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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]One teacher cannot provide tailored lessons to 20+ kids at widely varying skill levels. Schools either need to do tracking or parents will make an effort to get their kid in a school that has more kids at their grade level. [/quote]

That’s what APS wants, though.  They have a standard to meet and are not required to do more.  People who want more for their kids will need to leave (which is what we will eventually do).[/quote]

There was a lot said about this at tonight’s gifted services work session. I missed the part where they talked about elementary but big changes are probably coming to middle school. I think you can find a recording of the meeting if you didn’t watch live and are interested.[/quote]

Did the parts that you heard sound positive?  [/quote]

It depends on how you look at it. I’m still processing and trying to visualize what it will actually look like, pitfalls, etc. If the plan moves forward it would make gifted identification all but irrelevant in middle school since intensified classes would be open enrollment. As a parent with a gifted id’d middle schooler, I like the tentative plan for the transition year (next year), which is to increase the number of gifted kids in a cluster from 5-8 to 10-15 (not sure of the exact numbers, but in that ballpark). After next year they would institute the intensified classes.[/quote]

I think it would result in a better learning experience for the kids in the new intensified classes. There's no way you don't end up with a classes that are stratified by socioeconomic class, though. Administrators can do outreach to try to move the needle, but the classes are going to be whiter and richer than the school as a whole. [b]Should we refuse to offer more challenging classes to kid who would benefit because it doesn't look good when you break out the demographic data? [/b]I would say offer the classes and help who you can, but I'm not sure where APS will end up. [/quote]

They basically said that if this happens they'd consider dropping the intensified classes which is really frustrating. Absolutely they need to do more outreach and encouragement and examine their identification process for bias. But it is also not surprising that kids from affluent families will be more prepared for a higher level of rigor than kids who've grown up with the toxic stress of poverty. The schools can't fix that. At least someone in the meeting did acknowledge that the on-level class can better meet the needs of the kids who stay at that level if there is not such a wide range the teacher needs to address.[/quote]
I think it’s likely that highly educated parents of Arlington will enroll their kids in the intensified classes even if their child isn’t ready for it so it will create much of the same issue of teachers having to slow down material. [/quote]

Enrollment should be based on teacher recommendations, like the 8th grade teachers make recommendations for their students as they register for their 9th grade classes.  They don't HAVE to enroll in an AP or intensified class that's recommended; but at least they know their teachers think they should.  And if parents have questions as to why a teacher has or has not recommended an intensified level, they can discuss it with the teacher.  Case by case decisions could be made; but students shouldn't be allowed to enroll in a higher level class than the teacher/school admin recommends after that discussion with the parent and student.

As a parent who has had kids in both situations (not recommended for higher level but thought should have been; recommended for higher level but student didn't think so and was hesitant), this approach worked well.  The first child (theoretically could have been recommended for AP knowledge-wise but wasn't even recommended for intensified) ultimately got the teacher's recommendation for intensified after discussing it.  The second child asked the teacher why they recommended them for AP.  After the discussion with the teacher, my child felt more confident and assured about it and went on to do very well in the AP class.
But in both instances, because it was going from 8th to 9th, the teacher recommendation was needed.

That policy could be made for 5th to 6th and each subsequent year through middle school.  And yes, I get that there are concerns with teacher recommendations based on biases that may be perceived as prejudicial etc.  But maybe having meaningful parent-teacher conferences during 3rd quarter during which teachers discuss their recommendations with the student and parent would help ensure every family has the opportunity to ask questions about the placement recommendations, discuss them, and teachers possibly alter their recommendations when appropriate.

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