Fairfax County GT Center eligibility letters?

[Anonymous]

If you child had good scores and did not get in, likely because of a low teacher evaluation due to shyness, go to George Mason testing center and get the IQ tests, one or two to get a good result, and present that at your appeal. Almost 50% of appeals get in, and this number may be increasing because more people are turning down GT center due to transportation issues, which are trending worse with the budge pressure. Definitely appeal if you have any question. It is a big upgrade in their education through 8th grade, and a shyer child who is smart would likely be better off around the more serious students. We were lucky at our school they provided a copy of the entire package they sent to the GT center so we knew exactly what was going on during the process. You should also ask the GT coordinator at her school for a copy of the package that was submitted to the GT Evaluation committee so you know more about what happened.

[Anonymous]

Does anybody know how the bus service to the GT Center works. We have only level III GT services at our local school, so we are eligible for transportation to the GT Center. It is 5 miles from our house, so hate to drive, but not sure if they take a bus to the local school, and then all get on a different bus to get to the GT Center or if a bus picks him up and takes him directly to the GT Center and picks up a lot of other kids at their stops on the way there. Either way it sounds like a lot of bus time but getting a ride directly to the GT Center sounds a lot better. Any info on how this works would be greatly appreciated.

[Anonymous]

The bus will take them directly to the GT center. If you are in sacc, the bus will pick up and drop off at your original school.

I have heard that there will be fewer buses next school year and am wondering if I can start a carpool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bus will take them directly to the GT center. If you are in sacc, the bus will pick up and drop off at your original school.

I have heard that there will be fewer buses next school year and am wondering if I can start a carpool.

There will be fewer buses next year, especially now that they are changing the bell schedules again.

We received our letter yesterday. Our challenge is that our school has Local Level IV so we will have no bus to the GT Center. We are already enrolled in SACC at our base school but there are no SACC spots at the GT Center (we're waitlisted). On top of that, our base school and the GT Center will start at the same time (with the proposed new bell schedule) and my youngest DC starts Kindergarten in the fall, so not only do I have to find child care at/near the GT Center, I also have to figure out how to get two kids to two different schools at the same time.

Does anyone know if the GT Center orientations help parents form car pools?

[Anonymous]

You still have until the end of May to request a transfer of the younger siblings due to the transportation hardship, provided both schools approve. If approved, does anybody know if they will let the younger sibling ride on the bus going to the GT Center?

For the person whose daughter scored well but did not get in, go to George Mason immediately and take the WISC. They also have two other tests you can take if the WISC result is not favorable, but you need to get rolling. You need to have additoinal data to appeal and that is just the way it is. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Hello all! Does anyone know when GT orientation is at the Oak Hill elementary school? We received acceptance letter back in Jan based on Nov application, but never received any follow-up info from the school on orientation. If we find out the date of the orientation, can we just show up or do we need to make sure that we are on the school's list of attendees for the orientation? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello all! Does anyone know when GT orientation is at the Oak Hill elementary school? We received acceptance letter back in Jan based on Nov application, but never received any follow-up info from the school on orientation. If we find out the date of the orientation, can we just show up or do we need to make sure that we are on the school's list of attendees for the orientation? Thanks in advance.

I suggest calling the school on Monday. Alternatively, you could post your question on the FCAG Yahoo Group and ask -- there may be some incoming Oak Hill GT Center families there.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FCAG/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congratulations to all those who got in. I'm very happy for you all. We must be one of the few families who didn't get in. I'm just confused as to why. My DD's scores were in the 99th percentile except for the reading section, and her grades are mostly O's with some G's. She is painfully shy, never talks in class, and she's not much of a leader. So I imagine her evaluation by her teacher may not have been outstanding. I was thinking about appealing but I don't see why another IQ test is going to make a difference, and I can't really change the teacher evaluation. Does anyone know anything about the appeal process, whether it's even worth going through. What "new" evidence do people appealing usually provide, test scores from the same test or scores from a differnt type of IQ test?

I was in a PT meeting before the letters sending out. The principal in our school mentioned that all children who was already in the pool but not selected can go for an appeal. She said the chance is almost 100 percent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I was in a PT meeting before the letters sending out. The principal in our school mentioned that all children who was already in the pool but not selected can go for an appeal. She said the chance is almost 100 percent.

Interesting. The head of GT Programs said at a recent public meeting that roughly 50% of appeals ended up as GT Center eligible.

[Anonymous]

Somewhere between 50-75% of appeals are getting in. Those not accepting is going up a bit faster than the pool size, so more appeals are getting in each year. A big part of the appeal is just doing the work of taking the extra test and the parents showing enough interest to go through this process. Good luck to those appealing.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if schools with GT Centers try to have some type of social event so the kids get to meet each other before school starts in the fall?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if schools with GT Centers try to have some type of social event so the kids get to meet each other before school starts in the fall?

I am curious about this also. In a related vein, as far as I know, the only GT information meeting being held at our GT Center this year is an evening meeting for parents only. We understand that in the past the meetings were held during a school day and parents and children were invited to observe the classrooms, etc. Does anyone know why this has changed? (We are considering moving from private school to the GT Center and don't have access to much information from within the system). Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Our base school is having an evening meeting for their Level 4 classroom. The letter did not explicitly say that kids were invited, but I e-mailed the GT coordinator and she said that the kids were welcome and there would be things for them to do. So I would call or e-mail.

The letter did say that the GT center meeting (during the day) was for children as well. That's why I was confused as to why they would be invited to one and not the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our base school is having an evening meeting for their Level 4 classroom. The letter did not explicitly say that kids were invited, but I e-mailed the GT coordinator and she said that the kids were welcome and there would be things for them to do. So I would call or e-mail.

The letter did say that the GT center meeting (during the day) was for children as well. That's why I was confused as to why they would be invited to one and not the other.

Thank you. I've confirmed that our GT Center is not having a meeting during the day this year, but that children are invited to the GT Center evening meeting. It sounds like each GT Center might handle the informational meetings differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The letter did not explicitly say that kids were invited, but I e-mailed the GT coordinator and she said that the kids were welcome and there would be things for them to do. So I would call or e-mail.

How do you find out the name/email address of the GT Coordinator if you are trying to reach one outside of your base school (at a GT Center)?