What's your impression of gifted/talented services in Arlington elementary schools?
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Anonymous
| I realize there's a separate AAP forum, but that seems dominated by fairfax county discussions. I'm trying to get a sense of what folks whose kids are in the GT program in APS think of the services being provided to their kids. I'm finding the GT program at my kid's north arlington elementary school is not quite what I expected of a GT program. My kid is deeply frustrated at being told at every turn that she needs to stick to age-appropriate learning (despite her demonstrated ability to work far beyond her grade level). I'm curious to know if this is a phenomenon just at my school, or across the county? |
Anonymous
| Are you saying that your kid is in the GT program, and that she can work beyond what GT program is offering, but they won't give her work beyond what the GT program offers? How far ahead is the GT program - do they learn 2yrs above grade level, 3 yrs? |
Anonymous
| That sounds strange, but it really depends on the school. At my sons' school, gifted services are push in from 4th grade on. Last year in 3rd, my son got pulled out for reading once a week. That's it. What services has your daughter been identified for? Its definitely not like AAP in FCPS from what i have heard. In theory, all classes are supposed to have differentiation in the classroom. |
Anonymous
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My daughter is GT In language arts. She's a 4th grader at an APS school. She's received 0 services this year.
So, yeah. It's pretty much a joke. We are leaving for private next year, hopefully. |
Anonymous
| We can certainly relate. Our daughter (in first grade) receives gifted services for both math and language arts. more simple addition worksheets for a kid who is interested in and capable of doing multiplication. focus appears to be on "critical reasoning" -- as in, let's draw pictures to show *why* 5+12= 17. it's extremely frustrating because there's active resistance to her doing any math beyond simple addition and subtraction. I'm not convinced the GT services in APS (or at least at our school) differentiate between high achievement and giftedness -- teaching pedagogy seems not to take into account that gifted kids learn differently (and often non-sequentially). we're starting to think we've got to shift our kid to private school too... |
Anonymous
| Ugh. This makes me stand by the decision to stick with a good DCPS over Arlington. Sorry to hear this! |
Anonymous
That's not a G&T problem, it's the ridiculous way they teach math to all kids. My son is in APS and he gets special ed for HFA, and they are doing the same thing with us - not teaching him to memorize number pairs for the basics, it all this figuring out garbage. I'm doing drills at home. |
Anonymous
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My DD was in GT for language arts in N Arlington elem. Pulled out for special instruction 1 hour a week with extra projects. Aside from that, she had some pretty incredible teachers that we will never forget. I'm sure I'm in the minority, but looking back, the gifted stuff seems secondary to all the other positive school experiences she had.
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Anonymous
That sounds exactly like a curriculum based on common core. I thought VA didn't adopt CC. Maybe the SOLs are just CC in disguise. |
Anonymous
That was our experience, too. Because gifted services are dependent on the quality of the GS teacher, we've had a bad experience with both elementary and middle school gifted services. But my kids' regular teachers have been outstanding. Those of you who are thinking of going private -- where would you go? |
Anonymous
I'd love to hear the answer to this question too. We too are unimpressed with the quality of the GT teacher in our N. Arlington elementary school. Regrettably, our regular teacher this year is really unimpressive in the classroom, in contrast to prior years' teachers. |
Anonymous
The SOLs pre-date CC and do have a lot of similarities. The whole "why" aspect of early math instruction I found really frustrating. Explain why 4+7=11? It just is!! At least that seems to have become less of an issue at higher math levels. My DS starting being pulled out by the gifted teacher for reading in 1st grade and math in 2nd grade before being formally ID'd as gifted in 3rd. Our first gifted teacher was wonderful and DS really enjoyed the pull out time and it did seem to provide him some good additional challenges. Unfortunately, she left and he really disliked the replacement. So, the quality of gifted services seems to vary a lot by the specific teacher. |
Anonymous
| I really like the "why" questions. Not for first, but for third grade it's been great. It can teach critical thinking and persuasive writing. And it has helped my child understand the rules better by explaining. |
Anonymous
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My son went to APS and had a score that would have gotten him into FCPS AAP at 6. They would not consider him until I pushed for 3 years. He was found eligible but I realized he would not get more than 30 minutes of pull out with a sub they used as a swing teacher. The general ed teachers he had did not seem to think GT existed and said things like, "If he's that smart, why isn't he more organized?".
I was so frustrated I took all of the classes needed to become a g/t teacher so I could help him. I also put him in a smaller Catholic school with a more nurturing set of teachers. |
Anonymous
Except that I keep hearing form private school parents that it is even worse -- no on is allowed to do anything different because then everyone would want their kid to be doing it too. So at least of elementary, private schools will not accelerate a kid to a totally different curriculum that is above grade level. Have you heard of a place that will? |