's really happening like that). Complaining to the peanut gallery here doesn't do a damn thing.

I'm in Arlington and am fine with the way we do things, no interest in an AAP-like model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I've never pushed for gifted services in my APS school and my DC was identified by various teachers throughout elementary school and middle (we're at Williamsburg now.) Also, we are totally unconnected to the PTA--in fact, we're not into networking/socializing with other parents for the most part. So, it can be done independently.


Nice it worked out for your child. My child tested in the 99th percentile on 2 IQ tests. Teacher said he he didn't seem gifted because he "doesnt seem interested in school." She's right, he's not into it! This woman wouldn't know gifted if it looked her in the eyes. It kills me that people with no training or even just general sense have this much impact on gifted services.

Where is the evidence that she has no training? Because she does not agree with you that your child is gifted? What kind of training do *you* have?

Seriously? This teacher is incompetent if she doesn't flag a kid at the 99th percentile on IQ tests as gifted. That's pretty much the definition as gifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I've never pushed for gifted services in my APS school and my DC was identified by various teachers throughout elementary school and middle (we're at Williamsburg now.) Also, we are totally unconnected to the PTA--in fact, we're not into networking/socializing with other parents for the most part. So, it can be done independently.


Nice it worked out for your child. My child tested in the 99th percentile on 2 IQ tests. Teacher said he he didn't seem gifted because he "doesnt seem interested in school." She's right, he's not into it! This woman wouldn't know gifted if it looked her in the eyes. It kills me that people with no training or even just general sense have this much impact on gifted services.

Where is the evidence that she has no training? Because she does not agree with you that your child is gifted? What kind of training do *you* have?

Seriously? This teacher is incompetent if she doesn't flag a kid at the 99th percentile on IQ tests as gifted. That's pretty much the definition as gifted.

The NNAT and CogAT are not IQ tests. They are cheaper proxies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I've never pushed for gifted services in my APS school and my DC was identified by various teachers throughout elementary school and middle (we're at Williamsburg now.) Also, we are totally unconnected to the PTA--in fact, we're not into networking/socializing with other parents for the most part. So, it can be done independently.


Nice it worked out for your child. My child tested in the 99th percentile on 2 IQ tests. Teacher said he he didn't seem gifted because he "doesnt seem interested in school." She's right, he's not into it! This woman wouldn't know gifted if it looked her in the eyes. It kills me that people with no training or even just general sense have this much impact on gifted services.

Where is the evidence that she has no training? Because she does not agree with you that your child is gifted? What kind of training do *you* have?

Seriously? This teacher is incompetent if she doesn't flag a kid at the 99th percentile on IQ tests as gifted. That's pretty much the definition as gifted.

The NNAT and CogAT are not IQ tests. They are cheaper proxies.

How do you know that the PP was referring to the NNAT and CogAT?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I've never pushed for gifted services in my APS school and my DC was identified by various teachers throughout elementary school and middle (we're at Williamsburg now.) Also, we are totally unconnected to the PTA--in fact, we're not into networking/socializing with other parents for the most part. So, it can be done independently.


Nice it worked out for your child. My child tested in the 99th percentile on 2 IQ tests. Teacher said he he didn't seem gifted because he "doesnt seem interested in school." She's right, he's not into it! This woman wouldn't know gifted if it looked her in the eyes. It kills me that people with no training or even just general sense have this much impact on gifted services.

Where is the evidence that she has no training? Because she does not agree with you that your child is gifted? What kind of training do *you* have?

Seriously? This teacher is incompetent if she doesn't flag a kid at the 99th percentile on IQ tests as gifted. That's pretty much the definition as gifted.

The NNAT and CogAT are not IQ tests. They are cheaper proxies.

How do you know that the PP was referring to the NNAT and CogAT?

Those are the two tests the schools usually give. Maybe pp went out and independently got two different IQ tests for her DC. I was merely pointing out that the NNAT and CogAT are not IQ,tests because there is a common misperception that they are.

[Anonymous]

You're right they aren't IQ tests, they are "ability" tests that are highly correlated with IQ. They are also widely used by school districts to identify intellectual giftedness. I.e., the PP point is still valid even if she was incorrectly referring to the NNAT and Cogat as IQ tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're right they aren't IQ tests, they are "ability" tests that are highly correlated with IQ. They are also widely used by school districts to identify intellectual giftedness. I.e., the PP point is still valid even if she was incorrectly referring to the NNAT and Cogat as IQ tests.

She said scoring that well on the two tests was the definition of giftedness. That's only true if they were IQ tests. She is bashing the teacher for not recognizing giftedness because of the scores on those tests. Because they aren't true IQ tests, there are usually other things that are factored into the selection process, e.g. teacher input.