Reply to mcps. sounds about right. (GT admissions changes)

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[quote=Anonymous]NP here, with a child in the enriched MS classes and one in the CES. 
I'd hoped that DC1, my 6th grader, would qualify for the humanities magnet, but I'm happy with the way it worked out. Once I got my kid's magnet rejection letter and read all these DCUM boards, I realized that there are many kids in MCPS that will have scored as high as (or higher than) DC1, and if these others were from less advantaged backgrounds--we're white UMC, btw.-- then it's a good thing in principle. We'd just have to make the best of it. Later I learned that DC1's COGAT score was higher that the median (?) for accepted students, but at that point I was also happy that DC1 wouldn't have the longer bus ride & could be with neighborhood peers, and I was also then learning about the enriched classes. Now DC1's enriched classes have at least one former CES kid, and I'm fine with a peer group like this. (We weren't in MCPS last year, hence DC1 didn't come from a CES/HGC). Sure, it's just 2 enriched classes out of several, but this will be fine for now--my child is taking a foreign language for the first time and sure wouldn't need to be accelerated/enriched in that area. And there's gym, art, etc., where it's harder to argue for enriched versions.

For DC2, my 4th grader, I'm relieved that he did make the cut, because he would not otherwise have a challenging setting which he needs. But I'll add that he hates to read, and is more inclined to do math and to solve puzzles. He'll need to up his game if he's with avid, advanced readers, and I'm fine with that. 
I assume the kids in the CES will have a variety of dimensions in which they are gifted---some who love to read, write, and can excel in those areas, others who are like my son. There are also likely to be children who have been able to handle accelerated work, which someone (likely from parent's side) have given them the opportunity, and perhaps the discipline, to pursue. Others haven't gotten that far ahead curriculum-wise, but may be naturally good analyzers or thinkers or similar.

I'm inclined to think that the 'gifted' criteria for magnets/CES isn't 'what you know already' but 'how you can absorb and build on the learning you have and tackle new learning challenges'. And that it's the latter that these programs are designed to further encourage. Isn't that why they have the non-verbal/non-math section of the Cogat with the puzzles? But there seem to be 2 sets of expectations--1) thinking that kids should excel by advancing in their subject matter--and that this should be both the criteria for and outcome of a gifted program...., or 2) thinking that kids are there because they can figure things out easily and adapt mentally...and that this should be both the criteria for and outcome of a gifted program. I'm in camp 2.

I do wonder about these 'catch up classes'. I'd be surprised if the magnet 6th grades are so far ahead curriculum-wise at the start of the school year from where MCPS 5th grades generally left off at the end. A bright student would have already mastered their 5th grade curriculum and should be able to pick things up easily as the 6th grade kicks off.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]And what is this all about?

SILVER SPRING, Md. — It was a searing summer day before the start of the school year, but Julianni and Giselle Wyche, 10-year-old twins, were in a classroom, engineering mini rockets, writing in journals and learning words like “fluctuate” and “cognizant.”

Do they now have remedial 'gifted' education? Why were these kids even in school?

[/quote]

You know the answer to this, if you take a minute (or care).  The children are naturally gifted (their test scores etc. bear that out), but their education thus far has not been up to the level of the children with whom they will be attending class, so they can get quick instruction in the summer and be able to be just as competent as the child that is coming from an enhanced, enriched, background.[/quote][/quote]

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