Sidwell Junior - GPA concerns

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not unusual at all for academically very strong students to seek out special accommodations and do even better. It's all part of the game.

Honestly, it's not a magic bullet that anyone should be threatened by.
I have two high performing kids who don't have accommodations. If you gave them twice as much time on their tests it would just wear them out. They run with the high academic flyers in their classes and none of their friends have accommodations either.
You either know what you're doing or you don't--you either know the material or you don't. Having twice the time to sit in a seat isn't going to make the answers magically appear or really shift the balance of who does super well and who doesn't.

Disagree. I do not have ADHD, but always struggle with timing. More time will help a lot.

Shrug.
I don't see the extra time brigade hurting my kids. The teachers give exams that can be reasonably completed in the time allotted. My kids study a reasonable amount and do well. Really! it's not a issue for smart kids.
I swear--I think my kids would do worse if they had twice the time. As it is, they sit, they get in the rhythm, they hyper focus for the hour, they spit out the information. Done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not unusual at all for academically very strong students to seek out special accommodations and do even better. It's all part of the game.

Honestly, it's not a magic bullet that anyone should be threatened by.
I have two high performing kids who don't have accommodations. If you gave them twice as much time on their tests it would just wear them out. They run with the high academic flyers in their classes and none of their friends have accommodations either.
You either know what you're doing or you don't--you either know the material or you don't. Having twice the time to sit in a seat isn't going to make the answers magically appear or really shift the balance of who does super well and who doesn't.

Disagree. I do not have ADHD, but always struggle with timing. More time will help a lot.

Shrug.
I don't see the extra time brigade hurting my kids. The teachers give exams that can be reasonably completed in the time allotted. My kids study a reasonable amount and do well. Really! it's not a issue for smart kids.
I swear--I think my kids would do worse if they had twice the time. As it is, they sit, they get in the rhythm, they hyper focus for the hour, they spit out the information. Done.

Why you are so defensive? Your kids actually receive accommodations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not unusual at all for academically very strong students to seek out special accommodations and do even better. It's all part of the game.

Honestly, it's not a magic bullet that anyone should be threatened by.
I have two high performing kids who don't have accommodations. If you gave them twice as much time on their tests it would just wear them out. They run with the high academic flyers in their classes and none of their friends have accommodations either.
You either know what you're doing or you don't--you either know the material or you don't. Having twice the time to sit in a seat isn't going to make the answers magically appear or really shift the balance of who does super well and who doesn't.

Disagree. I do not have ADHD, but always struggle with timing. More time will help a lot.

Shrug.
I don't see the extra time brigade hurting my kids. The teachers give exams that can be reasonably completed in the time allotted. My kids study a reasonable amount and do well. Really! it's not a issue for smart kids.
I swear--I think my kids would do worse if they had twice the time. As it is, they sit, they get in the rhythm, they hyper focus for the hour, they spit out the information. Done.

Why you are so defensive? Your kids actually receive accommodations?

No, my kids don't. I just don't think the accommodations are a big deal. People on here like to rile others up about them but I haven't found them to be a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not unusual at all for academically very strong students to seek out special accommodations and do even better. It's all part of the game.

Honestly, it's not a magic bullet that anyone should be threatened by.
I have two high performing kids who don't have accommodations. If you gave them twice as much time on their tests it would just wear them out. They run with the high academic flyers in their classes and none of their friends have accommodations either.
You either know what you're doing or you don't--you either know the material or you don't. Having twice the time to sit in a seat isn't going to make the answers magically appear or really shift the balance of who does super well and who doesn't.

Disagree. I do not have ADHD, but always struggle with timing. More time will help a lot.

Shrug.
I don't see the extra time brigade hurting my kids. The teachers give exams that can be reasonably completed in the time allotted. My kids study a reasonable amount and do well. Really! it's not a issue for smart kids.
I swear--I think my kids would do worse if they had twice the time. As it is, they sit, they get in the rhythm, they hyper focus for the hour, they spit out the information. Done.

Not sure I follow: You have 2 kids who don't have ADHD and don't need accommodations and would not know what to do with extra time. OK. How is this of relevance? This is about other kids without ADHD who clearly do ask for extra time because they presumably benefit from it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The letters can indicate this stuff. The school knows and finds ways.

