Reply to Has anyone received an HGC letter yet?!

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[quote=Anonymous]Having had a kid go through the HGC program (and who's now in a magnet MS), and another one just accepted into the HGC, I agree with the posters above that plenty of the HGC cohort (or MS cohort) don't qualify as "truly gifted." I get that "truly gifted" students are rare. I'm not going to claim that my kids are "truly gifted," but I think the focus on the distinction between the "truly gifted" vs. the merely "incredibly bright" student begs the question of whether the latter should apply or will do well in the HGC or magnet environment as it actually exists in MoCo.

The nomenclature notwithstanding, I don't believe the "gifted" programs in MoCo that my kids have been in (HGC and MS only) are  actually geared towards meeting the needs of truly gifted students. Yes, the curricula are accelerated, but they are not any more so than challenging curricula in other school districts.

What my kid has gotten in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade in the HGC and MS magnet is not any more advanced or more challenging than what her older sibling got in a great public school system in an out-of-state district before we moved. The drop in the quality of the curriculum -- and the quality of the instruction -- between my kids' old schools vs. their new schools here in MoCo (in a W cluster) was shocking.

I think the immediate PP at 10:33 is right -- the MoCo system is failing to do nearly a good enough job at educating the confident, bright, organized, on-task, smart, and high-achieving kids. The HGC and magnet programs are labeled for the gifted when really they're much more like an honors/accelerated track. I don't think any parent whose child needs more challenge than she or he is getting at the home school should be deterred from applying to the HGC should be deterred by the "only the most special of the special snowflakes" trope of the "truly gifted" posters above. And regardless of HGC acceptance status, none of us should accept that the home schools are "good enough" to "meet our children's needs" at the level currently provided.[/quote]

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