Reply to NY cutting gifted programs due to lack of diversity

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Reply to "NY cutting gifted programs due to lack of diversity"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The problem with the NY schools is that they test at an age where the results are less indicative of gift than, how much test prep parents do.    Yes well off kids are academically prepared and that is what most of us need.   The problem is that there are a lot of quite capable poor kids, they just don't have the supports well off kids have to excel, that is what we need to figure out how to find to have a more viable system. [/quote]

There's a vast wealth of free resources out there.  I was a FARMS kid who tested well, ended up in G&T, AP tracks and ended up in college with scholarships - mainly just because of libraries and museums.  All it takes is kindling their curiosity and pointing them in the right direction.  Add to that the availability of the internet - even more free resources right at your fingertips, and the libraries have computers to take you there.

I don't buy that it's all about non-FARMS families loading their kids up on expensive prep, camps and enrichment.  Most of the parents I know do very little of that, if any.[/quote]

Educated high SES parents have the kind of enriched home life that tends to skew early life IQ tests.  Many of those "gifted" kids from K will turn into more run of the mill smart kids by 4th or 5th grade. Not all, but a decent percentage.  Most places don't test for G&T until 3rd grade.  K is way too early.[/quote]

Sure, accuracy is a lot lower in K but testing becomes more solid over time - which is why testing ought best to be done at various intervals.  [/quote]

The problem is that when NY did do interval testing, no kids were dropped.  Apparently parents created major administrative headaches trying to prove that their dear darling should still be considered gifted. It became an administrative headache.  Basically it just entrenched early privilege. [/quote]

The whole "poor people just need a library" to compete with rich kids might have held water back in the 80's but there are now so many families gaming the system and a whole cottage industry of  companies that help prep 4 years to pass a g and t test that poor families couldn't compete.

that said maybe dcps should model itself off mcps or fcps and create some gifted centers at schools with low enrollment. Then they'd like get more economic diversity in their school [/quote]

I don't think your "so many families gaming the system" argument holds water.  There are many aspects of an IQ test that cannot be "gamed" and any gains that can be learned through test prep will be modest at best.  A normal kid with 100 IQ will not be able to get a score of 145 through test prep.

The far bigger issue is that many poor families do not even avail themselves of the many options that are already available to them - some of which we have here in DC are the best in the world.  As such, what good would any additional enrichment do?[/quote]

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