Teachers, is it true that most of the parents you deal with think their children are 'gifted'?

[Anonymous]

I don't believe that the current tests/criteria for determining if one is "gifted" are accurate, though. Very few children are truly gifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the reason parents of younger kids think they have gifted children is simply because the developmental difference in those ages can be so huge. You have some 3/4 year olds learning to read whereas others don't learn until they are 6/7. I can understand a person who has very little exposure to children beyond her own to start confusing that developmental milestone with being gifted. By the time you hit the later grades these differences start to mellow out. You might notice some differences between your child and their peers but it's not likely to be as obvious as it was in kindergarten.

Agree.

+2. I was a very precocious reader and identified as gifted in elementary school. Trust me, I'm not gifted, lol.

Me too! I feel very average. I feel like I was a victim of being told how smart I was from a young age and then balked when things got hard. I went to a top college (not Ivy, but top 25) but felt even lower than average there than I did in high school, though I was one of the smarter kids in school.

[Anonymous]

I think more than thinking their children specifically are gifted, most people in this area think THEY are gifted. And if their child performs lower than what they think is an accurate representation of their parents' intelligence and giftedness, they get freaked out because they see it as a reflection on them.

I am in education and there are absolutely parents who will insist their child be in an AP class when that child has never gotten above a C in any academic level course in that subject, doesn't do the work, and cannot hang with the necessary rigor of the course. But because those parents took AP, or went Ivy, or have a prestigious job now, their child must be on the proper academic track that reflects the parents' achievements and success. This is very typical of this area in particular.

[Anonymous]

In MoCo schools, about 95% of parents believe that their kids are gifted. It's worse than Lake Woebegone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In MoCo schools, about 95% of parents believe that their kids are gifted. It's worse than Lake Woebegone.

But kids take a gazillion standardized tests. Inview, MAP every year, maybe HGC, and more. The test results are pretty clear, right? Don't parents pay attention and modify their expectations, one way or another, based on them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MoCo schools, about 95% of parents believe that their kids are gifted. It's worse than Lake Woebegone.

But kids take a gazillion standardized tests. Inview, MAP every year, maybe HGC, and more. The test results are pretty clear, right? Don't parents pay attention and modify their expectations, one way or another, based on them?

I'm in FFX county (parent) and IMO nope. My child scored super high (99+%) at all the "gifted" tests, I graduated from Ivy and top grad school. We're both normal, maybe brighter than average, but nothing exceptional. I worked hard in school. If DC wins the Nobel price or cures cancer, that's another story. But he's in elementary school, it's comical to discuss how brilliant they are at this age. My brother barely finished a tier 3 college, hated school but he's very creative, a risk taker, and great at networking and selling. Guess who's the multimillionaire in the family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MoCo schools, about 95% of parents believe that their kids are gifted. It's worse than Lake Woebegone.

But kids take a gazillion standardized tests. Inview, MAP every year, maybe HGC, and more. The test results are pretty clear, right? Don't parents pay attention and modify their expectations, one way or another, based on them?

I'm in FFX county (parent) and IMO nope. My child scored super high (99+%) at all the "gifted" tests, I graduated from Ivy and top grad school. We're both normal, maybe brighter than average, but nothing exceptional. I worked hard in school. If DC wins the Nobel price or cures cancer, that's another story. But he's in elementary school, it's comical to discuss how brilliant they are at this age. My brother barely finished a tier 3 college, hated school but he's very creative, a risk taker, and great at networking and selling. Guess who's the multimillionaire in the family.

studies have shown that working hard, being creative, etc... is a better prediction of success than being "smart". My DC is in a gifted program, but I tell this to DC all the time -- no matter how smart you are, if you are lazy it won't get you anywhere, but if you work hard, try, you'll eventually make something of yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MoCo schools, about 95% of parents believe that their kids are gifted. It's worse than Lake Woebegone.

But kids take a gazillion standardized tests. Inview, MAP every year, maybe HGC, and more. The test results are pretty clear, right? Don't parents pay attention and modify their expectations, one way or another, based on them?

