APS Gifted Referral Form

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they rely a lot on the answers to those questions. DD was referred for art and I said that she got into my makeup and did really beautiful eyeshadow look. For other stuff I think I included some insightful comments she had made. It wasn't a big deal.

I kind of think the parent referral form exists just to appease a certain type of parent. It would actually be very unfair if they gave it much weight vs teacher observations, test scores, etc.

It's been a super weird few years and, at least at our school, fewer kids have been identified.

I was told in Feb 2020 at our conference that our child was going to be teacher-referred for gifted. With COVID hitting a week later, that didn't happen. Then there was a virtual year with very little opportunity for the kids to get to know teachers. Then last year was a mess with teachers getting kids caught up. We finally parent referred this year after our daughter's teacher expressed surprise that our child hadn't been tagged given her test scores and school performance. I'm not sure the normal mechanisms have been working well. We didn't want to be those parents, but it's been an odd few years and didn't want that to hurt our kid.

Why do you think advocating for your kid will make you "that parent"? I really hate to hear that. I parent referred both of my kids after it was clear the elem school didn't know how to id gifted kids. The RTG was under the impression that gifted kids were the ones who always had their hand in the air to answer a question and show what they know. Wrong - I had a shy, quiet gifted kid who didn't want to raise her hand even though she knew all the answers.

Both of my kids were identified after the parent referral. One had test scores off the charts that surprised even the principal. I do think it's helpful for parents to collect evidence of your child's giftedness such as work samples or anecdotes, so you have something to put on the form. You can also get your child privately tested with the WISC.

[Anonymous]

Also, if your school has a meet and greet with the Gifted Services coordinator (ours is in the fall) I'd plan to attend that. It was really helpful as to what to actually expect from gifted services. At our school, there is less pulling out for special lessons, and more concept building with the classroom small groups. Sometimes led by the gifted teacher, sometimes the classroom teacher.

Another thing to note is that being "ahead" in reading or math in kindergarten really doesn't mean all that much. My kid really struggled to learn to read but was still referred for gifted services. Now they are more than on grade level for reading, but that wasn't the point. It was the language analysis that got them referred.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they rely a lot on the answers to those questions. DD was referred for art and I said that she got into my makeup and did really beautiful eyeshadow look. For other stuff I think I included some insightful comments she had made. It wasn't a big deal.

I kind of think the parent referral form exists just to appease a certain type of parent. It would actually be very unfair if they gave it much weight vs teacher observations, test scores, etc.

It's been a super weird few years and, at least at our school, fewer kids have been identified.

I was told in Feb 2020 at our conference that our child was going to be teacher-referred for gifted. With COVID hitting a week later, that didn't happen. Then there was a virtual year with very little opportunity for the kids to get to know teachers. Then last year was a mess with teachers getting kids caught up. We finally parent referred this year after our daughter's teacher expressed surprise that our child hadn't been tagged given her test scores and school performance. I'm not sure the normal mechanisms have been working well. We didn't want to be those parents, but it's been an odd few years and didn't want that to hurt our kid.

We experienced nearly exactly the same timeline as you, except ended up test/teacher referred when my child finally took the test for the first time after the in-person-restart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any sense of how many kids who are test or teacher referred wind up being placed in the program?

Normally kids who are referred based on test scores are found eligible. However, it’s not a gifted program— instead it’s services that are provided through differentiation in the classroom, but any kid who is ready for these more advanced lessons can participate, you don’t have to have the label.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any sense of how many kids who are test or teacher referred wind up being placed in the program?

Normally kids who are referred based on test scores are found eligible. However, it’s not a gifted program— instead it’s services that are provided through differentiation in the classroom, but any kid who is ready for these more advanced lessons can participate, you don’t have to have the label.

Right, but if you don't have the label, you aren't automatically assigned to the classroom with the cluster receiving differentiation services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they rely a lot on the answers to those questions. DD was referred for art and I said that she got into my makeup and did really beautiful eyeshadow look. For other stuff I think I included some insightful comments she had made. It wasn't a big deal.

I kind of think the parent referral form exists just to appease a certain type of parent. It would actually be very unfair if they gave it much weight vs teacher observations, test scores, etc.

It's been a super weird few years and, at least at our school, fewer kids have been identified.

