Reply to Do all of the DC elem. public schools have "gifted" programs?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think that "gifted" programs are sometimes overrated and have lost their focus.   In Montgomery County, where the Lake Wobegone effect seems in full flower (all children are above average), I've heard that some parents actually threaten litigation if their kid is not invited into the gifted and talented program.  Having said that, DCPS historically has been hostile to anything that smacks of selectivity.  In my child's elementary school, an LSRT member opposed a math enrichment program on the ground that it was elitist (and this is in Ward 3, mind you).  If Michelle Rhee didn't start a DCPS gifted program during her tenure as chancellor, it sure isn't going to happen under Mayor One-City.[/quote]

I don't disagree that MoCo gifted programs are basically to keep the upper middle class in the public school system.  To be fair, the gifted programs are good programs. I'll give some details in case anybody gets inspired to do anything in DC (ha, ha, fat chance). You don't get "invited," instead it's a fairly transparent process (unlike, say, private school admissions which we've been through), and acceptance is based on grades, teacher recs, and a SAT-like test given to all kids in December.  Only about 2% of kids get into the MoCo magnets, not half the county (although maybe 40% of the county is labelled "gifted," it's true.)  Plus, I've only heard of a few cases of litigation, and they didn't get very far, partly because suing won't get you very far if there's only about 200 spaces between the 2 middle school magnets, for example.  And partly because nobody sues until AFTER the acceptances and denials have been issued, by which time it's too late and the county has already given out the 200 spaces, so the best it can do is make a big concession and put your kid into the wait pool, and we all know how useful that is. But in MCPS, too, school officials are de-emphasizing gifted programs because their focus is on the achievement gap.[/quote]

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