APS Gifted Referral Form

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I don't think they rely a lot on the answers to those questions. DD was referred for art and I said that she got into my makeup and did really beautiful eyeshadow look. For other stuff I think I included some insightful comments she had made. It wasn't a big deal.

I kind of think the parent referral form exists just to appease a certain type of parent. It would actually be very unfair if they gave it much weight vs teacher observations, test scores, etc.

It's been a super weird few years and, at least at our school, fewer kids have been identified.

I was told in Feb 2020 at our conference that our child was going to be teacher-referred for gifted. With COVID hitting a week later, that didn't happen. Then there was a virtual year with very little opportunity for the kids to get to know teachers. Then last year was a mess with teachers getting kids caught up. We finally parent referred this year after our daughter's teacher expressed surprise that our child hadn't been tagged given her test scores and school performance. I'm not sure the normal mechanisms have been working well. We didn't want to be those parents, but it's been an odd few years and didn't want that to hurt our kid.

Why do you think advocating for your kid will make you "that parent"? I really hate to hear that. I parent referred both of my kids after it was clear the elem school didn't know how to id gifted kids. The RTG was under the impression that gifted kids were the ones who always had their hand in the air to answer a question and show what they know. Wrong - I had a shy, quiet gifted kid who didn't want to raise her hand even though she knew all the answers.

Both of my kids were identified after the parent referral. One had test scores off the charts that surprised even the principal. I do think it's helpful for parents to collect evidence of your child's giftedness such as work samples or anecdotes, so you have something to put on the form. You can also get your child privately tested with the WISC.

Wouldn't the RTG have referred based on the NNAT or CoGAT? If they're going to do universal screeners, seems like the bare minimum for the gifted teacher to scan them and refer all students over X score.

My child's grade never took the NNAT because of COVID and CoGAT was a short screener, not a whole test.

My child was out sick the day the CoGAT screener was administered and ended up taking it later during recess with the instruction that she could go play when it was done. It's impossible to assess giftedness from one screening test administered during recess. It's just one data point.

Huh? They take the full COGAT. In 2nd grade or if you haven’t taken it first year you are in APS.

Current 5th graders took a shortened version. They didn't give it in 2nd due to covid. So they gave it to them in 3rd. However due to covid it was an abbreviated version of the test.

My current 2nd grader just took the full test. He has much more comprehensive results than his brother. For example current 5th graders who took it in 3rd. They were not given individual age scores and it's referred to as the cogat screening form and notes it's a shorter form vs the cogat test (which my current 2nd grader took).

Interesting. So for this unique cohort of kids, if I thought my kid belonged in gifted and was not put in based on never taking a full CoGAT, I would advocate for the full test. They do administer it in upper grades. I think it is reasonable the schools rely heavily on the test scores. A lot of people think their kid belongs in gifted. The school is not going to rely on the anecdotes you put after self-referral in the form.

You can't just ask for the full test. You can refer using the parent referral form. They decide who to test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

+1 It is bad. Early on, we were told to sit tight and wait for 3rd grade. We never saw any differentiation at all in elementary. They need to stop pretending there’s a “program.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t fill it out. Our child was referred based on test scores.

Same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

It varies by school and teacher. My child started to get differentiation in math in K

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

+1 It is bad. Early on, we were told to sit tight and wait for 3rd grade. We never saw any differentiation at all in elementary. They need to stop pretending there’s a “program.”

They don’t. It’s gifted services

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

Our English is differentiated. My kid is assigned different books to read than other students (for book club). He also gets pulled out for enrichment activities and I can see projects he comes home with from that. I am not sure how Math is different other than reflex but I don't see other people's work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

+1 It is bad. Early on, we were told to sit tight and wait for 3rd grade. We never saw any differentiation at all in elementary. They need to stop pretending there’s a “program.”

They don’t. It’s gifted services

thank you. if you want a program, move to Fairfax. That system is quite different, with some advantages and disadvantages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t fill it out. Our child was referred based on test scores.

Same.

My child was a teacher referral based on…I dunno what and I still had to fill it out.

[Anonymous]

I do really wish they had better gifted services but at the same time they were impactful for my kids. One of my kids is extremely sensitive and used to come home crying because school was bored, and after she was out into the gifted program that stopped. My other kid isn’t as emotionally volatile but he liked school much more after he started doing the gifted program. It’s better than nothing, even though “nothing” is a low bar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

+1 It is bad. Early on, we were told to sit tight and wait for 3rd grade. We never saw any differentiation at all in elementary. They need to stop pretending there’s a “program.”

They don’t. It’s gifted services

thank you. if you want a program, move to Fairfax. That system is quite different, with some advantages and disadvantages.

If a kid doesn’t get into an AAP, are there any gifted services at the regular schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

+1 It is bad. Early on, we were told to sit tight and wait for 3rd grade. We never saw any differentiation at all in elementary. They need to stop pretending there’s a “program.”

They don’t. It’s gifted services

Okay, fine. Poor usage of program on my part. If someone could point me toward these gifted services?

I realize each school varies in approach, but it’s ridiculous to pretend that any real service is being provided by the quarterly whole class visits by the RTG. And that was the extent of gifted services at our APS elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

+1 It is bad. Early on, we were told to sit tight and wait for 3rd grade. We never saw any differentiation at all in elementary. They need to stop pretending there’s a “program.”

They don’t. It’s gifted services

Okay, fine. Poor usage of program on my part. If someone could point me toward these gifted services?

I realize each school varies in approach, but it’s ridiculous to pretend that any real service is being provided by the quarterly whole class visits by the RTG. And that was the extent of gifted services at our APS elementary.

I'm sure it depends on your school. As an example of services, my upper elementary student takes a math pretest for each unit. If she gets the problems correct, she can skip the classroom work and do an extension math project with a small group, which typically ends up being the gifted cluster in her classroom. These projects don't introduce new material to move a student ahead, but are structured to make students think more deeply. Occasionally the GTR works with with group directly, but often they just use materials that she provides.

APS allows non-tagged kids to join this small group if they pass the pretest, but as a practical matter it usually ends up mostly being the kids already tagged and in the cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

+1 It is bad. Early on, we were told to sit tight and wait for 3rd grade. We never saw any differentiation at all in elementary. They need to stop pretending there’s a “program.”

They don’t. It’s gifted services

Okay, fine. Poor usage of program on my part. If someone could point me toward these gifted services?

I realize each school varies in approach, but it’s ridiculous to pretend that any real service is being provided by the quarterly whole class visits by the RTG. And that was the extent of gifted services at our APS elementary.

My kid gets pulled in a group by the RTG once or twice a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really doesn’t matter. The “gifted services” at APS are lip service. At Williamsburg, my kid’s teacher didn’t even know they were identified as gifted at parent teacher conferences when I asked about differentiation. It’s just in place to make striver Arlington parents feel better. I believe APS is mostly able meet the needs of children who are gifted in Math, but English is a joke.

At least in elementary, math isn’t differentiated in any meaningful way, either. It’s a complete farce. The English curriculum actually looks like it could differentiate if someone attempted to do it.

I had no idea how terrible APS was for gifted education and I am so sad at our experience.

+1 It is bad. Early on, we were told to sit tight and wait for 3rd grade. We never saw any differentiation at all in elementary. They need to stop pretending there’s a “program.”

No one pretends it is a program except parents. It has always been made clear at our ES that there is NOT a gifted program-- it is a "model" where there are services that are provided in the regular instructional program and students are cluster grouped with academic peers. This is true for all of APS, but it just might not have been communicated appropriately.