I was told in Feb 2020 at our conference that our child was going to be teacher-referred for gifted. With COVID hitting a week later, that didn't happen. Then there was a virtual year with very little opportunity for the kids to get to know teachers. Then last year was a mess with teachers getting kids caught up. We finally parent referred this year after our daughter's teacher expressed surprise that our child hadn't been tagged given her test scores and school performance. I'm not sure the normal mechanisms have been working well. We didn't want to be those parents, but it's been an odd few years and didn't want that to hurt our kid.

Why do you think advocating for your kid will make you "that parent"? I really hate to hear that. I parent referred both of my kids after it was clear the elem school didn't know how to id gifted kids. The RTG was under the impression that gifted kids were the ones who always had their hand in the air to answer a question and show what they know. Wrong - I had a shy, quiet gifted kid who didn't want to raise her hand even though she knew all the answers.

Both of my kids were identified after the parent referral. One had test scores off the charts that surprised even the principal. I do think it's helpful for parents to collect evidence of your child's giftedness such as work samples or anecdotes, so you have something to put on the form. You can also get your child privately tested with the WISC.

Wouldn't the RTG have referred based on the NNAT or CoGAT? If they're going to do universal screeners, seems like the bare minimum for the gifted teacher to scan them and refer all students over X score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they rely a lot on the answers to those questions. DD was referred for art and I said that she got into my makeup and did really beautiful eyeshadow look. For other stuff I think I included some insightful comments she had made. It wasn't a big deal.

I kind of think the parent referral form exists just to appease a certain type of parent. It would actually be very unfair if they gave it much weight vs teacher observations, test scores, etc.

It's been a super weird few years and, at least at our school, fewer kids have been identified.

I was told in Feb 2020 at our conference that our child was going to be teacher-referred for gifted. With COVID hitting a week later, that didn't happen. Then there was a virtual year with very little opportunity for the kids to get to know teachers. Then last year was a mess with teachers getting kids caught up. We finally parent referred this year after our daughter's teacher expressed surprise that our child hadn't been tagged given her test scores and school performance. I'm not sure the normal mechanisms have been working well. We didn't want to be those parents, but it's been an odd few years and didn't want that to hurt our kid.

Why do you think advocating for your kid will make you "that parent"? I really hate to hear that. I parent referred both of my kids after it was clear the elem school didn't know how to id gifted kids. The RTG was under the impression that gifted kids were the ones who always had their hand in the air to answer a question and show what they know. Wrong - I had a shy, quiet gifted kid who didn't want to raise her hand even though she knew all the answers.

Both of my kids were identified after the parent referral. One had test scores off the charts that surprised even the principal. I do think it's helpful for parents to collect evidence of your child's giftedness such as work samples or anecdotes, so you have something to put on the form. You can also get your child privately tested with the WISC.

Wouldn't the RTG have referred based on the NNAT or CoGAT? If they're going to do universal screeners, seems like the bare minimum for the gifted teacher to scan them and refer all students over X score.

My child's grade never took the NNAT because of COVID and CoGAT was a short screener, not a whole test.

My child was out sick the day the CoGAT screener was administered and ended up taking it later during recess with the instruction that she could go play when it was done. It's impossible to assess giftedness from one screening test administered during recess. It's just one data point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any sense of how many kids who are test or teacher referred wind up being placed in the program?

Normally kids who are referred based on test scores are found eligible. However, it’s not a gifted program— instead it’s services that are provided through differentiation in the classroom, but any kid who is ready for these more advanced lessons can participate, you don’t have to have the label.

Right, but if you don't have the label, you aren't automatically assigned to the classroom with the cluster receiving differentiation services.

This is true, however depending on the school, there might be clusters in every class. True at my child’s school— all classes have a cluster because the identified population is huge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any sense of how many kids who are test or teacher referred wind up being placed in the program?

Normally kids who are referred based on test scores are found eligible. However, it’s not a gifted program— instead it’s services that are provided through differentiation in the classroom, but any kid who is ready for these more advanced lessons can participate, you don’t have to have the label.

Right, but if you don't have the label, you aren't automatically assigned to the classroom with the cluster receiving differentiation services.

