GT/LD/ADHD - schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[quote=Anonymous]To 17:43, from a NP: how well can Commonwealth Academy accommodate highly gifted kids, who need a lot of acceleration and differentiation (to work at a faster pace as well as at a higher level)?

The classes are very small. My DC took two summer courses - three kids to a teacher - one summer was Alegebra II - the second summer it was Pre-Calc - so he could take Calculus and have a grade before college's EA/ED dates on Nov. 1. He's in the Honors diploma program, which not all kids take. When you have 3 to 1 teachers it is almost like private lessons so the teacher can pace the class as fast as she or he wants. During the school years, the high school offers an Honors track in Humanities and an Honors track in STEM. Not all kids are in both or eiither so the classrooms are adjusted to the needs of the children. There is never more than 10 students to a teacher in any class so the teacher can help all with differentiation.


This sounds more like it's coming from an administrator from the school, not a parents. Just saying...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[quote=Anonymous]To 17:43, from a NP: how well can Commonwealth Academy accommodate highly gifted kids, who need a lot of acceleration and differentiation (to work at a faster pace as well as at a higher level)?

The classes are very small. My DC took two summer courses - three kids to a teacher - one summer was Alegebra II - the second summer it was Pre-Calc - so he could take Calculus and have a grade before college's EA/ED dates on Nov. 1. He's in the Honors diploma program, which not all kids take. When you have 3 to 1 teachers it is almost like private lessons so the teacher can pace the class as fast as she or he wants. During the school years, the high school offers an Honors track in Humanities and an Honors track in STEM. Not all kids are in both or eiither so the classrooms are adjusted to the needs of the children. There is never more than 10 students to a teacher in any class so the teacher can help all with differentiation.

This is an example of why we stayed in public. DC will be taking BC Calculus junior year and has not had to take extra summer classes to get there. The private LD schools simply do not have the robust programs in math and science that our local public does. He is also taking AP Statistics as a sophomore and next year will take AP Physics I and AP Chem. Senior year he plans on taking AP Bio and AP Physics C.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[quote=Anonymous]To 17:43, from a NP: how well can Commonwealth Academy accommodate highly gifted kids, who need a lot of acceleration and differentiation (to work at a faster pace as well as at a higher level)?

The classes are very small. My DC took two summer courses - three kids to a teacher - one summer was Alegebra II - the second summer it was Pre-Calc - so he could take Calculus and have a grade before college's EA/ED dates on Nov. 1. He's in the Honors diploma program, which not all kids take. When you have 3 to 1 teachers it is almost like private lessons so the teacher can pace the class as fast as she or he wants. During the school years, the high school offers an Honors track in Humanities and an Honors track in STEM. Not all kids are in both or eiither so the classrooms are adjusted to the needs of the children. There is never more than 10 students to a teacher in any class so the teacher can help all with differentiation.

This sounds more like it's coming from an administrator from the school, not a parents. Just saying...


Nope, just a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[quote=Anonymous]To 17:43, from a NP: how well can Commonwealth Academy accommodate highly gifted kids, who need a lot of acceleration and differentiation (to work at a faster pace as well as at a higher level)?

The classes are very small. My DC took two summer courses - three kids to a teacher - one summer was Alegebra II - the second summer it was Pre-Calc - so he could take Calculus and have a grade before college's EA/ED dates on Nov. 1. He's in the Honors diploma program, which not all kids take. When you have 3 to 1 teachers it is almost like private lessons so the teacher can pace the class as fast as she or he wants. During the school years, the high school offers an Honors track in Humanities and an Honors track in STEM. Not all kids are in both or eiither so the classrooms are adjusted to the needs of the children. There is never more than 10 students to a teacher in any class so the teacher can help all with differentiation.

This is an example of why we stayed in public. DC will be taking BC Calculus junior year and has not had to take extra summer classes to get there. The private LD schools simply do not have the robust programs in math and science that our local public does. He is also taking AP Statistics as a sophomore and next year will take AP Physics I and AP Chem. Senior year he plans on taking AP Bio and AP Physics C.


You must have a very gifted SN child, then. Our SN No. 1 child could not even make it through pre-calc with an IEP at Langley. She was behind in most of her math coursework coming from McLean School. She took the standard no. of courses in math and science but never got to Pre-Calc and Calculus (now taking in college) and never could handle the crush of the AP courses, which were truly taught at the college level at our high school. It was just too much stress for her but the IEP helped. DC2 was also behind coming out of a mainstream private into Commonwealth so did algebra I freshman year, Honors Algebra II in the summer, Honors Geometry in Sophomore year, Honors Pre-calc in summer, Honors Calculus in junior year (now), and Honors linear equations this summer plus a college-level course at NOVA or GMU. Next year Honors statistics or linear algebra depending on what DC2 takes during the summer. He is way ahead of the other child who went through public on an IEP. But by no means would I say that his schooling at C/A has been anything less than "robust". I've seen his math homework and writing assignments. I can't even begin to help him anymore. A lot about a child's ability to do high levels of math - especially if SN - starts in the pre-high school years. If they enter high school behind, then they will always be behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[quote=Anonymous]To 17:43, from a NP: how well can Commonwealth Academy accommodate highly gifted kids, who need a lot of acceleration and differentiation (to work at a faster pace as well as at a higher level)?

