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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
FCPS's holistic approach weighs the test scores with Teacher input. I don't see too many people with 4CO and a higher CogAT or WISC not being accepted. I do see high test scores with GBRS's that include Occasionally Observe not being accepted. That seems to be a big part of the trend. I get it, parents are annoyed that their kids are bored and need more of a challenge but don't seem to be able to wrap their heads around the fact that the Teachers are not seeing it that way. They don't see the bored genius, they see the kid distracting others who isn't finishing his work. Is that because they are bored or have ADHD or are just not interested in being in school because they are 7. The report says that FCPS needs something better then the GBRSs but do you really think that a kid who is not completing their work and chatting with their neighbors is going to do well on any Teacher observation/evaluation? Your kids Teachers are going to be involved in the selection process. 
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Why do you assume that a lower GBRS means that the kid isn't completing the work or is chatting with neighbors?  There have been numerous cases here of kids who are above grade level in all subjects, get straight 4s, and still get low GBRS.  I've posted before about my DD who had a K, 1st, and 3rd GBRS of 15s and 16s, but a 2nd GBRS that was low.  My DD was in the top groups and always completed her work, so there were no issues there.  In this case, the teacher was a huge neat freak, so she interpreted my DD's sloppiness as not being motivated to do better rather than as a sign that my DD's fine motor skills were still developing.  My DD also didn't raise her hand very much because a few other kids were bullying her, and she didn't want to do anything to call attention to herself.  She was also afraid of her teacher, since her biggest bully was the teacher's pet.  Why should that teacher's biased opinion be the end all and be all of the program?  Amazingly, the year after apparently not showing any gifted traits, my DD once again became a gifted student by the teacher's metrics.

If they used a more comprehensive gifted behavior rating scale, and if they solicited input from more than just the classroom teacher, my DD certainly would have had a higher rating in 2nd.  I know someone will show up claiming that GBRS is decided upon in a committee, but when the committee includes the classroom teacher and two people who've never interacted with your child, it ends up being the classroom teacher's sole viewpoint.  If every school asked the 2nd grade teacher, the 1st grade teacher, any reading or math specialists with whom your child has worked, or maybe even the music, art, or steam lab teachers for their opinions, a much more accurate rating would result.  [/quote]

I only assume that because many of the parents who have posted about low GBRS have made those comments. [/quote]

The way they handel the screening is not uniform and needs to be fixed. My son sees the AART Teacher frequently enough in his classroom that he knows who she is and she knew who he was. She is a part time AART but apparently more active then other AARTs people have mentioned. There were two teachers listed and we knew both of them and knew how they had worked with him.

The biggest problem I have with AAP is that it is not administered equally across the county which puts everyone in a bad place. Programs are not available to all kids at the same grade level with the same amount of pull out time. Admissions processes are different school to school. Ds school had 10% of the second graders accepted into AAP. I have no idea how many accepted or not. I only know one of the other families and they reached out to us because they knew I had attended some of the meetings but they had only been to one.

I don't think there is a way to make the process transparent enough to make everyone happy because there are a good number of parents willing to game the system. I don't think test scores are the answer, they are too easily skewed to benefit parents will to pay for or provide enrichment. I don't think the GBRS's are a great solution for all the reasons that people have discussed here.

I also suspect that the number of kids with high scores not accepted is very small. I do think the County should be able to provide something specific so that it is something that you can look to address if you reapply. But I don't think that the County is targeting specific kids or groups to exclude. [/quote]

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