Boundary study materials float "open-enrollment gifted and talented programming"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should have a 2E twice exceptional program for gifted students with something else (ADHD, ASD, dyslexia, etc.). My friend says that Montgomery county has such a program.

I used to teach in MCPS. MCPS GT program is actually high quality and requires a great deal of testing into the program, teacher recommendations and the curriculum is superb. I don't see DCPS doing anything like this. Having had experience in both MCPS and DCPS, I will give credit to MoCo county, they screw up a lot of things but teacher quality and it's GT program is not one of them.

This is an indictment of MoCo (and G&T programs in public schools), not a selling point. G&T programs get disproportionate resources and attention (including the best teachers), at the expense of everything else.

I grew up in the sort of test-in, recommendation-based G&T program that some people so desperately want in DCPS. I had classes with the same 30ish kids from 6th to 12th grade. It was socially stifling and narrow, but also provided highly coveted rigor and attention that was denied to 95% of students. I much prefer the heterogenous, open-AP enrollment experience my kids have had in DCPS. With good teachers, these classes are strong, and all kids have access.

But your kids were at JR or one of the selective high schools, right? Those are the only DCPS high schools where any significant number of kids are getting a 3+ on at least one AP exam (with the exception of native speakers and AP Spanish, which pull a couple of high schools up a little.) At most DCPS high schools, that's not what's going on.

Yes, my kids are at JR. But I don’t care what scores other students get on the AP exams. If all of the students want to be there, and the teacher is good, that’s great for everyone. Invest in making challenging and interesting classes with good teachers available to everyone who wants to take them. Don’t siphon off resources for a tiny percentage of students.

Teachers cannot differentiate across 3 or 4 grade levels when you have open AP classes. BTW JR AP for all is not great compared to the scores that schools in the burbs get. It’s watered down and you can see that when only a little over 1/2 of the kids score a 3 or above. The kids scoring 5 are doing extra outside of class.

If you want AP classes with real rigor then you need to have high and hard standards that kids who can’t handle it will fail out and it self selects which won’t be happening in DCPS. It’s race to the bottom.

JR is a mediocre school at best and since the AP for all has trickled down the chain to honors for all, lots more families with high performing kids with optiins are not tracking to JR and opting out,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should have a 2E twice exceptional program for gifted students with something else (ADHD, ASD, dyslexia, etc.). My friend says that Montgomery county has such a program.

I used to teach in MCPS. MCPS GT program is actually high quality and requires a great deal of testing into the program, teacher recommendations and the curriculum is superb. I don't see DCPS doing anything like this. Having had experience in both MCPS and DCPS, I will give credit to MoCo county, they screw up a lot of things but teacher quality and it's GT program is not one of them.

This is an indictment of MoCo (and G&T programs in public schools), not a selling point. G&T programs get disproportionate resources and attention (including the best teachers), at the expense of everything else.

I grew up in the sort of test-in, recommendation-based G&T program that some people so desperately want in DCPS. I had classes with the same 30ish kids from 6th to 12th grade. It was socially stifling and narrow, but also provided highly coveted rigor and attention that was denied to 95% of students. I much prefer the heterogenous, open-AP enrollment experience my kids have had in DCPS. With good teachers, these classes are strong, and all kids have access.

But your kids were at JR or one of the selective high schools, right? Those are the only DCPS high schools where any significant number of kids are getting a 3+ on at least one AP exam (with the exception of native speakers and AP Spanish, which pull a couple of high schools up a little.) At most DCPS high schools, that's not what's going on.

Yes, my kids are at JR. But I don’t care what scores other students get on the AP exams. If all of the students want to be there, and the teacher is good, that’s great for everyone. Invest in making challenging and interesting classes with good teachers available to everyone who wants to take them. Don’t siphon off resources for a tiny percentage of students.

Teachers cannot differentiate across 3 or 4 grade levels when you have open AP classes. BTW JR AP for all is not great compared to the scores that schools in the burbs get. It’s watered down and you can see that when only a little over 1/2 of the kids score a 3 or above. The kids scoring 5 are doing extra outside of class.

If you want AP classes with real rigor then you need to have high and hard standards that kids who can’t handle it will fail out and it self selects which won’t be happening in DCPS. It’s race to the bottom.

JR is a mediocre school at best and since the AP for all has trickled down the chain to honors for all, lots more families with high performing kids with optiins are not tracking to JR and opting out,

Yes, we moved one of our kids to Sidwell/GDS/NCS. Kids at these schools will very commonly get a B or B+ in an AP class and a 5 on the AP exam. It happens all the time.

This is shockingly different from JR (where my oldest attended) where you get a A in the class and a 2 on the AP. It's night and day and it's really frustrating.

[Anonymous]

G & T = Gangstas and Tricks