I'm in FFX county (parent) and IMO nope. My child scored super high (99+%) at all the "gifted" tests, I graduated from Ivy and top grad school. We're both normal, maybe brighter than average, but nothing exceptional. I worked hard in school. If DC wins the Nobel price or cures cancer, that's another story. But he's in elementary school, it's comical to discuss how brilliant they are at this age. My brother barely finished a tier 3 college, hated school but he's very creative, a risk taker, and great at networking and selling. Guess who's the multimillionaire in the family.

So you're judging your DC against adult standards when s/he consistently tests in the top 99 percentile nationally? Weird. You don't think s/he merits enrichment/acceleration based on these scores? That's quite separate from determining whether she's as creative as your brother, who apparently scored less well on such tests. The tests predict academic success, not necessarily professional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MoCo schools, about 95% of parents believe that their kids are gifted. It's worse than Lake Woebegone.

But kids take a gazillion standardized tests. Inview, MAP every year, maybe HGC, and more. The test results are pretty clear, right? Don't parents pay attention and modify their expectations, one way or another, based on them?

You'd think. Except our school NEVER sends those results home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe that the current tests/criteria for determining if one is "gifted" are accurate, though. Very few children are truly gifted.

I agree. There seems to be a misuse of the word "gifted"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't believe that the current tests/criteria for determining if one is "gifted" are accurate, though. Very few children are truly gifted.

I agree. There seems to be a misuse of the word "gifted"

The current definition of "gifted" that schools use is "high-IQ", whereas in common parlance, it refers to genius-level ability, or profoundly gifted. People are arguing that the school definition is wrong, when it's really just an issue of semantics.

[Anonymous]

It is not just a school thing. The gifted label was developed by psychologists in reference to IQ tests. Anything above a certain IQ is considered gifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In MoCo schools, about 95% of parents believe that their kids are gifted. It's worse than Lake Woebegone.

But kids take a gazillion standardized tests. Inview, MAP every year, maybe HGC, and more. The test results are pretty clear, right? Don't parents pay attention and modify their expectations, one way or another, based on them?

I'm in FFX county (parent) and IMO nope. My child scored super high (99+%) at all the "gifted" tests, I graduated from Ivy and top grad school. We're both normal, maybe brighter than average, but nothing exceptional. I worked hard in school. If DC wins the Nobel price or cures cancer, that's another story. But he's in elementary school, it's comical to discuss how brilliant they are at this age. My brother barely finished a tier 3 college, hated school but he's very creative, a risk taker, and great at networking and selling. Guess who's the multimillionaire in the family.

So you're judging your DC against adult standards when s/he consistently tests in the top 99 percentile nationally? Weird. You don't think s/he merits enrichment/acceleration based on these scores? That's quite separate from determining whether she's as creative as your brother, who apparently scored less well on such tests. The tests predict academic success, not necessarily professional.

He's in an accelerated program because he gets it faster than the other kids his age. This doesn't mean he's gifted. Predicting academic success from a handful of tests in the first or second grade is ridiculous because these tests at best predict potential for success. A kid from the International Mathematical Olympiad team or a child music prodigy will probably laugh at our special snowflakes' 99% US WISC. I'm refusing to let my child develop these feelings of entitlement based on some random labeling and don't feel better about my parenting because of some testing score. Motivation, hard work, ability to persuade people will take him further in his professional and academic life. And yes, professional success is important. I don't want him to graduate from Yale and live in my basement in his 30s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is not just a school thing. The gifted label was developed by psychologists in reference to IQ tests. Anything above a certain IQ is considered gifted.

but schools aren't giving IQ tests - so their definition of gifted is not based on that. (I don't believe that "inview" for example is an IQ test).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not just a school thing. The gifted label was developed by psychologists in reference to IQ tests. Anything above a certain IQ is considered gifted.

but schools aren't giving IQ tests - so their definition of gifted is not based on that. (I don't believe that "inview" for example is an IQ test).

I should add that we are in MCPS - and my understanding is that the tests they are giving are not IQ tests.