Reply to Achievement gaps and gifted & talented or test-in programs

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Will we have to close the achievement gaps across demographics and class before we can implement top quality DCPS options to draw in high quality students?[/quote]

The achievement gap has proven stubbornly hard to close and probably reflects fundamental social problems that cannot be addressed by education alone.  Thus, if closing the achievement gap is a condition precedent to serving the needs of high quality students, the needs of those student will sadly continue to go unmet.[/quote]

Or there are fundamental differences in the abilities of the different groups.  I think this will become clear one way or another in the next 15-20 years as genetic testing/analysis progresses.[/quote]

Wait, what?[/quote]

Do you really want a response to this?  Could it do any good, other than maybe prompt a disturbed laugh?[/quote]

People keep coming back to ideas like this and strangely, they keep not quite finding enough proof... Hmmmmmm.......[/quote]

The race-IQ connection is the third rail of genetics, e.g., James Watson.  Thus, it's not strange at all, especially given that there is never [b]enough[/b] evidence for die-hard skeptics.

Nevertheless, the question will likely be resolved in the next decade, especially as geneticists redefine the question as the more nuanced "population structure"-IQ connection.

For an interesting article on the subject, try "How the race, intelligence, and genetics question will semi-resolve within the next 10 years," by Razib Khan:[url]http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2013/05/how-the-race-intelligence-and-genetics-question-will-semi-resolve-within-the-next-10-years/#.UqtylPRDuJE[/url][/quote]

The hypotheses espoused by "The Bell Curve" have largely been discredited by people who understand statistics. See, for instance, the work of Michael Kremer.

I read the blog post you suggested. The author has written  some things that are factually incorrect, such as their suggestion that African-Americans with more European features have more European DNA. There is no scierntific basis for that assertion. Appearance does not necessarily reflect underlying differences in DNA. However, even if you accept his premise, when he said the question will be settled, the testing regime that he suggests could just as easily reveal no difference in intelligence across races, as his blog post indicates.

IQ tests also aren't really great at measuring inteligence. They invariably measure some component of learned knowledge, and they presume intelligence is static. Lessened knowledge can be altered, which is why all of those parents in upper NW and Manhattan are tutoring kids for the WPPSI exams, which supposedly measure intelligence. Intelligence sand cognitive performance also aren't static, and things like learning music and foreign languages can alter them.

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