Letter to MCPS Superintendent Sent

[Anonymous]

""MCPS identifies tons and tons of kids as GT - more so than could possibly be "gifted" in a usual sense of the word"
So, they've got it wrong for all kinds of reasons. So, why don't you ask them to get it right? "

Because I don't imagine my child is likely to be geninuely gifted, but I do think she might fall in the GT group as currently defined and my main concern - in a red zone school - is that she be able to work at her own pace w/ other similar kids. If the only formal program to try to encourage/push for that is thru GT identification, then I'll use that. If tomorrow they want to call all kids working above grade level but not truly "gifted", the purple team, then I will advocate that the purple team kids need to be able to work at their own paces and put with similar peer groups.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for analyzing the responses you receiving and summarizing them to the superintendent. I was wondering how my own individual comment would matter, and now I see that it was one of many similar comments that can drive home a point to the administration, I hope.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for posting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:""MCPS identifies tons and tons of kids as GT - more so than could possibly be "gifted" in a usual sense of the word"
So, they've got it wrong for all kinds of reasons. So, why don't you ask them to get it right? "

Because I don't imagine my child is likely to be geninuely gifted, but I do think she might fall in the GT group as currently defined and my main concern - in a red zone school - is that she be able to work at her own pace w/ other similar kids. If the only formal program to try to encourage/push for that is thru GT identification, then I'll use that. If tomorrow they want to call all kids working above grade level but not truly "gifted", the purple team, then I will advocate that the purple team kids need to be able to work at their own paces and put with similar peer groups.

I don't know which school you send your child to. I know that you don't need to be labeled as being in the GT group to get services. You can pretty much ask and they will give--though it depends on the teachers and administrators.

"Kids working above grade level but not truly "gifted"", don't need to be identified or labeled. The report card and teachers will pretty much label him.

On the other hand, the GT label gives bragging rights in some quarters even if it means nothing. The GTA pretty much said it isn't worth it. The poster who gave the newspaper link pointed to a very good article about the meaningless of the label.

[Anonymous]

I'm PP at 18:46
"I know that you don't need to be labeled as being in the GT group to get services. You can pretty much ask and they will give"

My DC is a preschooler and will soon be in K. In starting to research MCPS and the state of affairs at our local school, I have gotten exactly the opposite impression from what you posted above. My impression is that in SOME schools - if you are lucky enough to have a principal and teachers who believe in it - there is an effort made to provide above grade level kids the services/work they need to actually advance at their own pace. But this seems to not be the norm everywhere and at my red zone school w/ HUGE rates of ESOL and FARMS kids, I'm quite worried about a policy that just leaves such important decisions up to the whim of those running a given school.

I'm looking to organize w/ others that want to see ability grouping and acceleration required in a systemic way so that parents are not left on their own to try to persuade a principal/teacher to do this.
GTA seems committted to that goal, so I'm inclined to join with them. And no, I don't care about the label at all - I care about the fact that MCPS has a policy on the books for kids classified as GT that would seem to cover the issues I'm concerned about so long as they actually implement it. If they come up w/ some new policy for people to try to push in an organized fashion for adoption that focuses broadly speaking at above grade level kids w/o labeling them in any way, then fine but that seems even less likely to happen. One thing at a time...

[Anonymous]

GTA - will you please provide an update on this Forum about how the mtg tonight goes for those of us unable to attend? (I'm out of the country, otherwise I would certainly be there.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm PP at 18:46
"I know that you don't need to be labeled as being in the GT group to get services. You can pretty much ask and they will give"

My DC is a preschooler and will soon be in K. In starting to research MCPS and the state of affairs at our local school, I have gotten exactly the opposite impression from what you posted above. My impression is that in SOME schools - if you are lucky enough to have a principal and teachers who believe in it - there is an effort made to provide above grade level kids the services/work they need to actually advance at their own pace. But this seems to not be the norm everywhere and at my red zone school w/ HUGE rates of ESOL and FARMS kids, I'm quite worried about a policy that just leaves such important decisions up to the whim of those running a given school.

