Reply to Gifted programs, lack of, in DC

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This topic keeps coming up because people refuse to look at the history and see just how bad DCPS fucked up "tracking" for several generations before home rule. Now, the people who were the victims of that situation have enough political clout to keep it from coming back, even though the "solution" is no solution at all.[/quote]

[url]http://usedulaw.com/333-hobson-v-hansen.html[/url][/quote]

This is really helpful cite. It appears that the court did not find tracking objectional but instead found that the process for placing the kids in the various tracks was. Kids were placed based soley on one aptitude test, and the court found that the test was biased. If that is the case, I don't see why DCPS could not institute this again but using a more equitable method of placement. [/quote]

Agreed, thank you PP for the useful link.

it seems that the judge mostly objected to:
"Once assigned, students had virtually no opportunity to switch tracks." 
"...the tests were not actually measuring ability because they were biased in such a way that poor, Black children would inevitably earn lower scores and, as a result, lower track placements. Thus, children were being assigned to tracks based not on ability, but on status."

Neither of which apply to current gifted programs. So, while it certainly helps to understand the past connotations of the word "tracking," that is a mere distraction from the conversation about best approaches to gifted education[/quote]

I would only support this if DC started the program in elementary and added a new grad each each year. Basically starting from the ground and building it up. At such an early age of testing for giftedness, I hope the kids cannot be prepped and drilled for entry. That's when you should get the truly gifted versus the academically advanced/readied as a result of parents disposable income. [/quote]

Actually that's backwards; IQ scores are less reliable when children are younger.  Early childhood is one of the few times that environment can influence IQ, though the effects eventually disappear as the kids get older.  This is one reason why Headstart programs have been such a failure.  Testing should be done in 3rd or 4th grade.  They're more accurate then.[/quote]

The last time I checked, third and fourth grade was still ES.  I would however advocate beginning in the second grade, as fourth grade kids are already prepping for tests. [/quote]

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