Are you from Sidwell CCO? How do you know the couselor's letter indicates a student has accomendations?

No one wants a Varsity Blues on their hands. So there are ways to signal when fakers. There are obvious bs certificates or highly exaggerated situations. Kids talk too

No college counselor is going to share private disability information in a rec letter. They don’t even know the kids well enough to assess whether their disability is “fake” or not. And they’re not qualified to make that assessment, even if they did have the time to do a full neuropsych evaluation. You’re being ridiculous.

No, I’m not. The school has cracked down on it. It’s too much of a reputation risk

How does Sidwell crack down on students' fake diability/accommendation requests? Can you elaborate? I applaud Sidwell if it does, but I doubt this is happening. If a counselor hints the student is on accommendation in their recommendation letter (even if the disability is fake), it seems lawsuits will follow.

We started using computer software developed by the FBI. If it find the children or parents lied the letter of recommendation says the child *may* be a good fit given *sufficient* time. Like that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In GDS: 20 percent according to this article:

https://theaugurbit.com/2019/10/27/percentage-of-gds-students-with-testing-accommodations-far-exceeds-national-average/

Have you *met* GDS kids? No surprise

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not unusual at all for academically very strong students to seek out special accommodations and do even better. It's all part of the game.

Honestly, it's not a magic bullet that anyone should be threatened by.
I have two high performing kids who don't have accommodations. If you gave them twice as much time on their tests it would just wear them out. They run with the high academic flyers in their classes and none of their friends have accommodations either.
You either know what you're doing or you don't--you either know the material or you don't. Having twice the time to sit in a seat isn't going to make the answers magically appear or really shift the balance of who does super well and who doesn't.

Disagree. I do not have ADHD, but always struggle with timing. More time will help a lot.

Varsity Blues!

Teachers undermine with the letters whenever possible

[Anonymous]

I personally know of at least one case where the parents pushed super hard to get their ultra high performing (and obviously non-ADHD by self admission) DC to get accommodations. The school resisted as much as they could and finally gave in.

It is a messed up world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I personally know of at least one case where the parents pushed super hard to get their ultra high performing (and obviously non-ADHD by self admission) DC to get accommodations. The school resisted as much as they could and finally gave in.

It is a messed up world.

This is very unfair to kids who don’t have accommodations and kids who truly need accommodations. School should not give in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In GDS: 20 percent according to this article:

https://theaugurbit.com/2019/10/27/percentage-of-gds-students-with-testing-accommodations-far-exceeds-national-average/

Have you *met* GDS kids? No surprise

I'm going to give GDS credit for transparency at least. According to the article, "The Augur Bit reached out to five other DMV area private schools. Only one school, Sidwell, responded but declined to provide information about how many of its students had testing accommodations. The other four schools, Maret, Bullis, Potomac and St. Albans, did not respond."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally know of at least one case where the parents pushed super hard to get their ultra high performing (and obviously non-ADHD by self admission) DC to get accommodations. The school resisted as much as they could and finally gave in.

It is a messed up world.

This is very unfair to kids who don’t have accommodations and kids who truly need accommodations. School should not give in.

There is litigation risk once the parents arm themselves with DC psych evaluations and lawyers.

[Anonymous]

Again, why not just give EVERYONE extra time...and be done with it.

Kids may finish early and can leave, but anyone that believes the time is helpful can take advantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again, why not just give EVERYONE extra time...and be done with it.

Kids may finish early and can leave, but anyone that believes the time is helpful can take advantage.

Yes. That's one solution. Same for SAT/ACT. Real question is what is it that the standardized tests are testing: If it is speed, no allowance should be given to anyone at all. If it is knowledge, perhaps everyone should be given as much time as they want/need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again, why not just give EVERYONE extra time...and be done with it.

Kids may finish early and can leave, but anyone that believes the time is helpful can take advantage.

Yes. That's one solution. Same for SAT/ACT. Real question is what is it that the standardized tests are testing: If it is speed, no allowance should be given to anyone at all. If it is knowledge, perhaps everyone should be given as much time as they want/need.

That's a very good idea. Giving everybody additional time will remove the ability to cheat.

[Anonymous]

+1