APS: G&T program ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For parents reading this board, newsflash - parents can refer kids for gifted identification. I’d LOVE to hear about any parent whose identification was actually rejected by an APS elementary principal Just so everyone’s aware how stringent the “program” is and how meaningful it is to be identified by APS.

I don’t know. If it makes assigning classes harder because of the clusters, I could see a principal rejecting it. How does a parent self refer?

[Anonymous]

They NEVER reject it lady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They NEVER reject it lady.

I’m a APS teacher who has worked at multiple APS schools over the past 15+ years. Parent referrals (or teacher referrals) are rejected when there isn’t enough data to support an identification. I’ve seen this happen on multiple occasions.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We are at an elementary where our kid gets pulled out a couple times a week (1x a week per subject usually) but it’s a smaller school. We haven’t found it to be nothing.

In general it’s a more push in model in APS.

Which school? We were told pull out isn’t an option in APS.

Pull out is not supposed to be an option, but there are some schools/staff members that don't play by the rules and make the other schools look like they aren't providing anything to advanced learners. Most schools are abiding by the model of the push-in/collaborative model, but there's always a few that march the the beat of their own drum even when it is not seen as best practices in education.

Best practices according to whom?
From my experience, the APS-touted "push in" model is the one where the regular teacher does remedial for the kids that are behind, while the GT teacher comes in to take care of everyone else, just doing the regular basic stuff.

With the name change this year (now something like advanced academic programs?), APS says that the "coach" will only offer enrichment activities for the whole class. The activities are not specifically meant for the advanced kids or kids tagged as gifted. The enrichment is now targeted at all kids. Nothing specific is being offered for kids tagged as gifted. APS has stopped using the program to differentiate.

That’s the point of clustering gifted kids together. When over 1/2 the class is identified and others still highly able, why wouldn’t all kids receive rigorous materials? I don’t think parents always understand just how many kids are identified, especially in high performing NA schools with kids who test well and have rich background experiences.

+1. 95% of every class in Arlington is gifted.

Your kid isn't actually gifted if you think that is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a APS teacher who has worked at multiple APS schools over the past 15+ years. Parent referrals (or teacher referrals) are rejected when there isn’t enough data to support an identification. I’ve seen this happen on multiple occasions.

What kind of data is/isn't compelling for a first or second grader? I don't think my kid is some kind of special genius snowflake, but neither am I and I got a ton out of gifted services growing up in the DMV area. She scores 98-99th percentile on all her standardized tests (DIBELS, math, Cogat... but not NNAT). Positive report cards and teacher feedback, with extra enrichment in reading and math. She takes initiative on things like learning a foreign language and instrument, practicing chess, writing stories and poems.

Is that the kind of thing these committees are looking for? I appreciate any insight.... I just want to advocate for her to have a good, enriching experience.

[Anonymous]

Committee? You think there is a committee working through the tough job of sifting through gifted referrals and spending time comparing it to some super secret list of criteria? Hahahaha. Arlington parents are hilarious. And no teacher lady saying “they” reject referrals. Not at my school, but then again we are north north Arlington where parents know how to write up all of their child’s giftedness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Committee? You think there is a committee working through the tough job of sifting through gifted referrals and spending time comparing it to some super secret list of criteria? Hahahaha. Arlington parents are hilarious. And no teacher lady saying “they” reject referrals. Not at my school, but then again we are north north Arlington where parents know how to write up all of their child’s giftedness.

At our school we've been told that the gifted teacher meets with each set of grade level teachers to review referrals for gifted.

(Kids switch classes for math, reading, science, etc, so they want input from the core teaching team.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Committee? You think there is a committee working through the tough job of sifting through gifted referrals and spending time comparing it to some super secret list of criteria? Hahahaha. Arlington parents are hilarious. And no teacher lady saying “they” reject referrals. Not at my school, but then again we are north north Arlington where parents know how to write up all of their child’s giftedness.

