Gifted programs, options

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

PP of above. This was supposed to respond to the question about which DCPS elementary allows acceleration in math.

[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?

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.

BASIS starts in 5th grade.

[Anonymous]

Interesting article from today's Washington Post
What happened when an Ohio school district rushed to integrate classrooms

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/16/shaker-heights-academic-tracking-classes-racial-equity/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

From my experience, the numbers on the report cards are just whatever that particular teacher feels like. Saw students who were consistently scoring above 90%, who were well above grade level, with teachers who explicitly said they were well above grade level, still get 3's.

I'm not sure why D.C. makes the grading so opaque and arbitrary, to the point where report cards are almost entirely meaningless. At least they're including test scores on them now, so it's not 100% whatever the teacher felt like that day (now it's 97% whatever the teacher felt like).

[Anonymous]

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

Yep, agree with this. The diagnostic assessments at the start, middle, and end of the year are very reliable and the results are accurate. These assessments are not perfect, nothing is. As a teacher I will always use the results to determine which students need more assistance and guidance, either above or below grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting article from today's Washington Post
What happened when an Ohio school district rushed to integrate classrooms

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/16/shaker-heights-academic-tracking-classes-racial-equity/

It's impressive how dishonest that Washington Post article is, to the point where it's misinformation. It shows the percentage who have achieved math competency increasing - but only starts with the year when tracking was dropped. If you check out the math scores for the district and compare it to the years when tracking was average, you see that the total math scores were higher during tracking, and are lower now:

https://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/district/achievement/044750

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Sounds like a great set up. It could have stopped if there is nobody to teach the students 6th grade math. Even if there is a math specialist, they could be dealing with students below grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting article from today's Washington Post
What happened when an Ohio school district rushed to integrate classrooms

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/16/shaker-heights-academic-tracking-classes-racial-equity/

Thank you for the link. It was an excellent read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

From my experience, the numbers on the report cards are just whatever that particular teacher feels like. Saw students who were consistently scoring above 90%, who were well above grade level, with teachers who explicitly said they were well above grade level, still get 3's.

I'm not sure why D.C. makes the grading so opaque and arbitrary, to the point where report cards are almost entirely meaningless. At least they're including test scores on them now, so it's not 100% whatever the teacher felt like that day (now it's 97% whatever the teacher felt like).

I’ve always thought DCPS elementary grading was bizarre. Among other problems, they clearly start the kid’s artificially low to show progress over the year. I had to explain this to one confused and upset mom who had transferred her 4th grader from another state and was freaked because she thought her kid was suddenly failing.

In elementary anyway, they also don’t tend to give many objectively graded assignments (or even any sort of credit for doing homework). All of the energy for assessment is dedicated to IReady, PARCC, and all the other random ones. Then, as far as I can tell, the teachers have little appetite to do their own assessments (quizzes, tests, marking HW) that should be the basis for a grading rubric

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting article from today's Washington Post
What happened when an Ohio school district rushed to integrate classrooms

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/08/16/shaker-heights-academic-tracking-classes-racial-equity/

It's impressive how dishonest that Washington Post article is, to the point where it's misinformation. It shows the percentage who have achieved math competency increasing - but only starts with the year when tracking was dropped. If you check out the math scores for the district and compare it to the years when tracking was average, you see that the total math scores were higher during tracking, and are lower now:

https://reportcard.education.ohio.gov/district/achievement/044750

Ugh. I didn’t read the article because I was sure it would be dishonest in some way - fodder for more “nice white parent” discourse on how we can’t possibly expect schools to, you know, actually teach with rigor. Meanwhile it’s the black middle class parents I know in DCPS most concerned about academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good grief, don’t pay for Sidwell, OP. Move to MoCo for test in GT from 4th grade.

Except for that's now by lottery for kids who score well on achievement tests, not intelligence tests, and the chances of getting in are therefore very low. Not worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does your child also have a disability?

He has an ADHD diagnosis.

How old is your child? I think that makes a significant difference w/r/t approach and advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Profoundly gifted students often need multiple grade levels of academic acceleration, not just one. For example, a profoundly gifted second grader might be ready for 6th grade math, which DCPS won't accommodate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have ideas for how to approach DCPS for providing FAPE for a profoundly gifted child? Our zoned school is not appropriate for our child’s academic needs. What can the school system provide in this case?

I'm not sure what DCPS can or is willing to do.

Coincedentally, I just had a meeting with a CTY alumni relations person, and she was intrigued by the idea that there is a huge opportunity in D.C. for parents of gifted children who want more for their kids since, unlike the surrounding districts, we don't have any gifted programming. She is going to think about how it might be possible to reach gifted kids within D.C. and funnel them into CTY programs.

I did CTY in the 90s and it was kind of life changing (more than the pull-out gifted program we had in school). I'm definitely going to try to get my own kids in, especially to the residential programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have ideas for how to approach DCPS for providing FAPE for a profoundly gifted child? Our zoned school is not appropriate for our child’s academic needs. What can the school system provide in this case?

I'm not sure what DCPS can or is willing to do.

Coincedentally, I just had a meeting with a CTY alumni relations person, and she was intrigued by the idea that there is a huge opportunity in D.C. for parents of gifted children who want more for their kids since, unlike the surrounding districts, we don't have any gifted programming. She is going to think about how it might be possible to reach gifted kids within D.C. and funnel them into CTY programs.

I did CTY in the 90s and it was kind of life changing (more than the pull-out gifted program we had in school). I'm definitely going to try to get my own kids in, especially to the residential programs.

From what I've heard recently, CTY today isn't close to how good it was in the 90s.