Meeting on future of TAG program

[Anonymous]

I got this email in our local parents' listserve.

Parents of current and prospective TAG-identified students are invited to attend the Dec. 3 annual meeting of the Prince George's County Association for Talented and Gifted Education (PGTAG). Join our school officials, PGCPS CEO Dr. Kevin Maxwell and TAG Office Supervisor Theresa Jackson, to discuss the current and future state of TAG programming in Prince George's County. You'll also be given an opportunity to ask questions related to your specific concerns. (No RSVP is required.) Please help spread the word. We look forward to seeing you there!
Tuesday, Dec 3, 2013
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Kenmoor Middle School
2500 Kenmoor Dr., Landover, MD 20785
Barbara Michelman
PGTAG president

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing this information and I am going to attend this meeting.

[Anonymous]

We went to the meeting tonight and it was a pretty good turnout. If you have a child in the second grade that is identified as a TAG student they will most likely get into the program. You have to apply to the lottery. There seems to be a shortage of parents actually applying for the lottery after their kid is identified as TAG.

A parent proposed the idea of a TAG Middle School for TAG students only. That idea was shot down immediately for lack of funding and not having a place for the neighborhood kids to attend if that were to happen. Currently there are three tag middle schools in PG and there are no plans for expanding. At most, they are seeking to add more seats/classes to the current schools. If your child is in the TAG program in middle school for high school they have the choice of enrolling in an IB program or test into the Tech/Science program.

Overall, the program seems to be a good but as a parent you have to be aware that if your child is in the TAG pullout program they can be pulled out of a core class such as science, math, or reading to attend the TAG program once a week. Your child is still responsible for the covering the lesson taught and complete homework that was assigned that day.

[Anonymous]

Also, 99% of the students involved in the TAG program pass the end of the grade test as either proficient or advanced. This includes the kids who participate in the pullout program once a week.

If you have a kid in the pullout program, you should get together with other parents to try to get your kids grouped together in a cluster where they take same classes together. This keeps them stimulated and involved with their intellectual peers. We as parents have to apply pressure to the administration to make this happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Overall, the program seems to be a good but as a parent you have to be aware that if your child is in the TAG pullout program they can be pulled out of a core class such as science, math, or reading to attend the TAG program once a week. Your child is still responsible for the covering the lesson taught and complete homework that was assigned that day.

Just to clarify, the TAG pull outs are supposed to not have an impact upon in-class learning, and teachers are supposed to structure when they are introducing new concepts around when the pull outs (for TAG, ESOL, instrumental music, etc.) happen. If that's not happening with your child and the pull out, there should be conversations with the teacher, the TAG coordinator, and/or the principal; if need be the TAG Office can be called in once you've talked to the folk in the school.

As a parent of two TAG kids who opted to stick with the neighborhood school instead of going the TAG Center route, it was refreshing to hear comments from Dr. Eubanks and Dr. Davis about strengthening TAG services in neighborhood schools. Too often it seems the discussion focuses only on the TAG centers and getting kids out of neighborhood schools, but that's not going to be the best situation for every child and strengthening differentiated instruction and TAG programs in neighborhood schools can benefit both TAG students and kids who are missed in the TAG-identification process, as well as kids who may not be TAG identified.

[Anonymous]

I agree that a school having a mixture of TAG kids and non-TAG kids can be beneficial for the entire student body. Could someone enlighten me on the difference between the pullout program and being enrolled in the TAG center? Is there a difference in the academic curriculum taught to the kids at the neighborhood school versus the TAG center?

[Anonymous]

Some parents stated at the meeting last night that they preferred to send their child to their neighborhood school (Samuel Olge Middle School) instead on letting them continue in the TAG Centers at Greenbelt, Kenmoor, or Walker Middle. I believe we are zoned for Kenmoor, can any parents share their child's experience in the TAG program at Kenmoor, Greenbelt, or Walker Middle?

[Anonymous]

From the Gazette:

Prince George’s school system may expand Talented and Gifted seating

More than 300 students are currently on wait lists

More students may be able to enroll in Talented and Gifted programs, reducing the hundreds currently on wait lists, Prince George’s County school system officials announced Tuesday night.

“There are some proposals to increase the number of seats at the middle schools, and the elementary schools as well,” said TAG supervisor Theresa Jackson, who added the plans would expand existing TAG sites, not create new ones.

There are currently four middle school TAG programs and seven elementary school programs.

More than 250 parents, students and others attended the meeting for both TAG and TAG-eligible parents at Kenmoor Middle School in Landover, said Crystal Lewis, PGTAG board publicist.

Students are tested for the TAG program in first and third grade. Those who score above the 80th percentile and meet other criteria, including grades, cognitive ability, and a checklist of gifted characteristics and behaviors, are identified as TAG, Jackson said.

More than 12,000 students in the school system, approximately 11 to 12 percent, are TAG identified, Jackson said. TAG-eligible students are entered into a lottery for seats in the nearest of seven TAG schools.

If a TAG center is also a neighborhood school, the student may attend automatically, Jackson said.

Jackson said there are 354 students on the wait list for TAG centers this year.

Monique Davis, deputy superintendent of schools, told the audience that funding has to be approved to expand the program.

School system CEO Kevin Maxwell will present his budget proposal to the school board Dec. 12.

The school system budgeted $2.3 million for TAG for the current fiscal year, and Maxwell, who was not present at the meeting because of an illness, has said previously that expanding existing programs and reducing wait lists was one of his goals.

Schools that are not TAG centers often have other services for TAG-identified students, including an elementary school pull-out program, where TAG-identified students are taken out of their regular classes for programs focusing on advanced research, communication and critical thinking skills.

Berniece Reese of Forestville said her son, a fourth-grader at Francis Scott Key Elementary School in District Heights, missed critical lessons when he was pulled out of his regular class for TAG lessons last year.

“They scheduled it during his core classes, so he was being pulled out of science, he missed the experiences, the lessons, and he had to play catch up during the week,” Reese said.

Jackson said teachers should be arranging their schedules so that critical lessons are not missed.

“Students should not be being penalized for being pulled out for TAG,” Jackson said, adding that in such cases, the parent should speak with the school TAG coordinator and the teacher.

Blair Todd of Upper Marlboro, parent of a TAG identified second-grader at Longfields Elementary in Forestville, asked how the adoption of Common Core standards, a set of nationally-developed school standards being implemented this year, would impact the county’s TAG program.

“My concern is that now that Common Core standards are here, we’re going to throw away all the good we’ve been doing with our TAG program,” Todd said.

Jackson said the Common Core standards will not affect the integrity of the TAG program.

“For us in gifted education, that’s the floor, not the ceiling,” Jackson said. “Always, gifted education has gone above the Maryland standards, and now the national standards.”