I'm looking to organize w/ others that want to see ability grouping and acceleration required in a systemic way so that parents are not left on their own to try to persuade a principal/teacher to do this.
GTA seems committted to that goal, so I'm inclined to join with them. And no, I don't care about the label at all - I care about the fact that MCPS has a policy on the books for kids classified as GT that would seem to cover the issues I'm concerned about so long as they actually implement it. If they come up w/ some new policy for people to try to push in an organized fashion for adoption that focuses broadly speaking at above grade level kids w/o labeling them in any way, then fine but that seems even less likely to happen. One thing at a time...

You must join with them! You are able to parrot all their lines so well you'll fit in.

This is why the old GTA which many of us supported is being ignored by MCPS, and the BOE .... according to your letter.

[Anonymous]

Yes, can we please get an update after the meeting?

Thank you for posting the letter and for all you do on behalf of our kids.

[Anonymous]

[quote=] You can pretty much ask and they will give--though it depends on the teachers and administrators.



The crux of the peoblem lies in the contradictory statement you have made.

If parents could have gotten the appropriate education their kids need in local school by asking, it would not depend on teachers and adminstrators.

If it depends, you need something stronger than just asking. You seemed to be very concerned about other parents bragging rights, where as your view points makes many people think you are responding to your fear that other parents are taking away your bragging rights of being the only parents of truely "gifted" kids. Is that correct?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous

You must join with them! You are able to parrot all their lines so well you'll fit in.

This is why the old GTA which many of us supported is being ignored by MCPS, and the BOE .... according to your letter.

Can you please name your group? You seemed to be representing many, unlike us individuals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm PP at 18:46
"I know that you don't need to be labeled as being in the GT group to get services. You can pretty much ask and they will give"

My DC is a preschooler and will soon be in K. In starting to research MCPS and the state of affairs at our local school, I have gotten exactly the opposite impression from what you posted above. My impression is that in SOME schools - if you are lucky enough to have a principal and teachers who believe in it - there is an effort made to provide above grade level kids the services/work they need to actually advance at their own pace. But this seems to not be the norm everywhere and at my red zone school w/ HUGE rates of ESOL and FARMS kids, I'm quite worried about a policy that just leaves such important decisions up to the whim of those running a given school.

I'm looking to organize w/ others that want to see ability grouping and acceleration required in a systemic way so that parents are not left on their own to try to persuade a principal/teacher to do this.
GTA seems committted to that goal, so I'm inclined to join with them. And no, I don't care about the label at all - I care about the fact that MCPS has a policy on the books for kids classified as GT that would seem to cover the issues I'm concerned about so long as they actually implement it. If they come up w/ some new policy for people to try to push in an organized fashion for adoption that focuses broadly speaking at above grade level kids w/o labeling them in any way, then fine but that seems even less likely to happen. One thing at a time...

You must join with them! You are able to parrot all their lines so well you'll fit in.

This is why the old GTA which many of us supported is being ignored by MCPS, and the BOE .... according to your letter.

Here are some facts

1. the GTA got about 104 comments for the Super's forum. Some comments were multiple comments from the same person, some were from people who weren't in our system! Even if all those commenters were counted it is still barely the number of parents of an incoming magnet class.
2. take out the comments that supported magnets and centers and you don't even have enough to claim anything.

this was truly a dumb idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Here are some facts

1. the GTA got about 104 comments for the Super's forum. Some comments were multiple comments from the same person, some were from people who weren't in our system! Even if all those commenters were counted it is still barely the number of parents of an incoming magnet class.
2. take out the comments that supported magnets and centers and you don't even have enough to claim anything.

this was truly a dumb idea.

Boy - This is another dumb post from the Union/Apple Ballot troll. The union opposes GT education. The troll always posts things to undermine parent posts rather than to engage in a constructive dialog. It is never a dumb idea to express yourself or opinion. Never. Whenever someone moves away from the substance of discussion, you know they have a weak argument.

