Another reason why labeling students as being gifted is counterproductive

[Anonymous]

PP, do YOU realize the consequences of the premise that you are therefore indicating if we were to look at the flip side of the coin ?

[Anonymous]

New to this area and the Gifted program we came from did not have any of the drama as here. They used a base line IQ to get into the program. Each child in Gifted also had an IEP, with goals being updated periodically. Gifted Ed. Was within the Special Ed dept. It was clear that gifted and twice gifted children were in the same class. I think that took out a lot of the drama. They handled discipline problems in all classes by harassing parents and sending the child to the front office Until the child was under control. There were no blogs about why gifted should accept smart children that get Straight As and do well on achievement tests. All classes based on grade were capped at about 10+ less students per class than Fairfax. Great Schools would report 15/1 or 18/1 that Refers to ''home room teacher per child" not the average teacher per child working at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's what goes on in Fairfax County. If you can prep to pass the test for "giftedness", thest test probably is measuring something other

I think some of these companies doing prep are selling snake oil. You can't actually meaningfully increase someone's IQ or cognitive ability through test prep. If anything it's probably more about acclimating them to the types of questions and maybe some strategies, which might yield some marginal gains... But you certainly will not see people going from 95 to 145.

I wonder about this, also. I don't think you can raise a child's score from slightly below average to way above average, but I do think with focused practice (very, very regular repetition), a high average child's score can be pushed up into the lower superior range. Parents then hope to use these scores to request placement for their children in gifted programs, whether or not the program is appropriate for any particular child.

We have never used one of these programs, but I looked at one of these sites and it is riddled with language and grammar errors. If I were in the market for a program like this, I would not be impressed with one that allowed so many errors on its own website.

There are lots more useful ways to enhance a child's education than test prep programs.

[Anonymous]

Exactly what does DC do for advanced learners?

Apologies for asking the 'dumb' question, but I'm just beginning to think about all this as DC is relatively young but does seem to have focused interests and ability in certain areas such that she might benefit from a learning atmosphere that provides more challenge.

I've heard tangentially that some DCPS manage to do a good job with kids who are maybe a bit ahead of the class, just wondering what the official DCPS position is and what schools can do to address SN learners who are ahead rather than behind.

If your child is 'gifted', are there options in DCPS? Do you have to go private? Do you have to leave DC/move?

[Anonymous]

http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Learn+About+Schools/Academic+Offerings#0