And this is why many parents push to be identified earlier, its high stakes to be stuck in the cluster-f class rather than the gifted cluster class. When gifted was pull out, it could be applicable no matter what class you are in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they rely a lot on the answers to those questions. DD was referred for art and I said that she got into my makeup and did really beautiful eyeshadow look. For other stuff I think I included some insightful comments she had made. It wasn't a big deal.

I kind of think the parent referral form exists just to appease a certain type of parent. It would actually be very unfair if they gave it much weight vs teacher observations, test scores, etc.

It's been a super weird few years and, at least at our school, fewer kids have been identified.

I was told in Feb 2020 at our conference that our child was going to be teacher-referred for gifted. With COVID hitting a week later, that didn't happen. Then there was a virtual year with very little opportunity for the kids to get to know teachers. Then last year was a mess with teachers getting kids caught up. We finally parent referred this year after our daughter's teacher expressed surprise that our child hadn't been tagged given her test scores and school performance. I'm not sure the normal mechanisms have been working well. We didn't want to be those parents, but it's been an odd few years and didn't want that to hurt our kid.

Why do you think advocating for your kid will make you "that parent"? I really hate to hear that. I parent referred both of my kids after it was clear the elem school didn't know how to id gifted kids. The RTG was under the impression that gifted kids were the ones who always had their hand in the air to answer a question and show what they know. Wrong - I had a shy, quiet gifted kid who didn't want to raise her hand even though she knew all the answers.

Both of my kids were identified after the parent referral. One had test scores off the charts that surprised even the principal. I do think it's helpful for parents to collect evidence of your child's giftedness such as work samples or anecdotes, so you have something to put on the form. You can also get your child privately tested with the WISC.

Wouldn't the RTG have referred based on the NNAT or CoGAT? If they're going to do universal screeners, seems like the bare minimum for the gifted teacher to scan them and refer all students over X score.

My child's grade never took the NNAT because of COVID and CoGAT was a short screener, not a whole test.

My child was out sick the day the CoGAT screener was administered and ended up taking it later during recess with the instruction that she could go play when it was done. It's impossible to assess giftedness from one screening test administered during recess. It's just one data point.

Huh? They take the full COGAT. In 2nd grade or if you haven’t taken it first year you are in APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they rely a lot on the answers to those questions. DD was referred for art and I said that she got into my makeup and did really beautiful eyeshadow look. For other stuff I think I included some insightful comments she had made. It wasn't a big deal.

I kind of think the parent referral form exists just to appease a certain type of parent. It would actually be very unfair if they gave it much weight vs teacher observations, test scores, etc.

It's been a super weird few years and, at least at our school, fewer kids have been identified.

I was told in Feb 2020 at our conference that our child was going to be teacher-referred for gifted. With COVID hitting a week later, that didn't happen. Then there was a virtual year with very little opportunity for the kids to get to know teachers. Then last year was a mess with teachers getting kids caught up. We finally parent referred this year after our daughter's teacher expressed surprise that our child hadn't been tagged given her test scores and school performance. I'm not sure the normal mechanisms have been working well. We didn't want to be those parents, but it's been an odd few years and didn't want that to hurt our kid.

Why do you think advocating for your kid will make you "that parent"? I really hate to hear that. I parent referred both of my kids after it was clear the elem school didn't know how to id gifted kids. The RTG was under the impression that gifted kids were the ones who always had their hand in the air to answer a question and show what they know. Wrong - I had a shy, quiet gifted kid who didn't want to raise her hand even though she knew all the answers.

Both of my kids were identified after the parent referral. One had test scores off the charts that surprised even the principal. I do think it's helpful for parents to collect evidence of your child's giftedness such as work samples or anecdotes, so you have something to put on the form. You can also get your child privately tested with the WISC.

Wouldn't the RTG have referred based on the NNAT or CoGAT? If they're going to do universal screeners, seems like the bare minimum for the gifted teacher to scan them and refer all students over X score.

My child's grade never took the NNAT because of COVID and CoGAT was a short screener, not a whole test.

My child was out sick the day the CoGAT screener was administered and ended up taking it later during recess with the instruction that she could go play when it was done. It's impossible to assess giftedness from one screening test administered during recess. It's just one data point.

Huh? They take the full COGAT. In 2nd grade or if you haven’t taken it first year you are in APS.

Current 5th graders took a shortened version. They didn't give it in 2nd due to covid. So they gave it to them in 3rd. However due to covid it was an abbreviated version of the test.