The classes are very small. My DC took two summer courses - three kids to a teacher - one summer was Alegebra II - the second summer it was Pre-Calc - so he could take Calculus and have a grade before college's EA/ED dates on Nov. 1. He's in the Honors diploma program, which not all kids take. When you have 3 to 1 teachers it is almost like private lessons so the teacher can pace the class as fast as she or he wants. During the school years, the high school offers an Honors track in Humanities and an Honors track in STEM. Not all kids are in both or eiither so the classrooms are adjusted to the needs of the children. There is never more than 10 students to a teacher in any class so the teacher can help all with differentiation.

This is an example of why we stayed in public. DC will be taking BC Calculus junior year and has not had to take extra summer classes to get there. The private LD schools simply do not have the robust programs in math and science that our local public does. He is also taking AP Statistics as a sophomore and next year will take AP Physics I and AP Chem. Senior year he plans on taking AP Bio and AP Physics C.

You must have a very gifted SN child, then. Our SN No. 1 child could not even make it through pre-calc with an IEP at Langley. She was behind in most of her math coursework coming from McLean School. She took the standard no. of courses in math and science but never got to Pre-Calc and Calculus (now taking in college) and never could handle the crush of the AP courses, which were truly taught at the college level at our high school. It was just too much stress for her but the IEP helped. DC2 was also behind coming out of a mainstream private into Commonwealth so did algebra I freshman year, Honors Algebra II in the summer, Honors Geometry in Sophomore year, Honors Pre-calc in summer, Honors Calculus in junior year (now), and Honors linear equations this summer plus a college-level course at NOVA or GMU. Next year Honors statistics or linear algebra depending on what DC2 takes during the summer. He is way ahead of the other child who went through public on an IEP. But by no means would I say that his schooling at C/A has been anything less than "robust". I've seen his math homework and writing assignments. I can't even begin to help him anymore. A lot about a child's ability to do high levels of math - especially if SN - starts in the pre-high school years. If they enter high school behind, then they will always be behind.


Yes he is gifted, but this thread is about GT/LD/ADHD and he is all of that. He is on track to take matrix algebra and multivariable calculus senior year. What type of LD does your DC have? I was under the impression that Commonwealth was mainly for ADHD and not for LDs like dyslexia- unless they were mild/moderate. What kind of AP science classes does Commonwealth offer?

[Anonymous]

Definitely NOT an administrator here, but a dad. Seriously, 12:00 if you knew the school you would know that C/A is tiny. There is no one at the school who has the time or interest to be on this site. I've never even heard DCUM mentioned at any parent or admin. get-together. But to answer some of the questions above, yes, there are some very gifted students at C/A - usually in the Superior range although several have scored 800 recently on the SAT, quite a few are calculus savants, another recently got into Mensa (because Mensa has youth scholarships - so don't bash Mensa). Another young man just recented a National Merit Commendation and is waiting to hear from Ivies. Yes, it is a college-prep school for ADHD kids. A few of the students have comorbidities such as dyslexia or GAP (generalized anxiety disorder), but no ASD or behavioral issues. The school now offers Honors Certificate Diplomas and Honors courses. The qualified students will be taking the SAT Subject Matter test in Chemistry soon. A few junior students take advanced courses at NoVA during the school year in the late afternoon. Our daughter will be taking advanced math courses at GMU this summer (she's in calculus now as a junior and straight As). We just finished the paperwork for GMU and she was accepted as a junior high school student for summer work. And any further coursework in very advanced fields or unique foreign languages is taking in a proctored online course during the day at the school.

[Anonymous]

That's interesting about no kids with ASD or behavioral issues because I've heard of a few families who went there whose kids had behavioral issues at other schools.

PP, do you think that their admissions criteria on this changed recently (the kids I'm talking about started there maybe 5 years ago)? Or is it that the school is so effective at dealing with behavioral issues that that kids who come in with behavioral issues don't have them for long?

[Anonymous]

I think its interesting how every private special ed school makes a point to emphasize they don't take kids with ASD or behavior issues. Where (besides Ivymount for ASD-and I think they run a waiting list) are those kids supposed to go??

[Anonymous]

My kid with ASD and behavioral issues is fully mainstreamed with IEP. I think it's hard to beat public for these type of kids especially if they need high level academics.

[Anonymous]

It means whatever the schools want it to mean when they think a kid will be too much work.

[Anonymous]

or be so disruptive as to curtail the other students' abilitly to focus and to learn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:or be so disruptive as to curtail the other students' abilitly to focus and to learn

How do they know that during the admissions process?

[Anonymous]

I'm guessing because they get the records from the current school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing because they get the records from the current school.

But if the current school does nothing to stem the behaviors and the SN school does, how will they know if their methods will be successful or not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm guessing because they get the records from the current school.

But if the current school does nothing to stem the behaviors and the SN school does, how will they know if their methods will be successful or not?

I'm not an administrator or admissions person but I'm guessing that the applicant to a school like Commonwealth has had many rounds of testing done previously and that is submitted in the application along with teacher and admin. recommendations, so any behavioral issues would be in the file. Our kid's profile probably read something like "exec. functioning, slow processing, 147 I.Q., anxiety issues, low self-esteem" etc. but the testing would have touched upon behavioral outburst or issues if there had been any. Also DC's not on meds. All that is asked in the application. Some of the Diener, Auburn, or other schools that work on social and behavioral issues will "promote" their kids to C/A if they think they can handle it once behaviors have been controlled, but I don't know how they do that so really can't give an honest response as to how they do that but I can tell you that not all the kids at C/A are on meds because mine are not. It's not something discussed amongst the parents, especially dads, so I can't even give you a percentage. I'm also assuming that the admissions directors of the various schools keep in touch and try to make helpful suggestions but don't quote me on that. I can tell you that C/A is very careful about whom they offer admissions to.