Gifted programs, lack of, in DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First round PARCC tests have highlighted just how wide the gap is. After another round or two, most of the administration issues will have been sorted out and schools will lose their "we just got the computers and most of our kids can't type" cover. Then what? Facing facts?

Unrelated to the gap, and unrelated to the topic of gifted education in DC, keyboarding skills will continue to be a challenge until kids have those skills. You can't teach most 8-year-olds to type well enough to type an essay or a sentence on a timed computer test in a few hours per year. Even the brightest little kids will still chicken peck a key board. Now, if they could text their answers just using thumbs, that would be whole other matter.

Do you really believe that? Have you see how computer savvy kids are? Computers are available at school & library for those who don't have home access.

http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/keyboarding_games.html

Game playing yes, typing no below 8th grade. I teach in a high school and you'd be surprised how poor some students typing is, I also have a high number of students who do not have access to a computer at home and have never set foot in a library.

If you consider Minecraft a game (I do), that is how my 8 year old daughter learned how to type, thanks to mimicking her older brother who would exchange messages online with the other players in the virtual world. Enough to get a 4 on the ELA for the PARCC in 3rd grade last year.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, my little Minecraft coding guru (who hasn't taken PARCC yet), took the ANET this year and got 100% correct on the sections requiring clicking, and zero -- literally zero -- on the sections requiring click-drag and drop. He was angry and frustrated and could not get the image on the screen to do what he wanted it to do. So now we are working on his mouse skills. I'm sure he'll have mouse skills by high school, but it really isn't the focal point of my expectations for third grade.

It doesn't bother me that much, as I care most about what my child is learning (as opposed to standardized scores), but it does show that what is being tested for some kids is more about computer skills and not the substance -- your child has the computer skills so she can show her substantive knowledge; mine has fine motor issues (apparently, but not enough for OT or an IEP or accommodations) and so cannot show his knowledge on large portions of the test. BTW, I'm not anti-testing at all; just realistic about the flaws in the system and what the tests do and do not show.

I'm not sure what they will do about this, but I sure hope the answer isn't that they will spend more time on mouse skills n typing than advanced reading and writing. They already cut out so much of a traditional education that there just isn't room to cut out more to make room for mouse skills that presently are only important for a specific function of a specific test. I'd rather they spend more time on printing and cursive, and leave typing for middle school. Bubble tests are fine for ES; why complicate matters?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The main reason so many high SES families bail from both DCPS and DC Charter schools around 3rd grade is that in-class differentiation, laudable as the concept is, only works well when, 1) very favorable teacher:instruction ratios are in the mix, 2) the in-class achievement gap isn't a chasm, and, 3) almost all the students consistently behave pretty well. Thus, you don't find fertile ground for in-class differentiation in most public schools in DC.

What happens is that the schools with the least need to improve their ratios (because PTAs raise money to pay for teachers aides past K), and with the narrowest in-class achievement gaps, are best able, and most willing, differentiate aggressively. The arrangement stinks city wide.

The achievement gap kicks in so very young in gentrifying neighborhoods. I thought about this while chaperoning a K class field trip to the US Botanical Gardens model trains exhibit. While my high SES charges ran around pointing at building replicas in the exhibit, shouting out names (White House! Supreme Court! Washington Monument! Lincoln Memorial!), my bright, eager low SES charges didn't seem to have a clue. They appeared to have no idea which building replicas we were looking at.

We're not talking about an achievement gap; we're contending with an achievement Grand Canyon.

Agree. In preschool we were all about "we will stay no matter what!" Now that my child is older and I see how much time is spent teaching really basic things in class, my child is bored. We will probably leave at middle school.

What school is your child currently at, PP?

[Anonymous]

My family is against most screens unless necessary (movies, assigned essays) and my 8th grade DC doesn't have a smart phone and can barely type and still scored 5s on both sections. Don't blame the technology, folks, look twice at your schools.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting that PP!

[Anonymous]

This is pretty far afield from the original topic.