How to meet the needs of the gifted child in DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a shame that the options aren't there - considering DCPS spends far more per student than any other district in the nation, to include districts that ARE able to provide viable options for G&T students. There's really no excuse for it. Lack of resources or diversion of resources certainly isn't an acceptable excuse.

It sounds to me that DCPS IS doing it....but that people aren't fully aware of it. Maybe because what they're doing is fairly new or not fully spread out to enough schools to be considered a critical mass. But to say that they're not doing anything isn't true. There was just a thread on here about how they had these advanced reading groups at 40 something elementary schools...Junior Books or something like that. And the people on here are already talking about SEM. And of course the paper just had how DCPS was pushing Advanced Placement classes.

As I understand it, they've supported advanced readers in some elementary schools. AP isn't really G&T but it's great that they are pushing APs. APs are just your basic college prep. Beyond that, they are supporting G&T in a VERY limited fashion. SEM in just a tiny handful of schools - and even then, it's one or two pullouts per week. Some progress but it's not exactly what anyone would call a robust G&T program.

The DCPS website says they have SEM at six schools: Hardy, Sousa, Kelly Miller, Johnson, Stuart-Hobson, and West. WHen I tried to search for gifted and talented their was some old press release from two years ago saying that sem would be at two schools, just Hardy and Kelly Miller. It sounds like it's expanding so either it works or they just like it or people keep asking for it. I wonder how many more they will expand to this year if at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a shame that the options aren't there - considering DCPS spends far more per student than any other district in the nation, to include districts that ARE able to provide viable options for G&T students. There's really no excuse for it. Lack of resources or diversion of resources certainly isn't an acceptable excuse.

It sounds to me that DCPS IS doing it....but that people aren't fully aware of it. Maybe because what they're doing is fairly new or not fully spread out to enough schools to be considered a critical mass. But to say that they're not doing anything isn't true. There was just a thread on here about how they had these advanced reading groups at 40 something elementary schools...Junior Books or something like that. And the people on here are already talking about SEM. And of course the paper just had how DCPS was pushing Advanced Placement classes.

As I understand it, they've supported advanced readers in some elementary schools. AP isn't really G&T but it's great that they are pushing APs. APs are just your basic college prep. Beyond that, they are supporting G&T in a VERY limited fashion. SEM in just a tiny handful of schools - and even then, it's one or two pullouts per week. Some progress but it's not exactly what anyone would call a robust G&T program.

The DCPS website says they have SEM at six schools: Hardy, Sousa, Kelly Miller, Johnson, Stuart-Hobson, and West. WHen I tried to search for gifted and talented their was some old press release from two years ago saying that sem would be at two schools, just Hardy and Kelly Miller. It sounds like it's expanding so either it works or they just like it or people keep asking for it. I wonder how many more they will expand to this year if at all.

I don't know if that generalization can be made. It could just be something that they know how to do. It doesn't mean it is working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But again, how many of these kids are there? According to this chart they are in the .01 percentile. At best representing under 500 students in the system.

http://www.iqcomparisonsite.com/iqtable.aspx

No system is designed for that group, there maybe needs to be a nationwide network, but it makes no sense to think in in these ranges generally.

I think the real issues is what to do with the economically advantaged, generally smart 80% kid who may be in a class that is not challenging him. There just are more of these.

Certainly, the 80-95% kids need to be reached. SEM may be just the thing for most of those kids.

Those <500 students, though, need to be considered. Certainly, we can't just abandon them to their own devices? While there are a few on here who think a 6 year old with a 160 IQ should be able to fend for themselves a la Bean from Ender's Shadow, this is hardly sound child development strategy.

Let's assume that we can only reach a handful of these kids at each school, say, 5-10. Surely there is an appropriate strategy for them, no?

I'm not sure this is the magic formula, but maybe something like:

Pretesting to avoid repetition of mastered subjects
Access to online programs from within the classroom (or at least in a nearby room)
Special trips/gatherings for like-minded children city-wide, to foster creative drive and find other children to identify with
SEM-style pull-outs for further enrichment

It really can't be all that hard, can it? We certainly have the resources for something like the above, on a limited scale.