Reply to GT/LD middle school program in montgomery county

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[quote=Anonymous]
So glad you asked, I just observed my son's classes this morning! My son is on year two of our foray into the GT/LD program at North Bethesda MS.

Your experience will vary depending on your child's specific needs. It's not perfect, but for us, it's a Godsend, because it was either that or some kind of private (I didn't even research, the prices were too astronomical). When I asked other parents about their experiences, prior to committing to this program, they all told me it had been (or was) wonderful for their child. To me this shows that the team organizing such a program has trained teachers and staff who are highly flexible and accommodating. Work closely with them, and they will do their best to help.

I am truly grateful that such a program exists. In my home country, they're just coming around to getting accommodations in public school for children with light special needs. Nothing for more affected children, and as for twice exceptional, I don't think people even know such a condition exists!

Here's how it works in practice: the GT/LD cohort is very small at every grade level, and they are assigned core classes taught by two teachers and populated by GT/LD students as well as by other students (who may or may not have been specially selected for that class based on their profile). In theory, both teachers should have a background in the subject matter, but in practice it doesn't always happen. For example, my son's math class has a para-educator who hands out material, but doesn't answer questions. His English class had two English teachers, on the other hand, and the difference in the teaching efficiency is visible. I suspect it's harder to get paras with math backgrounds than paras with humanities backgrounds!

The GT/LD students go about their school day like all the others, and have PE, and their electives, like the rest of the students. The only difference is that a daily resource class takes the place of one of their electives. Unlike other schools, this is a GT/LD-specific resource class, where students can complete tests, do homework and ask questions, with just their cohort. I was told that if my son stayed in his home school, the resource class teacher might be less available to him because of the number of other IEP cases, and the other children's more challenging needs. It's true that his GT/LD resource class is a quiet, working environment and the teacher has the time to help all 10 or so students.

Your child will be able to take all the advanced classes he is suited for, sometimes with surprising results. My son's elementary school had refused him entry into compacted math and not recommended him for IM in 6th grade, but a month into his 6th grade year at North Bethesda, his math teacher recommended he switch to IM. It was such a relief to know he was appreciated and understood! His old school had definitely lumped him into the intellectually-weak group.

Here's my only quibble: the program is not advanced enough, not to the level of the magnet middle schools. My son was wait-listed for the magnets, and we would have risked it despite the horrible commute and possibly very poor IEP accommodations had we had the chance. The difference is that magnet teachers have a lot of leeway in creating their own curriculum, and the students going there form a peer group, whereas teachers elsewhere need to stick to the general MCPS curriculum. My son's math teacher did offer them an exciting set of pattern problems at the beginning of the year, but declared that this was the only non-curriculum item she had time to do for the year. And the standard MCPS curriculum is nothing to write home about. But at least it's free :-)
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