My current 2nd grader just took the full test. He has much more comprehensive results than his brother. For example current 5th graders who took it in 3rd. They were not given individual age scores and it's referred to as the cogat screening form and notes it's a shorter form vs the cogat test (which my current 2nd grader took).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they rely a lot on the answers to those questions. DD was referred for art and I said that she got into my makeup and did really beautiful eyeshadow look. For other stuff I think I included some insightful comments she had made. It wasn't a big deal.

I kind of think the parent referral form exists just to appease a certain type of parent. It would actually be very unfair if they gave it much weight vs teacher observations, test scores, etc.

It's been a super weird few years and, at least at our school, fewer kids have been identified.

I was told in Feb 2020 at our conference that our child was going to be teacher-referred for gifted. With COVID hitting a week later, that didn't happen. Then there was a virtual year with very little opportunity for the kids to get to know teachers. Then last year was a mess with teachers getting kids caught up. We finally parent referred this year after our daughter's teacher expressed surprise that our child hadn't been tagged given her test scores and school performance. I'm not sure the normal mechanisms have been working well. We didn't want to be those parents, but it's been an odd few years and didn't want that to hurt our kid.

Why do you think advocating for your kid will make you "that parent"? I really hate to hear that. I parent referred both of my kids after it was clear the elem school didn't know how to id gifted kids. The RTG was under the impression that gifted kids were the ones who always had their hand in the air to answer a question and show what they know. Wrong - I had a shy, quiet gifted kid who didn't want to raise her hand even though she knew all the answers.

Both of my kids were identified after the parent referral. One had test scores off the charts that surprised even the principal. I do think it's helpful for parents to collect evidence of your child's giftedness such as work samples or anecdotes, so you have something to put on the form. You can also get your child privately tested with the WISC.

Wouldn't the RTG have referred based on the NNAT or CoGAT? If they're going to do universal screeners, seems like the bare minimum for the gifted teacher to scan them and refer all students over X score.

My child's grade never took the NNAT because of COVID and CoGAT was a short screener, not a whole test.

My child was out sick the day the CoGAT screener was administered and ended up taking it later during recess with the instruction that she could go play when it was done. It's impossible to assess giftedness from one screening test administered during recess. It's just one data point.

Huh? They take the full COGAT. In 2nd grade or if you haven’t taken it first year you are in APS.

Second grade was covid--no testing was done. In third grade they just did a short form CoGAT. From what I understand, it was just a few questions. The form they sent home said they only administered a screening test and some students may be selected to take the full test. I'm not sure if there was a second testing round or not, but certainly not for all students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they rely a lot on the answers to those questions. DD was referred for art and I said that she got into my makeup and did really beautiful eyeshadow look. For other stuff I think I included some insightful comments she had made. It wasn't a big deal.

I kind of think the parent referral form exists just to appease a certain type of parent. It would actually be very unfair if they gave it much weight vs teacher observations, test scores, etc.

It's been a super weird few years and, at least at our school, fewer kids have been identified.

I was told in Feb 2020 at our conference that our child was going to be teacher-referred for gifted. With COVID hitting a week later, that didn't happen. Then there was a virtual year with very little opportunity for the kids to get to know teachers. Then last year was a mess with teachers getting kids caught up. We finally parent referred this year after our daughter's teacher expressed surprise that our child hadn't been tagged given her test scores and school performance. I'm not sure the normal mechanisms have been working well. We didn't want to be those parents, but it's been an odd few years and didn't want that to hurt our kid.

Why do you think advocating for your kid will make you "that parent"? I really hate to hear that. I parent referred both of my kids after it was clear the elem school didn't know how to id gifted kids. The RTG was under the impression that gifted kids were the ones who always had their hand in the air to answer a question and show what they know. Wrong - I had a shy, quiet gifted kid who didn't want to raise her hand even though she knew all the answers.

Both of my kids were identified after the parent referral. One had test scores off the charts that surprised even the principal. I do think it's helpful for parents to collect evidence of your child's giftedness such as work samples or anecdotes, so you have something to put on the form. You can also get your child privately tested with the WISC.

Wouldn't the RTG have referred based on the NNAT or CoGAT? If they're going to do universal screeners, seems like the bare minimum for the gifted teacher to scan them and refer all students over X score.

