Gifted programs, options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ES has (in very rare cases) allowed kids to take math 2 or 3 grade levels up when appropriate.

I’ve seen this in a few threads, but I have never heard of this happening at my ES. Can anyone name a non-T1 school where an individual kid actually goes to a higher grade’s classroom for a single subject like math?

Happens all the time at BASIS.

BASIS is not an ES. Obviously folks are aware that middle schoolers can be placed in different math tracks at most schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ES has (in very rare cases) allowed kids to take math 2 or 3 grade levels up when appropriate.

I’ve seen this in a few threads, but I have never heard of this happening at my ES. Can anyone name a non-T1 school where an individual kid actually goes to a higher grade’s classroom for a single subject like math?

In a non-T1 you'd ideally have a group of same-age kids who are advanced.

Ludlow-Taylor has at least one kid doing this.

I am skeptical that most non-T1s have a group of kids who need to be 2-3 years ahead at the ES level.

Yeah, this is definitely not the norm from our experience, even at a school with one of the strongest DCPS math programs. At the most, there might be 1 or 2 students per grade who need this level of acceleration.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. My perspective. I have 20 - 25 students in my class. I differentiate in person instruction as much as possible. I am one person. Computer programs help immensely with differentiation as they meet the student where they are at and take them further. I am guided by standards and curriculum. Many parents just don't understand the teacher's perspective. All they see is my child is not getting what is needed. By all means use other resources like Mathnasium and tutors. Just don't expect the teacher to come up with 20 individual programs. You'll scare them out of teaching. In your case I'd talk to the teacher about your concerns and take little steps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. My perspective. I have 20 - 25 students in my class. I differentiate in person instruction as much as possible. I am one person. Computer programs help immensely with differentiation as they meet the student where they are at and take them further. I am guided by standards and curriculum. Many parents just don't understand the teacher's perspective. All they see is my child is not getting what is needed. By all means use other resources like Mathnasium and tutors. Just don't expect the teacher to come up with 20 individual programs. You'll scare them out of teaching. In your case I'd talk to the teacher about your concerns and take little steps.

Fantastic, Mathnasium and tutors. That's what my younger kid's 5th grade DCPS math teacher told us after we realized that our bright kid was more than a year behind in math a year ago. Our kid has happily worked through 4th, 5th and most of 6th grade math in the last year at Mathnasium. The thing is, Mathnasium runs families $350/month (no scholarship options). The ELA tutor we hired, a retired parochial school teacher who would come to our home, ran us $115/hour. We needed the tutor because our 5th grader was writing at around a 2nd grade level, and refusing to accept parental inputs to improve without anybody at our DCPS caring a whit. She'd get 4s on report cards for ELA when she couldn't multiply, capitalize, spell or write a grammatical paragraph to save her life. She'd get 4s for math, too, although she obviously couldn't handle grade-level math post Covid.

What seems to guide all aspects of DCPS instruction are equity concerns and iron-clad WTU protection for teachers (read building and maintaining elaborate smoke screens to paper over epic virtual learning catastrophes). There are no formal GT program in DCPS because they aren't fair to low-income URM children. When you urge families to use other resources aren't you saying, only students from well-off families qualify for effective post Covid remediation and above-grade level instruction, fine by me. Shame on DCPS employees and leaders for not telling it like it is.

[Anonymous]

I realize it’s frustrating, but there’s just no way any teacher, in any school system or independent school, can create 25 different customized curriculums for 25 different students. That’s not “school,” it’s private tutoring.

This is why (as noted at the top of this thread) profoundly gifted students are often homeschooled.

[Anonymous]

I think many DCPS schools do a very good job with English/Language Arts but a pretty crappy one with math. So, it seems as if every family that can afford it has enrolled their kids in Mathnasium or something similar.

Prospective families check PARCC scores. They choose to lottery for schools with good numbers. Often, they don't realize that scores, particularly math scores, don't reflect the quality of math instruction in school; they are more reflective of the percentage of students who receive outside tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. My perspective. I have 20 - 25 students in my class. I differentiate in person instruction as much as possible. I am one person. Computer programs help immensely with differentiation as they meet the student where they are at and take them further. I am guided by standards and curriculum. Many parents just don't understand the teacher's perspective. All they see is my child is not getting what is needed. By all means use other resources like Mathnasium and tutors. Just don't expect the teacher to come up with 20 individual programs. You'll scare them out of teaching. In your case I'd talk to the teacher about your concerns and take little steps.

Fantastic, Mathnasium and tutors. That's what my younger kid's 5th grade DCPS math teacher told us after we realized that our bright kid was more than a year behind in math a year ago. Our kid has happily worked through 4th, 5th and most of 6th grade math in the last year at Mathnasium. The thing is, Mathnasium runs families $350/month (no scholarship options). The ELA tutor we hired, a retired parochial school teacher who would come to our home, ran us $115/hour. We needed the tutor because our 5th grader was writing at around a 2nd grade level, and refusing to accept parental inputs to improve without anybody at our DCPS caring a whit. She'd get 4s on report cards for ELA when she couldn't multiply, capitalize, spell or write a grammatical paragraph to save her life. She'd get 4s for math, too, although she obviously couldn't handle grade-level math post Covid.

What seems to guide all aspects of DCPS instruction are equity concerns and iron-clad WTU protection for teachers (read building and maintaining elaborate smoke screens to paper over epic virtual learning catastrophes). There are no formal GT program in DCPS because they aren't fair to low-income URM children. When you urge families to use other resources aren't you saying, only students from well-off families qualify for effective post Covid remediation and above-grade level instruction, fine by me. Shame on DCPS employees and leaders for not telling it like it is.

