NY cutting gifted programs due to lack of diversity

[Anonymous]

What does Petrilli think about GT programs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does Petrilli think about GT programs?

At this point who gives a crap what Petrilli thinks? Seems he's pretty thoroughly discredited himself.

[Anonymous]

The mid city diner pic was pretty funny...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its amazing to me that in a city full of so many smart, talented and organized people that we continue to accept the status quo of failing the brightest kids in DCPS. Then again, maybe parents aren't accepting it and that explains why these same smart and talented parents are pulling their smart and talented kids out of DCPS in 4th grade to get into Latin or Basis.

It's really disheartening!

[Anonymous]

I'm gagging into my pearls when I think about the fact that my DC in DCPS can't be separated into a special tract and given the label she deserves--TRULY GIFTED. Instead, she has to be with all of your garden variety brats and despite the fact that our school has put into place quite a few programs to meet the needs of your GARDEN VARIETY mini-gifted kids, she nonetheless needs something MORE. A class just of her own, perhaps with a few others. I'm not ashamed to tell you that she scored at the 99th percentile on every IQ test ever created by man. My husband and I are going to go on a hunger strike until we get the exclusivity that we crave...er....that my dc deserves.

[Anonymous]

The problem with the NY schools is that they test at an age where the results are less indicative of gift than, how much test prep parents do. Yes well off kids are academically prepared and that is what most of us need. The problem is that there are a lot of quite capable poor kids, they just don't have the supports well off kids have to excel, that is what we need to figure out how to find to have a more viable system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm gagging into my pearls when I think about the fact that my DC in DCPS can't be separated into a special tract and given the label she deserves--TRULY GIFTED. Instead, she has to be with all of your garden variety brats and despite the fact that our school has put into place quite a few programs to meet the needs of your GARDEN VARIETY mini-gifted kids, she nonetheless needs something MORE. A class just of her own, perhaps with a few others. I'm not ashamed to tell you that she scored at the 99th percentile on every IQ test ever created by man. My husband and I are going to go on a hunger strike until we get the exclusivity that we crave...er....that my dc deserves.

^ clueless troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the NY schools is that they test at an age where the results are less indicative of gift than, how much test prep parents do. Yes well off kids are academically prepared and that is what most of us need. The problem is that there are a lot of quite capable poor kids, they just don't have the supports well off kids have to excel, that is what we need to figure out how to find to have a more viable system.

There's a vast wealth of free resources out there. I was a FARMS kid who tested well, ended up in G&T, AP tracks and ended up in college with scholarships - mainly just because of libraries and museums. All it takes is kindling their curiosity and pointing them in the right direction. Add to that the availability of the internet - even more free resources right at your fingertips, and the libraries have computers to take you there.

I don't buy that it's all about non-FARMS families loading their kids up on expensive prep, camps and enrichment. Most of the parents I know do very little of that, if any.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the NY schools is that they test at an age where the results are less indicative of gift than, how much test prep parents do. Yes well off kids are academically prepared and that is what most of us need. The problem is that there are a lot of quite capable poor kids, they just don't have the supports well off kids have to excel, that is what we need to figure out how to find to have a more viable system.

There's a vast wealth of free resources out there. I was a FARMS kid who tested well, ended up in G&T, AP tracks and ended up in college with scholarships - mainly just because of libraries and museums. All it takes is kindling their curiosity and pointing them in the right direction. Add to that the availability of the internet - even more free resources right at your fingertips, and the libraries have computers to take you there.

I don't buy that it's all about non-FARMS families loading their kids up on expensive prep, camps and enrichment. Most of the parents I know do very little of that, if any.

Educated high SES parents have the kind of enriched home life that tends to skew early life IQ tests. Many of those "gifted" kids from K will turn into more run of the mill smart kids by 4th or 5th grade. Not all, but a decent percentage. Most places don't test for G&T until 3rd grade. K is way too early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The problem with the NY schools is that they test at an age where the results are less indicative of gift than, how much test prep parents do. Yes well off kids are academically prepared and that is what most of us need. The problem is that there are a lot of quite capable poor kids, they just don't have the supports well off kids have to excel, that is what we need to figure out how to find to have a more viable system.

There's a vast wealth of free resources out there. I was a FARMS kid who tested well, ended up in G&T, AP tracks and ended up in college with scholarships - mainly just because of libraries and museums. All it takes is kindling their curiosity and pointing them in the right direction. Add to that the availability of the internet - even more free resources right at your fingertips, and the libraries have computers to take you there.

I don't buy that it's all about non-FARMS families loading their kids up on expensive prep, camps and enrichment. Most of the parents I know do very little of that, if any.

Educated high SES parents have the kind of enriched home life that tends to skew early life IQ tests. Many of those "gifted" kids from K will turn into more run of the mill smart kids by 4th or 5th grade. Not all, but a decent percentage. Most places don't test for G&T until 3rd grade. K is way too early.

Sure, accuracy is a lot lower in K but testing becomes more solid over time - which is why testing ought best to be done at various intervals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

District-wide, if those students were all in the system, it could be done. With a population the size of DC, you could probably have several entire schools for "gifted" based on top 5-10% and entire classrooms for "profoundly gifted" but it would surely meet resistance from people who want to insist that all children are equal.

Population of DCPS=43,800. Top 10% therefore is 4,380. That's 365 kids per grade for k-12. Such a school would immediately become the second largest middle school and high school in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

And that is the high end of the numbers, 20;07. Top 5%, which would be more a more realistic estimation of students who could be considered advanced ( "gifted" ). That's about 180 per grade. Barely enough for one high school, much less several.

There just aren't enough kids to warrant that resource allocation until the greater needs of the majority are addressed.

[Anonymous]

There's another 40,000 kids in charter schools who might be interested as well.

[Anonymous]

Interesting that people on here don't even realize what services ARE in place for academically talented youth in DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that people on here don't even realize what services ARE in place for academically talented youth in DCPS.

Can you describe them?