Reply to Does G&T or advanced classes still exist at public elementary schools?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What grade does your program start and what does that realistically look like? DD is in 3rd grade and we've yet to see any leveling. No pull outs for kids who are on track, and no work sent home. I know there are many pull outs for kids who are performing under grade level. 
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There are people all over the country on this forum. This post is useless if you don't state where you live.[/quote]

Why? Can't speak for everyone here, but I'm interested in hearing about experiences all over the country. I've only lived in two regions and found the public school systems and expectations to be wildly different.[/quote]

I am in Michigan.  I grew up in CA and PA with one year in MCPS in between.

I was in the "gifted program" in all 3 school districts in the 3 states. MCPS gifted was hard to transfer into, and set me back because I wasn't ready for 7th grade MCPS pre-algebra.  I don't remember it fondly.  That's why I later moved away from MoCo to start a family.

Where I live now in Michigan, G&T has become rare.  There is no G&T program in my district.  The education industry believes it is inequitable.  I was told by my younger son's 3rd grade teacher that maybe he should go to private school.  But I felt truly that was a non-solution.  When you grow up and go to work...no more gifted program, lol.  You have to deal with the normies, and use all the EQ you can muster. I do believe that public school teaches this.

You will hear the mantra of "differentiated instruction" regularly these days.  In my opinion, teachers are stretched too thin and the advanced kids are not appropriately challenged in classrooms with a large range of ability levels.  There is a workaround where I live...if your kid can perform at two grades above then they technically should have an IEP or special provisions to ensure they also get a year's worth of learning growth during a year of school.  I didn't realize this until after it was too late to be useful. It wasn't publicized.  The few students like this in my school district are among the few that spend part of their high school at community college (this is quite rare in our district).

My district does do math tracking starting in 6th grade.  Then in 9th grade, there is one AP possible.  Then two more are common in 10th grade. AP's become the defacto high school gifted program through self-election.  11th and 12th grade have both IB and AP courses so that is where school finally becomes fully appropriate for advanced learners.

From what I hear, none of the public schools in the high-quality districts in our vicinity do things much better.  And I'm committed to public school.  I did send my kids for afterschool math tutoring.  That's the only supplementing I've done.  I wish I started it earlier.  I began during the late pandemic when my kids were tweens/teens.

In general, I'm less concerned about the disappearance of G&T programs than I am about the lip service to the idea that teachers can be all things to all students at all levels. I think even just allowing more leveling and "walk to" classrooms in elementary would help.

There are significant issues in education today and I sympathize with teachers.  My best advice is to supplement and patch the gaps you see as best you can.  Our society is not very kid-friendly and it's getting worse.  In any event, on average, children of educated, involved parents do tend to end up just fine in the end.  So there's some comfort in that.[/quote]

Another Michigan poster here, but in a different district. There is a magnet program for 3rd and 4th grade, it's very hard to get into. But then, other than math, you're back with everyone else in 5th. DS is now in 7th and I'm very glad he had the opportunity in ES, but frustrated there isn't much more. He will be in the district for all of his schooling and the application and requirements for magnet done in 2nd grade will be the most challenging thing he have had to do. He's in honors math and ELA now, but ELA is a combined class with an "honors designation." I have yet to see any differences. In HS no APs in 9th, I think 2 in 10th and then a ton in 11th and 12th. No IB. For both honors and AP in high school anyone can sign up as long as they have the prerequisite classes. We will see how that goes! [/quote]

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