^^ There would be no shortage of irrational people in DC who would be:

a.) acting, insisting and swearing as though there were some big secret race- and SES-based code lock in order to get in the door

and

b.) acting as though they were giving out free ponies and rainbow ice cream for gifted students if a real G&T program were to be created, not realizing that it's really just about providing additional challenge to students in order to meet them on level, just as is appropriate for special needs students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone actually read the story? It's one program at one school. And consider the source, would you? The Washington Times is always on the lookout for liberal conspiracies.

It is actually possible to meet the needs of students of different achievement levels in one classroom--especially in the early grades. A gifted kindergarten program is about preparation, not "giftedness."

While I don't really believe that it's possible to meet the needs of all student levels in one classroom if you're talking about really gifted kids, I agree that K is WAY to early to be making those kinds of determinations.

Except these programs aren't about "really gifted kids"--if you mean the profoundly gifted ones. They're about the top 5-10%. When I was in a gifted program growing up, 95% of the kids were really smart, but only a couple were profoundly gifted (not me). We tested in based on percentiles; the profoundly gifted are a fraction of the top percentile, and they are so rare that general population schools could never field a whole class of them.

District-wide, if those students were all in the system, it could be done. With a population the size of DC, you could probably have several entire schools for "gifted" based on top 5-10% and entire classrooms for "profoundly gifted" but it would surely meet resistance from people who want to insist that all children are equal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone actually read the story? It's one program at one school. And consider the source, would you? The Washington Times is always on the lookout for liberal conspiracies.

It is actually possible to meet the needs of students of different achievement levels in one classroom--especially in the early grades. A gifted kindergarten program is about preparation, not "giftedness."

While I don't really believe that it's possible to meet the needs of all student levels in one classroom if you're talking about really gifted kids, I agree that K is WAY to early to be making those kinds of determinations.

Except these programs aren't about "really gifted kids"--if you mean the profoundly gifted ones. They're about the top 5-10%. When I was in a gifted program growing up, 95% of the kids were really smart, but only a couple were profoundly gifted (not me). We tested in based on percentiles; the profoundly gifted are a fraction of the top percentile, and they are so rare that general population schools could never field a whole class of them.

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone actually read the story? It's one program at one school. And consider the source, would you? The Washington Times is always on the lookout for liberal conspiracies.

It is actually possible to meet the needs of students of different achievement levels in one classroom--especially in the early grades. A gifted kindergarten program is about preparation, not "giftedness."

While I don't really believe that it's possible to meet the needs of all student levels in one classroom if you're talking about really gifted kids, I agree that K is WAY to early to be making those kinds of determinations.

Anonymous wrote:http://dcps.dc.gov/DCPS/Learn+About+Schools/Academic+Offerings

The only thing purporting to be G&T is SEM and even that is a bit of a farce from what I understand.

Did anyone actually read the story? It's one program at one school. And consider the source, would you? The Washington Times is always on the lookout for liberal conspiracies.

It is actually possible to meet the needs of students of different achievement levels in one classroom--especially in the early grades. A gifted kindergarten program is about preparation, not "giftedness."

^^ b/c DCPS prefers to cater to the majority of their students who don't have PhD parents.

Anonymous wrote:Its amazing to me that in a city full of so many smart, talented and organized people that we continue to accept the status quo of failing the brightest kids in DCPS. Then again, maybe parents aren't accepting it and that explains why these same smart and talented parents are pulling their smart and talented kids out of DCPS in 4th grade to get into Latin or Basis.

DC has a higher percentage of PhDs per capita than just about any other city in the nation... but the vast majority of PhDs are opting out of DCPS because they know the opportunities are lacking and that DCPS will never meet their childrens' needs.

meant too

I hear MOCO is going to cut back to - for this exact reason.

Tragic.

Diversity is not the be all and end all, and should not take precedence and come at the expense of education, academics and offering opportunities to maximize student potential.

Its amazing to me that in a city full of so many smart, talented and organized people that we continue to accept the status quo of failing the brightest kids in DCPS. Then again, maybe parents aren't accepting it and that explains why these same smart and talented parents are pulling their smart and talented kids out of DCPS in 4th grade to get into Latin or Basis.

At least NYC has excellent test-in schools. DC doesn't even have those.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/30/nyc-school-cuts-popular-gifted-program-over-lack-d/
This is a shame. And also the reason DC doesn't even attempt to start a gifted program. I value diversity as I am sure most of use do living in this area. However, it seems we have truly gotten off track when diversity is the mean and the ends to all things education related. We ar failing both the brightest and the neediest students with this approach. If Kaya wants to keep kids in middle schools or fill the hight schools she is going to have to accept the fact that some students are more advanced than others. DCPS is truly failing its best students and thats as shameful as failing its neediest.