[Anonymous]

Regarding post 23.04
There have been a number of posts on this thread that seem to attack the GTA as well as parents who are concerned about their GT children. I am a little confused about their intent. I am one of the people who posted a comment on the GTA website (to be forwarded to Mr. Starr). My comment was genuine and heartfelt and that seemed to be the tone overall.
What exactly is your beef 23.04?
If you don't agree with ability grouping just say so and we can discuss that.
I am generalizing, but parents by and large seem to agree that children benefit if they have a meaningfully large peer group (8 or more) and instruction that is at or above their level.
For the parent of a highly gifted child, this is not always easy to achieve. My fourth grader's reading comprehension is at 12th grade level. I am not "showing off" as some posters here might assume. Yes, my child is bright but that does not necessarily mean that she leads a charmed existence.
As a parent I have the responsibility of trying to meet her needs - a curriculum that is challenging and a peer group that she can benefit from. We also have to help her deal with the social problems that children like her often experience.
Yes, I'm proud of her but that's NOT why I want her ability to be noted by MCPS. Mostly, I advocate on her behalf because it is my responsibility as her parent to make sure she gets what she needs. Put yourself in her shoes - if you were a high school student would you want to spend all day in an elementary school class? I doubt it. How would you feel if you had to do that year after year? What would that do to your love of learning, your self esteem? Would you wish that for your child? If your child were in a similar situation would you try to do something about it?
I don't believe that parents of HG children are asking for something "extra", we just want something different. My child is in a HGC and that has made all the difference. The class size is the same as any regular MCPS class (26 children) and they don't have "extra" resources. The main difference is that the teacher prepares one lesson plan (instead of three) and so she can devote more time to the subject. The curriculum is wonderful but that has already been developed and so there are no additional resources expended on that. My child has a class full of kids just like her and for the first time in her life, she has had to work in order to do well. We can't do the middle school magnets (the commute is a deal breaker), so I will be at the meeting tomorrow evening to find out how MCPS plans to serve my child in her home middle school.
I hope I've explained my motivation - what's yours?

[Anonymous]

1. the GTA got about 104 comments for the Super's forum. Some comments were multiple comments from the same person, some were from people who weren't in our system! Even if all those commenters were counted it is still barely the number of parents of an incoming magnet class.
2. take out the comments that supported magnets and centers and you don't even have enough to claim anything.

I actually read almost all of them. I saw only one or two that were identical and they seemed to be right after each other, leading me to believe the person had hit enter twice or something similar. Most were quite individual.
Re: some "not even being in our system" - those seemed primarily to be people who had felt they were forced out of the system to homeschool or private school due to the inability/unwillingness of MCPS to meet their child's needs. They seemed to be commenting to point out that they would have preferred to have stayed in the system but had not seen this as a tolerable choice for their child.
There were a few comments that focused solely on the magnets/centers, but most related to experiences in home schools. Many seemed to be by parents who had some experience w/ the centers/magnets for an older child but are now facing difficulty because the child is no longer in the special program or because a younger sibling hasn't qualified (at least not yet). So even those parents w/ some experience w/ the magnets/centers seemed to be expressing concerns about acceleration/grouping in the home schools.
My DC is not yet in K so my post on their letter was about the latter issues. I think it was one of the only ones by someone whose kids are not yet in ES. 100+ isn't a ton and it would have been nice if they'd gotten more but I can tell you that I don't think these issues are ones only a few parents care about - at least on the eastern side. In my neighborhood the concern about our middle class kids getting lost in the shuffle of a very high needs ES is the primary topic of conversation by me and my neighbors of other preschoolers. The main debate is whether it's safe to stay put and to give it a shot vs. move out of this school zone entirely of me and my neighbors of other preschoolers.
I can't imagine that having most of the remaining middle class families (who would actually have time/inclination to do PTA/volunteer activities) is in the best interest of the local ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I don't think these issues are ones only a few parents care about - at least on the eastern side.

Let us take out the eastern and western divide, I know your intention was not to do that. However, a lot of eastern side parents have expressed it. I am a parent on the western side, I see the lack of support for advanced level instructions in my local school. This is an universal MCPS problem.