Reply to Fairfax County Begins to Dumb Down Gifted (GT) Program to Support Diversity

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[quote=Anonymous] Answering 10:25-
Yes, I am speculating based on my background and experience because this is a friendly discussion board.

You are right about a lot here- I actually think we agree more than we disagree. You were innately intelligent and when you needed to, you learned how to be organized and to study.  I suspect that you did not spend your childhood and youth sleeping and eating and watching cartoons. I bet you read a lot  and were interested in a lot of things and asked a lot of questions of those around you. Maybe you were a Scout or played a sport or a musical instrument or sang or did theatre stuff. You didn't feel you ever worked hard because nothing you did *felt* like work to you: you simply had the innate ability to be good at it.

When it came time to take standardized tests, you actually had been preparing all of your life, you just didn't need to memorize lists of words or types of questions, because you had already learned the information or skills being tested. Your high test scores were a reflection of your high ability combined with all your previous experiences. And, in addition to good grades in college, somebody in a position of authority thought enough of you to recommend you to the law school admissions committee.  You are just the kind of person I would like to handle a legal issue for me because I suspect you know your stuff and work is not drudgery for you. Do you think you would know more today if you had spent hours on specific test prep rather than whatever else you were doing?

This isn't about whether or not someone is a hard worker, it's about where they focus that hard work. I am not talking about general educational enrichment here, I am talking about very specific test prep. Practicing test questions over and over again and then, surprise!, doing well on the test does not turn a kid into the perfect candidate for TJ. It is not enough just to do well on the test.  They need something more-and if they spend all their time practicing test questions, they'll be missing out on that something more.

I think we may have moved away from the diversity topic here. My initial point was just that using test scores as the one and only deciding factor in TJ admissions would not be a good idea because it is too easy to learn to "game" the test, so it is necessary to look at other factors to get a better idea of the child's actual aptitude for science and math. A single test score just doesn't give enough information.[/quote]

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