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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

I posted this before in the thread about G&T/pull-outs, but here goes: If, based on what you see happening in your own child's actual classroom, you think your kid would be best served by pull-outs, that's one thing.

It's completely different, in my view, to use the idea of G&T/pull-outs as a litmus test for whether or not a principal supports IB/high-SES kids (excuse me, I mean advanced learners).

G&T/pull-outs are one way to manage kids with diverse abilities, but they are not the only way. If a principal says her staff is able to differentiate successfully, and if you have zero evidence to the contrary (because I don't think anyone has posted here claiming their child in the upper grades at LT was not educated appropriately -- the examples of failed differentiation I've seen cited on DCUM seem to be from Watkins or other schools), and if the DC-CAS scores back up the principal's claim, then why do people (many of whose kids are still in ECE!) still keep insisting G&T/pullouts are the only acceptable option?[/quote]

You are asking this in all seriousness when the answer is as plain as day?

If G&T/pull-outs aren't necessary, and advanced ES students can be consistently challenged without them, why do the higher-performing school districts in the DC suburbs bother to committ staff resources to them?   The mere existence of G&T and pullouts speaks volumes about the orientation of the school district and school itself.  The principal can say whatever she likes without changng the fact that many of our community's best-educated and most dynamic families still vote with their feet for lack of challenge in DC public schools, taking their tax dollars and civic involvement to the burbs.  Who benefits?

Go visit Two Rivers, where there are no real pullout groups as a matter of policy, and ask teachers how the K FARMs rate compares to the 5th grade FARMs rate.   The school loses two thirds of its middle-class families along the way and has since it was founded.  You're calling such attrition zero evidence to the contrary?  [/quote]

That's evidence affluent parents want them; that's not evidence they're necessary for effective teaching.[/quote]
Those same affluent districts have better results than DCPS. Also, shouldn't DCPS try to serve the needs of the families that send their kids to DCPS schools?[/quote]

The G&T programs allow our suburban neighbors to highlight their best and the brightest.  Then, everyone points to their G&T programs and the same handful of magnet schools and assert that the suburban districts get "better results."  But it's not an apples to apples comparison. You can't even compare our magnet schools to their magnet schools because socioeconomically, DC is completely different and that difference skews the reality of what's happening on the ground and the perception in people's minds. [/quote]
I don't think less than 50% of kids in the suburbs are at the 16th percentile on the SAT or higher.[/quote]

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