Are all the kids "gifted" in this area?

[Anonymous]

It seems that most moms I meet have children that are "very verbal" at a young age or are otherwise remarkable. It makes sense that in a region that has a very motivated and educated population, both the genetics and stimulation are there for a higher than average number of gifted children in the local schools. Is that accurate and if it is, what does it mean, are 20 percent (or more) of the kids in the local schools gifted as opposed to 5 percent? I was considering private schools and had my 4 year old tested, I do not remember all her scores off the top of my head but she scored in the 99.7 percentile for verbal, I think the test was the WISC II. That sounds pretty high to me but what do I know? Is that pretty common around here or would she stand out? She is really the only 4 year old I know that well and, while she is quite a piece of work sometimes, she is not what I would call profoundly gifted (I have friends who have a child that is profoundly gifted and it is really something quite different).

I have read some of the debate on the move by MoCo schools to make G&T more inclusive (enrichment for everyone) and the comments that some Bethesda elementary schools identify the majority of their population as gifted. I have to say that I think the odds are against 80% of any elementary school class being actually "gifted" academecally (although all children have unique and valuable gifts).

I am not necessarily thinking in terms of what to do academically for my daughter, we have time for that. I am really just wondering how everyone can be above average, but I do not want to just assume everyone is overstating their children's abilities and I do not want to be rolling my eyes on the inside when I hear people talk about their children. Thanks for any insight in to what average really is in this area.

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/15/AR2008121503114.html
is interesting reading on this topic.

[Anonymous]

It is a thin line between gifted children and a$$hole parents.

[Anonymous]

In higher socio-economic areas, yes, there are many 'gifted' kids. In Falls Church City, the median CogAT score was 87th percentile for third graders in 2005:

http://www.fccps.org/cia/assessment/assessmentReport_05_06/outcomes.htm

If you exclude those who are economically disadvantaged, the median would have been higher.

Compare that with the nationally normed median of 50th percentile, and you have a lot of very bright kids in some parts of the DC Metro area.

[Anonymous]

If the median score is in the 86th percentile, that isn't gifted- that is median....gifted would be above the median I would think. Everyone here thinks their kid is gifted. What ever happened to it being ok to be average at some things? Our poor kids!

[Anonymous]

You should take more statistics.

The national median is 50th percentile. Gifted is usually defined as 97th percentile on the CogAT. With a local median of 87th percentile (meaning half of the kids are above 87th percentile), it is highly likely that more than 3 percent of Falls Church City kids would be considered gifted....I don't know what their test score distribution looks like, but I would guess that about 20% of those kids would be considered "gifted"....heck, they're almost all above average, at least compared to national norms.

[Anonymous]

My DD attends a good private school, scored 97th %ile on the WISC, and is an "average" student among her classmates. 99+%ile kids are a dime a dozen here. As OP pointed out, DC is just a place that attracts smart, well-educated parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems that most moms I meet have children that are "very verbal" at a young age or are otherwise remarkable. It makes sense that in a region that has a very motivated and educated population, both the genetics and stimulation are there for a higher than average number of gifted children in the local schools. Is that accurate and if it is, what does it mean, are 20 percent (or more) of the kids in the local schools gifted as opposed to 5 percent? I was considering private schools and had my 4 year old tested, I do not remember all her scores off the top of my head but she scored in the 99.7 percentile for verbal, I think the test was the WISC II. That sounds pretty high to me but what do I know? Is that pretty common around here or would she stand out? She is really the only 4 year old I know that well and, while she is quite a piece of work sometimes, she is not what I would call profoundly gifted (I have friends who have a child that is profoundly gifted and it is really something quite different).

I have read some of the debate on the move by MoCo schools to make G&T more inclusive (enrichment for everyone) and the comments that some Bethesda elementary schools identify the majority of their population as gifted. I have to say that I think the odds are against 80% of any elementary school class being actually "gifted" academecally (although all children have unique and valuable gifts).

I am not necessarily thinking in terms of what to do academically for my daughter, we have time for that. I am really just wondering how everyone can be above average, but I do not want to just assume everyone is overstating their children's abilities and I do not want to be rolling my eyes on the inside when I hear people talk about their children. Thanks for any insight in to what average really is in this area.

Yes, that's a high verbal score, but not unusual for this area. If your DC were to apply to a private Pre-K, many, if not most, of the other applicants would have a comparable score. Some would have a higher overall score, not just in verbal. And these high scores are just a snapshot on one day in the life of the child - they are not necessarily predictors of high academic achievement. Good fundamentals, but no guarantees.

[Anonymous]

did you meet a lot of moms, anywhere, whose children are not 'gifted' / 'extremely smart' / 'so talented' and so on?

[Anonymous]

This post made me smile. I think I will puke if I hear one more parent talk about their gifted child. Jealousy? Maybe. Mine are likely not gifted (they haven't been tested yet, but they weren't reading at 6 months or anything).

Jealousy aside, I do think the label is way overused and parents dwell on it way too much.

Flame away!

[Anonymous]

Yes - most of our kids are gifted - they received the gift of educated parents, three square meals, and way too many toys.

All those things map into higher test scores even if the underlying ability of the child isn't that special.

[Anonymous]

Here's perhaps another angle on this. I work in with adult learners / executives. - a very high achieving, gifted group. A decade of doing this - everyone has gifts and everyone has areas that are challenges. Their academic success becomes a small piece of their overall success/happiness. Other pieces play into it - just like our children. Think values, emotional intelligence, authenticity, integrity, responsibility,etc.

Knowing where your child naturally excels or learns is helpful. . You can know that and not discuss publically as a badge. But it can help you leverage their strengths - (again without necessarily pushing or being true to your parenting philosophy) If you took the WPSII, the written description can be more helpful than the actual score. You can see where they are challenged or what learning styles they have. And know that often, the "challenges" are a gift to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This post made me smile. I think I will puke if I hear one more parent talk about their gifted child. Jealousy? Maybe. Mine are likely not gifted (they haven't been tested yet, but they weren't reading at 6 months or anything).

Jealousy aside, I do think the label is way overused and parents dwell on it way too much.

Flame away!

Ha, no need to flame your comments. I think you are pretty spot on in your assessment. My kids, according to their scores, appear to be quite bright. But what I liked most about DC's last parent-teacher conference was DC's teacher telling us that DC works really hard and "earns it." I don't want my kids to think that because they are bright, "verbal," and gifted, then they don' have to work at school. Or anywhere.

[Anonymous]

OP here. So, if all the kids are gifted, why is everyone pushing so hard to get their children into the "gifted" programs and not just trying to buy/rent real estate in the districts with the highest percentage of kids testing gifted? I always thought the point of G&T education was to remove kids who are different from the "normal" class because they are bored in the normal classes and need more stimulation and need to learn to work hard to succeed just like everyone else does. If all the kids can move through material quickly, there should be less boredom being experienced and a focus on generally making more stimulating materials available to all the kids that can benefit from the exposure. I would think the G&T should be made available to the profoundly gifted children who just do not fit in.

If the G&T classes/schools/centers/whatever are just great programs that are not available to everyone that wants to go and could qualify if there were no numbers cap, of course it will foster resentment among the families that are rejected based on some arbitrary line.

Is the current problem really that the focus on test results makes the schools put an inordinate amount of their resources towards work with those few kids that do not test well and as a result the general school population of high achieving kids is bored?

[Anonymous]

It's all relative. I don't live in DC, and my kid is definitely gifted compared to DC's classmates. Bored in school? Absolutely. In the DC area, I think DC would be just average, not considered gifted. Money and educated parents definitely make a difference in the academic performance of the child, and there is plenty of both in the DC area.