Do all of the DC elem. public schools have "gifted" programs?
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Anonymous
| So we define truly gifted as being in the top 99%. Assuming a normal spread of people DCPS has roughly 45,000 students. So we are talking 450 kids of all levels. If you go with Mensa's definition at 98% that still only gets 900. Still too small for the type of program you are advocating. |
Anonymous
Indeed. I was just having this conversation with my kid who is in a MoCo magnet (no worries, we did DCPS at one point). She says that there are some kids in magnet who are bright but maybe not geniuses. Instead these kids are very hard workers. This raises a different sort of question: don't kids who want to work hard and take on challenges deserve an opportunity to do that, too? These are the kids who are reading Harry Potter in 3rd grade when everybody else has just started chapter books. Reading Harry Potter in 3rd grade doesn't necessarily make them (or my kids) geniuses, but they are bored in a school that doesn't let them advance ahead of the kids who aren't so into reading or math or whatever. With the de-emphasis on tracking, and all the demands placed on teachers (with whom I sympathize), individualized attention can be tough to get. So is the purpose of a magnet to take only the top 1% on IQ tests? Or should it be expanded to take other kids who may be at 90% but want to do the magnet work? Sorry, no answers here. Just something we were pondering. |
Anonymous
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"I think that "gifted" programs are sometimes overrated and have lost their focus."
Agree - I have a friend who tutors her 3rd grader to help her keep up with her Mont. Co. G&T curriculum. "Can we just agree that living in a million dollar house in no way correlates to bring a brilliant and ambitious and talented and highly educated." Sure. But, you know, my kid is around the 95%, and there are a number of other kids in his JKLM class that appear equally smart - he by no means stands alone in terms of academic level. I agree that it is the 99.5% and above kids that really need something different, or perhaps even 99.9% kids. |
Anonymous
MoCo bases it on teacher recommendations, grades, a demonstrated passion in the magnet subject, and the scores given to a big IQ test that looks a lot like the SAT and is administered to hundreds of kids on the same Saturday in December. The December MCPS test is like an IQ test, but it's developed specifically for MCPS to spread out the kids at the upper tail of the spectrum. The process is surprisingly transparent, at least compared to the hideous Big-3 application process we went through -- DC got into one of them, but we hated the whole private school application schtick which did seem based in part on SES. My big criticism of the process is that MCPS doesn't give enough resources to the magnets, and it doesn't seem committed to them, so that lots of qualified kids are rejected or stuck in wait pool purgatory. Also, even though MCPS campaigns a lot in low-SES schools to attract magnet applicants, they admit they haven't been as successful as they like. |
Anonymous
| What VA or DC private elementary schools have "gifted programs" ? And how do these compare with Advanced Learning classes in DCPS elementary schools? Thanks! |
Anonymous
You want us to do your research for you? Go hire an educational consultant... Seriously! |
Anonymous
| Yeah, you should never come on dcum and ask for information. Duh. That's clearly not what dcum is for. |
Anonymous
| I have an extremely bright child who goes to an East of the Park DCPS elementary. He is getting plenty of challenge, especially in Reading and Writing. The curriculum is open-ended in that they are reading on their own levels and can write many pages or just one page on the same subject, according to their abilities. The Math is significantly below where he is, but he does it and then we supplement with additional work at home (he does that instead of the homework, with the teacher's permission). There's a dedicated Science classroom and teacher and he really enjoys that. It's not advanced, but it definitely teaches and promotes higher level thinking. We have been very pleased with the education he has gotten thus far. Sure, he might be bored sometimes, but that's part of life and he has to get used to it. For the most part, we find the curriculum flexible enough to challenge him. Now, middle school will be a whole other issue, as it is for most non-Deal/Hardy families. |
Anonymous
Flexible and personalized. Excellent! And the school is...? (Pretty please  )
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Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| Not the PP who posted about her child's experience, so I don't know what school it's at, but our (gifted/advanced--reading at 4 years old) child had amazing differentiated instruction in PS3 at Barnard Elementary. We left the school after one year because we were worried about the middle school options, but are now planning to re-enter the lottery for a possible return, because the highly-regarded charter we got into doesn't seem to be doing as good a job as Barnard did. |
Anonymous
Apples, oranges, and pears. As noted, there is no single definition of "gifted", so you will get very different answers. Think of it as Special Education. It's a big label with many nuances. Whomever identified your child as gifted or administered testing should be able to point you toward resources for child's particular gifts. Your pediatrician might be able to help as well. best of luck |
Anonymous
I do hope that the PP has posted this in the private schools thread, because most of us on the DCPS/PCS board don't have intimate knowledge of privates (in fact, I don't think I can even name the ones within a 2-mile radius of my house, let alone say anything about their academic programs). Ditto questions about MD & VA schools. Many of us love to share what we know, but you won't get all your answers in one place. |
Anonymous
In the early years, I don't know of any that specifically cater to "gifted" children except Nysmith, which we did not consider. Too far away and too remote from real life for our family. We seriously considered our neighborhood public school but it didn't seem like a great fit for several reasons. Of the private schools, many might work depending on your family's preferences and your perception of your child's strengths/needs. We looked at GDS, WIS, Maret, Sidwell, all of which seemed likely to do a great job for our particular situation. It's hard to get into any of these, even if you have an extremely precocious child. (Many of the children applying are advanced in some way, to the extent that this is a real concept for 4- and 5-year-olds.) Ended up at one of these and have been very happy. In general, for extremely bright/academic children and/or those who seem to be unusually motivated at a very young age, I would recommend language immersion programs (public, private, or charter) or schools that have a curriculum that lends itself to easy expansion and differentiation (Cap City would be one possibility to consider). I agree with some of the other posters that it's time to move beyond the "gifted" education model. (An extreme case such as a child studying particle physics at age 7 is really outside the scope of most public schools, and as such could be handled on a case-by-case basis). Most of the"gifted" children referred to in these discussions seem to be reading and understanding Harry Potter in K, or multiplying in their heads at pre-K. While this is fantastic (I experienced it so I know!) and these kids' achievements and talents should be as celebrated as those who are soccer or singing prodigies, in a better school climate, these would not be skills that would require children to be isolated in an exclusive environment that focuses only on those with the highest IQs. Instead, it's high time to expect the highest standards of all public and private programs, and to focus on developing specialized programs (language immersion, expeditionary learning, classics) that can expand to challenge the needs of all learners. |
Anonymous
| So, what are parents in DCPS doing when their kids report being bored (or uninspired) by the material? I'm not just asking about gifted children. What about bright children who are reading and/or doing math several years above grade level. In other districts, they might be taken to a higher grade level for that class or might be pulled out to work with a specialist. What about DCPS? What do they do with these advanced learners? |