How does the GT program work in MD?
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Anonymous
| Each county manages its own GT education. MD law requires GT identification during 2nd grade but what to do with the GT students is county's responsibility. Most people here are from Montgomery County so OP needs to clarify which county you live before receiving useful information. |
Anonymous
4th, 5th is not Magnet. There's no elementary schools magnet. |
Anonymous
|
Technically, enrichment exists in curriculum 2.0 at all grade levels. It is written into the curriculum, not every week, but most weeks in math and at various points in reading.
The enrichment covers content in more depth but doesn't usually accelerate beyond grade level objectives. Not all schools or teachers implement the enrichment that is available in the curriculum. Some schools/teachers are much better at it than others. You can ask your classroom teacher about the enrichment and if your child is receiving it. |
Anonymous
|
MCPS identification/testing
2nd grade: all students tested for GT label-- used to make some suggestions for enrichment the following year in math and reading- some schools follow, some seem to ignore 3rd grade: students are invited to test for Centers for Enriched studies based on how they are doing, report cards, MAP.. Then those who are tested are considered for Centers for Enriched Studies. Some schools also have an Enriched Literacy Curriculum. Both begin in 4th grade. Compacted math is a separate math program and I think is available in every elementary school. 5th grade: same process as third but consideration is the Math, Science, Computer Science magnet or the humanities magnet which begin in 6th grade. There are also honors courses available in middle schools and the choice programs in the DCC. In 9th grade students currently apply for the different high school magnets. Who knows if this will change to be more like the CES and middle school in the future. There are also signature programs, IB options and college partnerships at some schools. AP options exist at all high schools, but some have more classes offered than others. Investing, although students are tested and labeled as GT in second grade, none of the other options above require a student to have the label to participate. |
Anonymous
OP here - thank you all for the informative posts. I am in Montgomery County - for some reason I assumed most MD posters on DCUM to be from Montgomery County. |
Anonymous
This is semantics. The Center for Enrichment Studies, which is 4th and 5th, is a magnet program. It's just broken up into more centers than the 2 that exist at the middle school level. If you go to the MCPS website, the CES is described under the link "Application (Magnet)". |
Anonymous
| Md is moving in the direction of the FCPS model and they will be sorry |
Anonymous
Why? |
Anonymous
DP.. a program designed for the top 2 to 3% is going to look different than a program designed for the top 20%. The caliber of work won't be the same. |
Anonymous
Meh. The screening process for the 2-3% could be flawed. Better that 20-30% of students benefit from GT enrichment activities. |
Anonymous
OK.. how do you know if the 20% screening process isn't flawed either? Even if it was flawed, why take it to 20%? That's not a "gifted" program, hence the name change to "enriched". I also think they changed the admittance to a "holistic" approach, hence the changes in testing and the scores that are displayed on the results to the parents. I've had two kids go through the process. The test is different. |
Anonymous
How does the current CES program in 4th and 5th meet that description? While the way they select has changed this year, the number of overall students in the program is basically the same (with the minor change of having local programs at a few schools). What am I missing? |
Anonymous
And yet people complain that there are many more kids that could be served in the MCPS gifted program. Wouldn't opening it up to more be one solution? |
Anonymous
PP here.. I was addressing that other PP's comment about how MCPS is moving toward the AAP model in FFX, which takes 20% of students. However, I don't think MCPS's CES is really taking the top 2 to 3% anymore because of the name change and also because of the testing change. Having additional schools in CES increases the number of students in the program, hence it's no longer top 2 to 3%. And this was a pilot, so they are going to open several more, thereby increasing the student population in CES even more. The term "gifted" generally means the top 2 to 3% of an area. If this is an MCPS wide program, then the "area" would be the entire MCPS 3rd graders, and not just those in your school. I think it's great that they are opening more CES at local schools, but then it's no longer a gifted program, hence the name change. |
Anonymous
We should open it more because all the kids are above the average. |