If your DC was accepted to a GT Center, did u get a wink and nudge from principal?

[Anonymous]

Curious about something. Did anybody who got in to a GT school get a strong push from your home school principal to apply? As in "you should really consider the GT school, we think it would be a good for your child." Or do you think that your principal was completely neutral in the process?

[Anonymous]

He suggested that DC would be a good candidate, but we have not heard anything yet.

[Anonymous]

None..new principal so I would be surprised if he knew who my child was..

[Anonymous]

Assistant principal told us our DC would be a "shoo-in," and then DC did not get in. Assistant principal was very apologetic and said she could not figure out why.

[Anonymous]

The decision isn't solely up to the principal.

Some kids who are accepted into GT are already 10 years old! In third grade at age 10! Does that qualify as gifted or just older than your classmates?

[Anonymous]

Having 10 and 11 year olds in fourth grade may just make the teacher's job a lot easier. Teachers are rated on the grades given to their students.

[Anonymous]

MCPS teachers are rated on what scores and grades their students get. I don't know how many 10 year olds are in 3rd grade, but older kids have an edge over younger kids just because of age, I agree, it shouldn't qualify these 10 year olds as gifted. They should be compared to kids their own age who are already in 4th grade, not compared to younger kids who are their classmates in 3rd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS teachers are rated on what scores and grades their students get. I don't know how many 10 year olds are in 3rd grade, but older kids have an edge over younger kids just because of age, I agree, it shouldn't qualify these 10 year olds as gifted. They should be compared to kids their own age who are already in 4th grade, not compared to younger kids who are their classmates in 3rd grade.

I'm confused by these comments. So, giving high grades to students makes your performance rating higher as a teacher?

[Anonymous]

MCPS teachers are NOT rated by scores and grades their students get. That poster is grossly misinformed. There is no rating system in place in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The decision isn't solely up to the principal.

Some kids who are accepted into GT are already 10 years old! In third grade at age 10! Does that qualify as gifted or just older than your classmates?

Yes, 10yo. My child is in the Center and she turned 10 two weeks after starting. She met the cutoff by two weeks so we delayed enrolling her in K for a year. Two weeks. Hardly so much "older" that it confers some crazy advantage.

She is not the oldest in her class. There is a boy in her class who turned 10 the summer before third grade.

To answer the OP's question, no, no wink or nudge. Nothing at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The decision isn't solely up to the principal.

Some kids who are accepted into GT are already 10 years old! In third grade at age 10! Does that qualify as gifted or just older than your classmates?

Yes, 10yo. My child is in the Center and she turned 10 two weeks after starting. She met the cutoff by two weeks so we delayed enrolling her in K for a year. Two weeks. Hardly so much "older" that it confers some crazy advantage.

She is not the oldest in her class. There is a boy in her class who turned 10 the summer before third grade.

To answer the OP's question, no, no wink or nudge. Nothing at all.

Sorry, but I am having trouble following this. Our DD has a summer birthday, and will turn 8 just before third grade. she will be 8 for all of third grade, and if she is accepted, she would enter a MCPS HGC at age 9 and be 9 for all of 4th grade. I would expect that at most, there would be kids turning 9 early in the third grade year or turning 9 the summer before third grade because they were redshirted. How does a typically developing child turn 10 before third grade?! Wouldn't that child be held back two years? And if so, how would that child then suddenly be considered gifted?
And are you talking about MCPS or a county where HGC start in a different grade?

[Anonymous]

Your child (like mine) is young for her year. The child described is old for the year..so they are a year apart yet in the same grade. That is just the way it works at every school every year. For what it is worth my child's birthday is just days before the cut off but we sent him on time...and he is still going to a GT Magnet next year. By 3rd grade some of those age related issues have ended..and if not that is just the way life goes...

[Anonymous]

But 12:17 mentioned a child turning 10 BEFORE third grade starts. That is not a redshirted spring birhtday kid turning 10 in april of third grade vs. October of 4th grade. If my kid turns 8 the August beofre third grade, and another kid turns 10, that is a two year spread per grade, not a one year spread. I can't beleive that happens all that much, and I do think it would be unfair to judge giftedness when comparing kids two years apart in age. My kids aren't old enough yet for us to worry about it. It just seemd strange to me.

[Anonymous]

Ten before starting the center..which starts in 4TH GRADE..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But 12:17 mentioned a child turning 10 BEFORE third grade starts. That is not a redshirted spring birhtday kid turning 10 in april of third grade vs. October of 4th grade. If my kid turns 8 the August beofre third grade, and another kid turns 10, that is a two year spread per grade, not a one year spread. I can't beleive that happens all that much, and I do think it would be unfair to judge giftedness when comparing kids two years apart in age. My kids aren't old enough yet for us to worry about it. It just seemd strange to me.

I think the poster meant "a boy ... turned 10 the summer before FORTH grade". It is pretty obvious from the context.