Reply to Reaction to "Study of Choice and Special Academic Programs: Report of Findings and Recommendations"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A very timely piece is in today's NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/upshot/why-talented-black-and-hispanic-students-can-go-undiscovered.html?_r=1

"In 2005, in an effort to reduce that disparity, Broward County introduced a universal screening program,[b] requiring that all second graders take a short nonverbal test, with high scorers referred for I.Q. testing.[/b] Under the previous system, the district had relied on teachers and parents to make those referrals.

The economists David Card of the University of California, Berkeley, and Laura Giuliano of the University of Miami studied the effects of this policy shift. The results were striking.

The share of Hispanic children identified as gifted tripled, to 6 percent from 2 percent. The share of black children rose to 3 percent from 1 percent. For whites, the gain was more muted, to 8 percent from 6 percent.
Why did the new screening system find so many more gifted children, especially among blacks and Hispanics? It did not rely on teachers and parents to winnow students. The researchers found that teachers and parents were less likely to refer high-ability blacks and Hispanics, as well as children learning English as a second language, for I.Q. testing. The universal test leveled the playing field.

Multiple factors could be at work here: Teachers may have lower expectations for these children, and their parents may be unfamiliar with the process and the programs. Whatever the reason, the evidence indicates that relying on teachers and parents increases racial and ethnic disparities."

[/quote]
[b]Then let's just go strictly by test results.[/b]  That should go over well.

MCPS does this now where all 2nd graders take Inview.  Curious, are there any stats on how kids do across demographics?  That should be a good indicator of how such a policy (test results only) would work out.[/quote]

Where did you get that idea from? The comparable recommendation for MCPS would be to have automatic application by everybody to the HGC.[/quote]
Yes.  The bolded indicated that every kid was given the test, and the ones who scored very high were then referred to IQ testing.  It indicates that identifying a kid as gifted was solely reliant on test results.

The HGC test is to identify those that are "gifted" for entry into the program. So, just as they did, don't rely on parental  or teacher input.  Have every kid take the test, and admit purely by test scores.

That won't go over very well.[/quote]

I support universal testing. But forget about the non-cognitive criteria. Even Angela Duckworth of the grit research fame balks at using these criteria to grade schools.  [/quote]

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