There is a school-based committee that determines eligibility. At minimum, it includes an administrator, classroom teacher and advanced academics coach. Often, other school staff such as the counselor, Special Education teacher, English Learner teacher, reading specialist or math coach are included. There’s not a secret list of criteria, but the decisions are made based on both ability testing data (Nnat/cogat), achievement data/grades and a gifted behavior commentary that includes categories such as creative thinking and motivation. The parent information sheet is also considered, but I’ve never been in a meeting where all the other data does not support an identification but the parent info sheet is so detailed that the decision is made solely on that’s. I guarantee even at your north north Arlington school there are times a child is not found eligible for services, but this is not public knowledge to parents and really no one’s business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Committee? You think there is a committee working through the tough job of sifting through gifted referrals and spending time comparing it to some super secret list of criteria? Hahahaha. Arlington parents are hilarious. And no teacher lady saying “they” reject referrals. Not at my school, but then again we are north north Arlington where parents know how to write up all of their child’s giftedness.

So…north north Arlington is Jamestown? Because at our north Arlington school, there was definitely more than just the gifted resource person making the call and it wasn’t based solely on parent input.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Committee? You think there is a committee working through the tough job of sifting through gifted referrals and spending time comparing it to some super secret list of criteria? Hahahaha. Arlington parents are hilarious. And no teacher lady saying “they” reject referrals. Not at my school, but then again we are north north Arlington where parents know how to write up all of their child’s giftedness.

So…north north Arlington is Jamestown? Because at our north Arlington school, there was definitely more than just the gifted resource person making the call and it wasn’t based solely on parent input.

Same at our NA school. There is transparency about the process and a committee is definitely making the decisions.

[Anonymous]

You can be IDed as “gifted” in science, social studies, writing/readinf, or math. Separately. Please god tell me how the “committee” you speak of evaluated a parent referral for a second grader being gifted in science or social studies. Moreover, if a parent describes being so gifted in fourth or fifth grade, how would cogat or other early (and useless) testing be relevant? Bottom line: intelligent parents have their children identified for purposes mainly of middle school clustering where it actually may matter. And teachers/prinicipals are loathe to fight this.

[Anonymous]

I’m having trouble thinking of any parents I know in North Arlington who refer to other people in a derogatory way as “lady.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m having trouble thinking of any parents I know in North Arlington who refer to other people in a derogatory way as “lady.”

lol same here. Also laughing at the assumption that all APS teachers are women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at an elementary where our kid gets pulled out a couple times a week (1x a week per subject usually) but it’s a smaller school. We haven’t found it to be nothing.

In general it’s a more push in model in APS.

Which school? We were told pull out isn’t an option in APS.

Pull out is not supposed to be an option, but there are some schools/staff members that don't play by the rules and make the other schools look like they aren't providing anything to advanced learners. Most schools are abiding by the model of the push-in/collaborative model, but there's always a few that march the the beat of their own drum even when it is not seen as best practices in education.

Best practices according to whom?
From my experience, the APS-touted "push in" model is the one where the regular teacher does remedial for the kids that are behind, while the GT teacher comes in to take care of everyone else, just doing the regular basic stuff.

With the name change this year (now something like advanced academic programs?), APS says that the "coach" will only offer enrichment activities for the whole class. The activities are not specifically meant for the advanced kids or kids tagged as gifted. The enrichment is now targeted at all kids. Nothing specific is being offered for kids tagged as gifted. APS has stopped using the program to differentiate.

That’s the point of clustering gifted kids together. When over 1/2 the class is identified and others still highly able, why wouldn’t all kids receive rigorous materials? I don’t think parents always understand just how many kids are identified, especially in high performing NA schools with kids who test well and have rich background experiences.

+1. 95% of every class in Arlington is gifted.

Another +1 from a NA parent.

I was recently discussing this with a parent who somehow asked for stats on gifted identification and well over half my kid’s grade has been flagged as gifted in at least one subject (from what I can tell based on my kid they use certain test score cut offs). From volunteering in class, it seems like there’s a handful of kids who are behind and need extra help in subjects and then a whole lot of kids who are really ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can be IDed as “gifted” in science, social studies, writing/readinf, or math. Separately. Please god tell me how the “committee” you speak of evaluated a parent referral for a second grader being gifted in science or social studies. Moreover, if a parent describes being so gifted in fourth or fifth grade, how would cogat or other early (and useless) testing be relevant? Bottom line: intelligent parents have their children identified for purposes mainly of middle school clustering where it actually may matter. And teachers/prinicipals are loathe to fight this.

I do think there are kids flagged in only writing/reading or math, particularly where the kid struggles in the opposite area.