Gifted kids in DCPS (specifically Lafayette)

[Anonymous]

Apply to Holton Arms for next year.

[Anonymous]

Our Capitol Hill DCPS lets my DD take math class w/ the grade ahead of her, provides her w/ an adaptive math app on which she works about 2 grades ahead, and sets all of her math apps to one grade ahead. It's actually been better than I've expected so far (she's young still).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you had a boy, I would have suggested that you call St. Anselm's Abbey School. They will make room for a gifted middle schooler on a rolling admissions basis.

. Sure, if you have 30k a year to give to them. Their Fi Aid isn’t too hot, not a big endowment.

[Anonymous]

As some PP said earlier, DCPS ES doesn't do gifted learning very well. But things get better once you hit MS (at least for math) and SWW is a perfectly good test-in option for high school. Unless you have a child who needs to take Algebra 2 or calculus in elementary, a couple of years here and there should be fine with some amount of supplementing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our Capitol Hill DCPS lets my DD take math class w/ the grade ahead of her, provides her w/ an adaptive math app on which she works about 2 grades ahead, and sets all of her math apps to one grade ahead. It's actually been better than I've expected so far (she's young still).

That could never happen at Lafayette. Between the principal's general inflexibility and the scheduling difficulties from being a large school, kids are going to take the same class as their classmates, with no acceleration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you had a boy, I would have suggested that you call St. Anselm's Abbey School. They will make room for a gifted middle schooler on a rolling admissions basis.

. Sure, if you have 30k a year to give to them. Their Fi Aid isn’t too hot, not a big endowment.

40% of students receive over a million in aid. Much better than most schools. But yes, it costs money to go to private school.

[Anonymous]

And OP said private is not an option.

[Anonymous]

I can relate. DS is multiple grade levels ahead in math and ELA at our DCPS ES. Teacher allows him to do extra but still has to sit through the daily lessons which are not differentiated. We are not in a financial position to consider a private. We supplement out of class with Beast Academy/AOPS and encourage him to read and write to his heart’s content. I wish there was more at the school level in DCPS but there really isn’t...so we try to fill the void.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can relate. DS is multiple grade levels ahead in math and ELA at our DCPS ES. Teacher allows him to do extra but still has to sit through the daily lessons which are not differentiated. We are not in a financial position to consider a private. We supplement out of class with Beast Academy/AOPS and encourage him to read and write to his heart’s content. I wish there was more at the school level in DCPS but there really isn’t...so we try to fill the void.

Curious as to your long-term plans for DS, if you care to share? We may be in similar boat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can relate. DS is multiple grade levels ahead in math and ELA at our DCPS ES. Teacher allows him to do extra but still has to sit through the daily lessons which are not differentiated. We are not in a financial position to consider a private. We supplement out of class with Beast Academy/AOPS and encourage him to read and write to his heart’s content. I wish there was more at the school level in DCPS but there really isn’t...so we try to fill the void.

It gets better in middle school, at least for math.

[Anonymous]

My daughter went to Lafayette and was pulled out for math enrichment. I wonder why they discontinued the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I can relate. DS is multiple grade levels ahead in math and ELA at our DCPS ES. Teacher allows him to do extra but still has to sit through the daily lessons which are not differentiated. We are not in a financial position to consider a private. We supplement out of class with Beast Academy/AOPS and encourage him to read and write to his heart’s content. I wish there was more at the school level in DCPS but there really isn’t...so we try to fill the void.


Curious as to your long-term plans for DS, if you care to share? We may be in similar boat.

We definitely do not now and won't have funds in the future for private as we have other children. We plan to continue AOPS until Middle School and are hoping, as others point out, that there is differentiation in MS and HS. We are also considering potential move to a surrounding county so that we could use a magnet program (IB/Math Magnets). All of these are really hypothetical right now. At this point we are just trying to encourage/indulge DS's internal curiosity and drive to learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amazing how many DCUM posters were gifted kids ...

Why? DC attracts a type.

That’s for sure. Overachievers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have any experience with Truth MS, but I know that our Montessori ES has been great for our gifted child which I think is partially due to the wonderful teachers we've had, but is helped by the Montessori model that allows for more independent learning and meeting the child where they are. So it may be worth looking into for the future (especially because if you're inbound for Deal, you could always just switch back at any point).

Truth is definitely an option due to the differentiation that’s not just something that’s used as buzzword, but actually happens since they have mixed age classes.

[Anonymous]

Apply to BASIS for 5th grade.