Why is Nysmith no longer "gifted"?

[Anonymous]

I taught there many years ago. At the time the school required a WISC or equivalent with a 130 FSIQ or above. There were two major problems with this. When the recession hit in the early 2000s, a lot of families of bright kids bailed for FCPS AAP. That was around the time AAP really started to expand and the program captured a lot of kids whose families were lukewarm about paying $30,000 in tuition for elementary school. They did get some families who applied because they wanted AAP for their kids and the kids were not selected but there weren't enough of those families to make up for the outflow. A 120 IQ is not going to get a kid into AAP without standout scores on other tests but it will get you into Nysmith. The second thing was referenced by a PP: Nysmith was not going to turn away tuition dollars from a family who had 4 kids and only one hit the 130 cutoff. It's a for-profit school and it's run like a business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I taught there many years ago. At the time the school required a WISC or equivalent with a 130 FSIQ or above. There were two major problems with this. When the recession hit in the early 2000s, a lot of families of bright kids bailed for FCPS AAP. That was around the time AAP really started to expand and the program captured a lot of kids whose families were lukewarm about paying $30,000 in tuition for elementary school. They did get some families who applied because they wanted AAP for their kids and the kids were not selected but there weren't enough of those families to make up for the outflow. A 120 IQ is not going to get a kid into AAP without standout scores on other tests but it will get you into Nysmith. The second thing was referenced by a PP: Nysmith was not going to turn away tuition dollars from a family who had 4 kids and only one hit the 130 cutoff. It's a for-profit school and it's run like a business.

I had two children get an excellent education at Nysmith. They were accepted to every private high school they applied to. We are very pleased with the education they received.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I taught there many years ago. At the time the school required a WISC or equivalent with a 130 FSIQ or above. There were two major problems with this. When the recession hit in the early 2000s, a lot of families of bright kids bailed for FCPS AAP. That was around the time AAP really started to expand and the program captured a lot of kids whose families were lukewarm about paying $30,000 in tuition for elementary school. They did get some families who applied because they wanted AAP for their kids and the kids were not selected but there weren't enough of those families to make up for the outflow. A 120 IQ is not going to get a kid into AAP without standout scores on other tests but it will get you into Nysmith. The second thing was referenced by a PP: Nysmith was not going to turn away tuition dollars from a family who had 4 kids and only one hit the 130 cutoff. It's a for-profit school and it's run like a business.

I had two children get an excellent education at Nysmith. They were accepted to every private high school they applied to. We are very pleased with the education they received.

PP. Good. The vast majority of the students who attended when I was there got an excellent education as well. The facility is world class and most of the teachers were great. Families had high expectations and wanted a low student: teacher ratio with lots of feedback and extras and we delivered. Most of the families who applied to private high schools got the results they wanted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no way you can accept kids to a school at age 3, 4, 5, 6 and ensure they are ALL gifted at age 13.

They admit high SES kids and teach small classes at a high level. So the kids are smart.

Gifted is disingenuous.

I went there.

Well we know you weren't the top of the class.

There's a school in Seattle for "gifted kids" that will admit a child for PK3 and PK4, then make them take an IQ test for Kindergarten and reject them if it's not high enough. Our daughter (older elementary age) was above their stated IQ threshold but who the heck knows what our 3 year old's WISC score will be at 5 (not that it's stable at that age anyway). . . .It was a huge turnoff to think our son could be kicked out of the school at Kindergarten entry, even if our older child was there. We didn't end up applying and gave me a very bad impression of the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one kid I know who went there from our public was far from gifted.

Sounds like you're just jealous because you couldn't afford to put your DC in private school.

NP. I’ve had kids in public as well as private (money wasn’t the reason) and one of my kids in public currently was accepted to three magnets. I have decades of experience teaching highly gifted kids. Our neighbor’s kid attended Nysmith and he didn’t appear to be gifted.

You are rude discussing your neighbor's child.

[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The one kid I know who went there from our public was far from gifted.

Why are you on the private school forum? Envy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Financially gifted

My kids went there. They are twice gifted, both IQ wise and financially. Does that make you feel better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Financially gifted

My kids went there. They are twice gifted, both IQ wise and financially. Does that make you feel better?

Does it make you feel better to be snippy to a comment that’s more than a year old?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one kid I know who went there from our public was far from gifted.

Sounds like you're just jealous because you couldn't afford to put your DC in private school.

NP. I’ve had kids in public as well as private (money wasn’t the reason) and one of my kids in public currently was accepted to three magnets. I have decades of experience teaching highly gifted kids. Our neighbor’s kid attended Nysmith and he didn’t appear to be gifted.

You clearly teach in a public school. What a rude comment to make about a child. Clearly money is the issue, and you can't contain your envy. Leave your neighbor's child alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Financially gifted

My kids went there. They are twice gifted, both IQ wise and financially. Does that make you feel better?

Does it make you feel better to be snippy to a comment that’s more than a year old?

Why yes...yes it does.

[Anonymous]

LOL! I'm not going to lie, we sent our child there because she didn't get into AAP. Younger child got in by default. Older will go to Oakton for HS, we're not interested in private school education, we're just interested in a decent education, which FCPS general ed does not provide.

[Anonymous]

New to the Oak Hill area -- what are the Big 3 schools? Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting! I hadn't heard that. I assume because it 1) isn't really full of actually gifted students and 2) that marketing keeps people who are looking at a broad range of schools away.

I don't want my kid to go to a school that labels itself like that. It reeks of self-importance. Remove the moniker and I think it sounds more appealing.

But then it no longer actually serves the very small group it was formed to serve. The problem lies in that most people in DMV do not actually have a "gifted" child (of the number who do, who want to pay private school the number gets even smaller) in that they have an IQ above 150 cut off was and do not know that actually "gifted" students need a different pace and way of teaching than any of the other privates in this area provide. Particularly in younger years up to HS. I think the school suffered from a lack of ability to get enough students that met the qualifying attributes when it originally opened, when it was trying to stay true to the original intent, then because of financial needs started admitting high achieving but not truly gifted students in, and now know they should not market themselves as something they are not.
Most high achieving students at the "big 3" schools are not "gifted" they are very bright and work very hard--not the same thing at all. I have a child like this at a "big 3" and have seen the difference between these sorts of kids and those who are actually gifted, and obviously so, at young ages.
sorry for typos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL! I'm not going to lie, we sent our child there because she didn't get into AAP. Younger child got in by default. Older will go to Oakton for HS, we're not interested in private school education, we're just interested in a decent education, which FCPS general ed does not provide.

I don't understand what elementary school zoned to Oakton you think has a poor general education program? My kid is zoned to Oakton and I've one in AAP and one in Gen Ed - a year apart. Literally the only difference in curriculum at our high SES school was math. If you were talking a Title I school or one with a large Spanish-speaking population, I could understand, but anywhere in western Fairfax is going to have a great general ed program.

[Anonymous]

Girls, Nysmith has much bigger problems than whether your kids are fake gifted or not. What is going on with the antisemitism???