Why is Nysmith no longer "gifted"?

[Anonymous]

I asked the same question in a thread recently.

According to a parent, they (the parents) wanted to drop the moniker since they accepted a lot of siblings that were, as someone pointed out, less talented.

Hard to say if this waters down the brand or not.

We loved our tour there, but we weren’t going to fork out that tuition times two. Funding our savings at a higher level made more sense to us…

[Anonymous]

Looking at their Mission and Philosophy, it might have to do with branding. The "for the Gifted" in the name is very striking and intimidating, even when you have a gifted child. Focusing on a differentiated, joyful education, especially nowadays, is much more appealing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no way you can accept kids to a school at age 3, 4, 5, 6 and ensure they are ALL gifted at age 13.

They admit high SES kids and teach small classes at a high level. So the kids are smart.

Gifted is disingenuous.

I went there.

Well we know you weren't the top of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A majority of DMV parents think their kids are "gifted"! It gets old. My kid is not gifted tho he does have a keen ability to memorize and retain sports and player statistics.

They define gifted as 120 IQ or higher, although I don't know how they account for diversity if that's the case. Do they not care about the strength of a truly diverse student body??

...Well, kind of. They want 120 in at least one subcategory. That certainly widens the pool a fair bit.

"Copy of intellectual test report is required for admission to grades 1-8. Applicants must have a qualifying score of “Superior” or “Very Superior” (120 or higher) in at least one test sub-category for admission."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one kid I know who went there from our public was far from gifted.

Sounds like you're just jealous because you couldn't afford to put your DC in private school.

No, though I wasn't sad to see that kid leave the school, that's for sure.

[Anonymous]

Nysmith family here - they did some survey and the parents overwhelmingly disliked having it in the name - or so they told us. I mean I certainly wasn’t walking around announcing my kids were at nysmith school for the gifted. A joy filled education is a lot … not sure why it needs a slogan?

[Anonymous]

The “joy-filled education” is laughable. Neither of my kids who went there describe it as such.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting! I hadn't heard that. I assume because it 1) isn't really full of actually gifted students and 2) that marketing keeps people who are looking at a broad range of schools away.

I don't want my kid to go to a school that labels itself like that. It reeks of self-importance. Remove the moniker and I think it sounds more appealing.

But then it no longer actually serves the very small group it was formed to serve. The problem lies in that most people in DMV do not actually have a "gifted" child (of the number who do, who want to pay private school the number gets even smaller) in that they have an IQ above 150 cut off was and do not know that actually "gifted" students need a different pace and way of teaching than any of the other privates in this area provide. Particularly in younger years up to HS. I think the school suffered from a lack of ability to get enough students that met the qualifying attributes when it originally opened, when it was trying to stay true to the original intent, then because of financial needs started admitting high achieving but not truly gifted students in, and now know they should not market themselves as something they are not.
Most high achieving students at the "big 3" schools are not "gifted" they are very bright and work very hard--not the same thing at all. I have a child like this at a "big 3" and have seen the difference between these sorts of kids and those who are actually gifted, and obviously so, at young ages.
sorry for typos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A majority of DMV parents think their kids are "gifted"! It gets old. My kid is not gifted tho he does have a keen ability to memorize and retain sports and player statistics.

They define gifted as 120 IQ or higher, although I don't know how they account for diversity if that's the case. Do they not care about the strength of a truly diverse student body??

...Well, kind of. They want 120 in at least one subcategory. That certainly widens the pool a fair bit.

"Copy of intellectual test report is required for admission to grades 1-8. Applicants must have a qualifying score of “Superior” or “Very Superior” (120 or higher) in at least one test sub-category for admission."

Then they have changed things significantly since we toured years ago for my oldest who scored above 145 and they said the cut off then was something like 140?
If they dropped it to 120 then, yes, they should remove that "gifted" label.

[Anonymous]

It is no longer a school for gifted students. You can get in pretty much if you interview well. It is extremely expensive and you’re basically just paying for a very low student teacher ratio. The school is riddled with issues, and they all stem from the top. LOTS of their best teachers left this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A majority of DMV parents think their kids are "gifted"! It gets old. My kid is not gifted tho he does have a keen ability to memorize and retain sports and player statistics.

True.. People in the DMV always say their kids are " gifted". Someone has to be average.

The average kids live in Loudoun and Frederick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A majority of DMV parents think their kids are "gifted"! It gets old. My kid is not gifted tho he does have a keen ability to memorize and retain sports and player statistics.

True.. People in the DMV always say their kids are " gifted". Someone has to be average.

The average kids live in Loudoun and Frederick.

And a lot of them go to nysmith

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A majority of DMV parents think their kids are "gifted"! It gets old. My kid is not gifted tho he does have a keen ability to memorize and retain sports and player statistics.

They define gifted as 120 IQ or higher, although I don't know how they account for diversity if that's the case. Do they not care about the strength of a truly diverse student body??

How does this have anything to do with diversity? All genders/races/socioeconomics can have IQ’s over 120.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A majority of DMV parents think their kids are "gifted"! It gets old. My kid is not gifted tho he does have a keen ability to memorize and retain sports and player statistics.

They define gifted as 120 IQ or higher, although I don't know how they account for diversity if that's the case. Do they not care about the strength of a truly diverse student body??

Holy insult Batman. There are tons of diverse candidates with IQs over 120.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A majority of DMV parents think their kids are "gifted"! It gets old. My kid is not gifted tho he does have a keen ability to memorize and retain sports and player statistics.

They define gifted as 120 IQ or higher, although I don't know how they account for diversity if that's the case. Do they not care about the strength of a truly diverse student body??

...Well, kind of. They want 120 in at least one subcategory. That certainly widens the pool a fair bit.

"Copy of intellectual test report is required for admission to grades 1-8. Applicants must have a qualifying score of “Superior” or “Very Superior” (120 or higher) in at least one test sub-category for admission."

Wouldn’t most kids who are a bit above average (by which I mean IQ around 110) have a sub-category in which they score 120?