My child's grade never took the NNAT because of COVID and CoGAT was a short screener, not a whole test.

My child was out sick the day the CoGAT screener was administered and ended up taking it later during recess with the instruction that she could go play when it was done. It's impossible to assess giftedness from one screening test administered during recess. It's just one data point.

Huh? They take the full COGAT. In 2nd grade or if you haven’t taken it first year you are in APS.

Current 5th graders took a shortened version. They didn't give it in 2nd due to covid. So they gave it to them in 3rd. However due to covid it was an abbreviated version of the test.

My current 2nd grader just took the full test. He has much more comprehensive results than his brother. For example current 5th graders who took it in 3rd. They were not given individual age scores and it's referred to as the cogat screening form and notes it's a shorter form vs the cogat test (which my current 2nd grader took).

Interesting. So for this unique cohort of kids, if I thought my kid belonged in gifted and was not put in based on never taking a full CoGAT, I would advocate for the full test. They do administer it in upper grades. I think it is reasonable the schools rely heavily on the test scores. A lot of people think their kid belongs in gifted. The school is not going to rely on the anecdotes you put after self-referral in the form.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they rely a lot on the answers to those questions. DD was referred for art and I said that she got into my makeup and did really beautiful eyeshadow look. For other stuff I think I included some insightful comments she had made. It wasn't a big deal.

I kind of think the parent referral form exists just to appease a certain type of parent. It would actually be very unfair if they gave it much weight vs teacher observations, test scores, etc.

It's been a super weird few years and, at least at our school, fewer kids have been identified.

I was told in Feb 2020 at our conference that our child was going to be teacher-referred for gifted. With COVID hitting a week later, that didn't happen. Then there was a virtual year with very little opportunity for the kids to get to know teachers. Then last year was a mess with teachers getting kids caught up. We finally parent referred this year after our daughter's teacher expressed surprise that our child hadn't been tagged given her test scores and school performance. I'm not sure the normal mechanisms have been working well. We didn't want to be those parents, but it's been an odd few years and didn't want that to hurt our kid.

Why do you think advocating for your kid will make you "that parent"? I really hate to hear that. I parent referred both of my kids after it was clear the elem school didn't know how to id gifted kids. The RTG was under the impression that gifted kids were the ones who always had their hand in the air to answer a question and show what they know. Wrong - I had a shy, quiet gifted kid who didn't want to raise her hand even though she knew all the answers.

Both of my kids were identified after the parent referral. One had test scores off the charts that surprised even the principal. I do think it's helpful for parents to collect evidence of your child's giftedness such as work samples or anecdotes, so you have something to put on the form. You can also get your child privately tested with the WISC.

Wouldn't the RTG have referred based on the NNAT or CoGAT? If they're going to do universal screeners, seems like the bare minimum for the gifted teacher to scan them and refer all students over X score.

My child's grade never took the NNAT because of COVID and CoGAT was a short screener, not a whole test.

My child was out sick the day the CoGAT screener was administered and ended up taking it later during recess with the instruction that she could go play when it was done. It's impossible to assess giftedness from one screening test administered during recess. It's just one data point.

Huh? They take the full COGAT. In 2nd grade or if you haven’t taken it first year you are in APS.

Current 5th graders took a shortened version. They didn't give it in 2nd due to covid. So they gave it to them in 3rd. However due to covid it was an abbreviated version of the test.

My current 2nd grader just took the full test. He has much more comprehensive results than his brother. For example current 5th graders who took it in 3rd. They were not given individual age scores and it's referred to as the cogat screening form and notes it's a shorter form vs the cogat test (which my current 2nd grader took).

Interesting. So for this unique cohort of kids, if I thought my kid belonged in gifted and was not put in based on never taking a full CoGAT, I would advocate for the full test. They do administer it in upper grades. I think it is reasonable the schools rely heavily on the test scores. A lot of people think their kid belongs in gifted. The school is not going to rely on the anecdotes you put after self-referral in the form.

The kids were identified as gifted using the screener. Or at least my kid was.

My 2nd kid confuses me though. He scores very high on COGAT and NNAT but struggles in school (neuropsych said no learning disorder). My other kid high COGAT and high school performance.

[Anonymous]

It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.