DCPS teacher here again. No student of mine gets a 4 unless they are above grade level and consistently scoring 90% or more on every piece of work. I think that is the wording on report cards. There are other resources that do not cost as much, I mean most parents could do the tutoring/guiding or supplemental work. I'm glad your options worked. There are many ways to go about when catching up or getting ahead. Talk to your teacher and come up with a plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I realize it’s frustrating, but there’s just no way any teacher, in any school system or independent school, can create 25 different customized curriculums for 25 different students. That’s not “school,” it’s private tutoring.

This is why (as noted at the top of this thread) profoundly gifted students are often homeschooled.

This is just ridiculous and nonsensical. Our DS’s elementary school differentiates and the teacher did not prepare 25 separate lesson plans for each child. For kids above grade level in math, she had a group of about 5, 15 at grade level, and about 5 kids who were really struggling. She assigned extra work to the advanced class and provided extra support to the struggling group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I realize it’s frustrating, but there’s just no way any teacher, in any school system or independent school, can create 25 different customized curriculums for 25 different students. That’s not “school,” it’s private tutoring.

This is why (as noted at the top of this thread) profoundly gifted students are often homeschooled.

What? I went to a differentiated public school. There was in school gifted pullout and full day ones, depending on the needs. Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. It is possible and effective. Unfortunately education is now all about not hurting feelings instead of education, and it would hurt too much to know that others were on different tracks. So much stupidity in education right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I realize it’s frustrating, but there’s just no way any teacher, in any school system or independent school, can create 25 different customized curriculums for 25 different students. That’s not “school,” it’s private tutoring.

This is why (as noted at the top of this thread) profoundly gifted students are often homeschooled.

What? I went to a differentiated public school. There was in school gifted pullout and full day ones, depending on the needs. Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. It is possible and effective. Unfortunately education is now all about not hurting feelings instead of education, and it would hurt too much to know that others were on different tracks. So much stupidity in education right now.

+1 I am profoundly gifted (feel ridiculous writing that but it’s true) and benefitted greatly from a pull-out program in ES and differentiation in middle and high school. Throw in a library card and you’re all set. I would have had a fit if anyone suggested homeschooling. Public schools absolutely can accommodate this population. DCPS chooses not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I realize it’s frustrating, but there’s just no way any teacher, in any school system or independent school, can create 25 different customized curriculums for 25 different students. That’s not “school,” it’s private tutoring.

This is why (as noted at the top of this thread) profoundly gifted students are often homeschooled.

What? I went to a differentiated public school. There was in school gifted pullout and full day ones, depending on the needs. Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. It is possible and effective. Unfortunately education is now all about not hurting feelings instead of education, and it would hurt too much to know that others were on different tracks. So much stupidity in education right now.

First, to the teacher(s) on here, thank you for all you do. As a former teacher who only lasted just over a a decade in the classroom, I appreciate all of your hard work and dedication. I can't imagine adding a pandemic on top of your normal duties, as well as parents who constantly question and say your field is full of stupidity. Teachers can and do differentiate without gifted and talented programs. The same class can be given differentiated lessons and assignments, and as much as technology is vilified, the computer activities can fill in some gaps as well. As somebody who was several grade levels ahead at a "sought after" school district is a child, before technology, our advanced pull out often consisted of photocopy math booklets or a box full of advanced math problems for us to do independently.
If you take some time to read some other threads on this topic or spend time reading some of the research, pushing kids to sprint years ahead is often detrimental, as they do not get time to actually learn/understand the content and have to relearn it in high school.
Either way, thanks teachers for everything you are doing, and parents, if you are finding there is a gap somewhere, maybe try working with the school to find a solution. Mathnasium and tutors were mentioned, but there are also many free and low-cost options for tutoring after school and enrichment program, especially once you get to middle school.

[Anonymous]

Many parents in this area are just delusional about their kid’s true ability. Seriously delusional.

[Anonymous]

I actually think the profoundly gifted are typically accommodated (especially in math). My DCPS ES does allow kids to attend a higher grade's math class if warranted. It's more the 99%ilers who are just left to be bored or teach themselves via a computer, because they need some differentiation (esp at schools where the teaching is at/just behind grade level) but not to skip ahead entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I realize it’s frustrating, but there’s just no way any teacher, in any school system or independent school, can create 25 different customized curriculums for 25 different students. That’s not “school,” it’s private tutoring.

This is why (as noted at the top of this thread) profoundly gifted students are often homeschooled.

What? I went to a differentiated public school. There was in school gifted pullout and full day ones, depending on the needs. Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. It is possible and effective. Unfortunately education is now all about not hurting feelings instead of education, and it would hurt too much to know that others were on different tracks. So much stupidity in education right now.

+1 I am profoundly gifted (feel ridiculous writing that but it’s true) and benefitted greatly from a pull-out program in ES and differentiation in middle and high school. Throw in a library card and you’re all set. I would have had a fit if anyone suggested homeschooling. Public schools absolutely can accommodate this population. DCPS chooses not to.

My kids had exactly that in DCPS, in class differentiation and there were pull outs for kids ahead and kids behind. They did differentiation really well.

[Anonymous]

Hearst used to let advanced 4th graders take math with the 5th graders and advanced 5th graders take 6th grade math with the math specialist. They stopped it last year and I don’t know if they will bring it back. It will be a shame if they don’t.