Who writes the GBRS?

[Anonymous]

I was quite frankly appalled at what was written for my daughter's GBRS. Who writes these? Are these written at the sole discretion of the classroom teacher?
The school keeps touting the central committee and the decision is not in the school's hands. But if they submitted a bad GBRS and silly work samples ( 1 was decent but some were so basic no gifted kid could make it good), they completely control this. I don't buy the central committee argument. Yes there is a committee but a crappy submission by the school, won't win anyone over. Scores, grades and my referral were excellent. AART program doesn't seem to allow 1 on 1 meetings with parents.

I read somewhere the principal, AART teacher and regular teacher decide the GBRS. This would bother me. My daughter said the interaction with AART is hard because she raises her hand and doesn't get chosen. Principal has formed an impression of my kid based on comments made to me that I could see being very one sided (single treacher or administrator can't get to know 100's of kids).

Her actual teacher loves her. I don't think these GBRS would have happened had she been able to do them on her own and not by committee. But I'm willing to be told I'm wrong

[Anonymous]

The second grade teacher tends to have the greatest amount of day in the GBRS in our school. The AART and first grade teacher contributes. Note that your child’s teacher can think your child is great and still not see gifted behaviors in your child. It’s not about who the teacher likes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was quite frankly appalled at what was written for my daughter's GBRS. Who writes these? Are these written at the sole discretion of the classroom teacher?
The school keeps touting the central committee and the decision is not in the school's hands. But if they submitted a bad GBRS and silly work samples ( 1 was decent but some were so basic no gifted kid could make it good), they completely control this. I don't buy the central committee argument. Yes there is a committee but a crappy submission by the school, won't win anyone over. Scores, grades and my referral were excellent. AART program doesn't seem to allow 1 on 1 meetings with parents.

I read somewhere the principal, AART teacher and regular teacher decide the GBRS. This would bother me. My daughter said the interaction with AART is hard because she raises her hand and doesn't get chosen. Principal has formed an impression of my kid based on comments made to me that I could see being very one sided (single treacher or administrator can't get to know 100's of kids).

Her actual teacher loves her. I don't think these GBRS would have happened had she been able to do them on her own and not by committee. But I'm willing to be told I'm wrong

It's written by the classroom teacher with support from the AART and admin. Your daughter's teacher may love her, but that doesn't mean that the teacher has seen gifted behaviors demonstrated. Are you able to request an appointment with the AART (and cc the AP/Principal if you are getting turned down) to review your child's packet? I did that with our AART and they were able to tell me why they included particular work samples and how they demonstrated gifted behaviors. It may be that your child's needs are being met by the general education classroom.

[Anonymous]

Our work samples had a note written on them as to what gifted behavior they exhibited.

As others have said, your child’s Teacher can like her but not see her as needing to be in AAP. Kids can do well in school and not need to be in AAP. I had a friend who referred, the test score was 1 point under the in-pool score. Her comment when she saw her kids packet was that she didn’t realize how average her kid was.

The kid isn’t average but the kid isn’t motivated by much and doesn’t care about school. They are doing fine in Advanced Math and school in general but they are not naturally curious or interested in diving into any particular subject. The kid is polite and fun and silly but not particularly motivated. A pretty normal 8 year old, at the time, and still the same way at 11. Good kid, smart kid, but perfectly fine in Gen Ed.

[Anonymous]

I just don’t understand why they test at all if they are going to 100% base it on GBRS.

I think the county has quotas based on the new ‘One Fairfax’ equity initiative and each school has to participate in making the AAP program look the way they want it.

Not that it doesn’t make sense, kids who don’t have resources to prep and don’t have a stable home environment would benefit most from a center based program. And it would reduce bus shortages and a whole range of issues the county has.

I just wish they were upfront about it. Instead of this ‘your kid scored in the 99th percentile on the COUNTY ADMINISTERED test and doesn’t qualify for an advanced program because the teacher heard them make fart jokes instead of solving Pythagorean equations in a second grade classroom.’

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don’t understand why they test at all if they are going to 100% base it on GBRS.

I think the county has quotas based on the new ‘One Fairfax’ equity initiative and each school has to participate in making the AAP program look the way they want it.

Not that it doesn’t make sense, kids who don’t have resources to prep and don’t have a stable home environment would benefit most from a center based program. And it would reduce bus shortages and a whole range of issues the county has.

I just wish they were upfront about it. Instead of this ‘your kid scored in the 99th percentile on the COUNTY ADMINISTERED test and doesn’t qualify for an advanced program because the teacher heard them make fart jokes instead of solving Pythagorean equations in a second grade classroom.’

