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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think the HOPE is terrible and so subjective. GBRS was much more thorough and focused on academics and the teachers actually had to write about the child.

HOPE is just checking boxes and how can a teacher possibly know much in a class of 28 students. One of the category is ‘shows self awareness’. Seriously? How do you even assess that and what is self awareness in a 7 yr old? Another is “sensitive to larger issues of human concern”. Again what do you expect from a 7 yr old and how is a teacher monitoring this? [/quote]
I think you can see self awareness and sensitivity to larger human concerns in 7 year olds. I certainly see it in mine and in her friends.

For self-awareness, when she is upset about something, she usually knows how to articulate what's bothering her and what tools she needs to use to handle it (talking to an adult, alone time, breathing, eating a snack). When a friend is upset with her, she can usually figure out why and take steps to apologize for her behavior. Many of her friends can also do this internally (self-awareness), but some can't yet and need an adult to explain.

For sensitivity to larger issues, my daughter is very curious about other peoples' motivations and beliefs in ways that I definitely wasn't at her age. Honestly, I know people love to hate on the religious holidays on the calendar, but I think having those days off has helped her understand that not everyone is like her and to investigate the multiculturalism of our society in ways that I wasn't prompted to do at her age. She asks about housing and homelessness, about gerrymandering (because of all the commercials and signs about voting), about the Iran war and what life is like at war here vs. living near the warzone, about which friends celebrate Easter and which ones were fasting for Ramadan, and which ones celebrate Passover and why they are all different.

There are other test scores and work samples to show the student's academics. I think these intangibles about the child's maturity and intellectual curiosity are important too. And I say all this as someone whose child didn't get into full time AAP.[/quote]

My daughter is a very curious and empathic child too. But you are talking about your child here and of course you interact with her on an individual level and know her best. My issue is how is a teacher supposed to assess all these qualities in a class with 28 kids where most of the time is spent working on math, reading, specials or at lunch. These are great qualities to have but a shy and introverted child would probably score very poorly on these even though he or she might be very intellectually curious and empathic. [/quote]
I work in a school and even though I'm not a teacher in the classroom with kids every day, I can see these things in them. Teachers have even more opportunity to see how they interact in group work and individual work, the kinds of questions they ask, the subjects they naturally excel at and the content they struggle with. Yes, a shy kid runs a greater risk of being overlooked, but the teacher will still see the empathy and curiosity reflected in her written work, even if the child isn't raising her hand often to speak in class. And that zoomed-in level of attention to the child is also what the parent questionnaire is for, so the parents can let the committee know what the child is like more in-depth.[/quote]

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