I know someone who had great GBRS and lower scores that did not get in, so it is not solely based on GBRS.

[Anonymous]

Ok. Fair. 95% on GBRS. My point is that they know who they want/need to recommend before they even get the scores back. The scores are just theater.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok. Fair. 95% on GBRS. My point is that they know who they want/need to recommend before they even get the scores back. The scores are just theater.

The scores are used as a screener. There are a lot of parents out there that have no clue what AAP is. The tests are meant to identify a pool of kids who should then be considered for advanced services, whether or not their parents refer them or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I just wish they were upfront about it. Instead of this ‘your kid scored in the 99th percentile on the COUNTY ADMINISTERED test and doesn’t qualify for an advanced program because the teacher heard them make fart jokes instead of solving Pythagorean equations in a second grade classroom.’

My kid was the one solving Pythagorean equations in 2nd grade. He still got a low GBRS, because the teacher didn't understand what he was doing.

People here are trying too hard to make sense of a process that is kind of random. I had a mysterious rejection for my oldest kid and met with the AART. The AART flat out said that every single year, a handful of kids from that school get rejected with strong packets that highly endorse them for AAP and another handful mysteriously get in with nothing whatsoever in the packet to suggest that they belong in AAP. So, at least 10% of the AAP decisions flat out make no sense, even to very experienced AARTs.

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the double post. Really, though, if your kid gets rejected from AAP, but you think they belong, these are basically the only approaches you can take:
If test scores and GBRS are high, just continue appealing and reapplying. Eventually your kid will get in.
If the test scores are high but GBRS is low, try to figure out what's happening in the classroom. It's possible that the GBRS in 3rd will magically become strong, but it's also possible that your child isn't demonstrating much of anything in the classroom.
If the GBRS is high, but the test scores are much lower than you expected, get a WISC.

What you shouldn't do is drive yourself crazy trying to understand why a kid with a high GBRS, high test scores, and advanced in all subjects got rejected. You won't ever get an answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry for the double post. Really, though, if your kid gets rejected from AAP, but you think they belong, these are basically the only approaches you can take:
If test scores and GBRS are high, just continue appealing and reapplying. Eventually your kid will get in.
If the test scores are high but GBRS is low, try to figure out what's happening in the classroom. It's possible that the GBRS in 3rd will magically become strong, but it's also possible that your child isn't demonstrating much of anything in the classroom.
If the GBRS is high, but the test scores are much lower than you expected, get a WISC.

What you shouldn't do is drive yourself crazy trying to understand why a kid with a high GBRS, high test scores, and advanced in all subjects got rejected. You won't ever get an answer.

Yes. I agree. This is coolheaded advice everyone should take. Including me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I just wish they were upfront about it. Instead of this ‘your kid scored in the 99th percentile on the COUNTY ADMINISTERED test and doesn’t qualify for an advanced program because the teacher heard them make fart jokes instead of solving Pythagorean equations in a second grade classroom.’

My kid was the one solving Pythagorean equations in 2nd grade. He still got a low GBRS, because the teacher didn't understand what he was doing.

People here are trying too hard to make sense of a process that is kind of random. I had a mysterious rejection for my oldest kid and met with the AART. The AART flat out said that every single year, a handful of kids from that school get rejected with strong packets that highly endorse them for AAP and another handful mysteriously get in with nothing whatsoever in the packet to suggest that they belong in AAP. So, at least 10% of the AAP decisions flat out make no sense, even to very experienced AARTs.

Our AART had said the exact same thing, that there are decisions, both Yay and Nay, that make no sense to them. She put the number somewhat higher, at 20%.

[Anonymous]

Our school uses the same exact worksheet for every packet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school uses the same exact worksheet for every packet.

Every school should do that. Then it is more even across the board.

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the double post. Really, though, if your kid gets rejected from AAP, but you think they belong, these are basically the only approaches you can take:
If test scores and GBRS are high, just continue appealing and reapplying. Eventually your kid will get in.
If the test scores are high but GBRS is low, try to figure out what's happening in the classroom. It's possible that the GBRS in 3rd will magically become strong, but it's also possible that your child isn't demonstrating much of anything in the classroom.
If the GBRS is high, but the test scores are much lower than you expected, get a WISC.

What you shouldn't do is drive yourself crazy trying to understand why a kid with a high GBRS, high test scores, and advanced in all subjects got rejected. You won't ever get an answer.

The problem with this approach is you will not know the GBRS BEFORE you apply for AAP. How will you know Is 3rd grade or 4 the grade for instance will be better?