Anonymous
Post 04/25/2023 06:41     Subject: AAP appeal with low GBRS
Anonymous wrote:Kid got NNAT of 160, Cogat 144, WISC 154 (>99.9%), with every subcategory above 99.5% (newly taken for the appeal). Somehow his GBRS is 1C2F1O. The WISC score report went straight his teacher, his AART, and his principle as I believe that the GBRS is biased.


GBRS is totally different from an intelligence test. It rates the frequency of observed behaviors in the classroom. While it does seem odd that a child with that high of an intelligence would not be demonstrating gifted behaviors more regularly in class. That is your case that you need to make in the appeal. How and where is he demonstrating those behaviors and why are they not being observed in the classroom (and not just that the teacher doesn't like your child).

Did you submit a parent questionnaire with your referral package? Did you write strong and clear examples for each one? I don't know how much weight that carries (because parents are biased), but did that show the committee a side your teacher might not see due to _______ (fill in the blank for the classroom factors).
Anonymous
Post 04/25/2023 04:16     Subject: AAP appeal with low GBRS
Anonymous wrote:Kid got NNAT of 160, Cogat 144, WISC 154 (>99.9%), with every subcategory above 99.5% (newly taken for the appeal). Somehow his GBRS is 1C2F1O. The WISC score report went straight his teacher, his AART, and his principle as I believe that the GBRS is biased.


I understand you’re upset about GBRS but why send WISC to all those ppl? It’s out of their hands at this point and you should appeal directly to central committee. Certainly feel free to set up a mtg to discuss your concerns w/ GBRS directly with them, but just sending them the WISC isn’t going to get you anywhere. They clearly had already seen the high NNAT and Cogat prior to writing up GBRS.
Anonymous
Post 04/24/2023 23:57     Subject: AAP appeal with low GBRS
Kid got NNAT of 160, Cogat 144, WISC 154 (>99.9%), with every subcategory above 99.5% (newly taken for the appeal). Somehow his GBRS is 1C2F1O. The WISC score report went straight his teacher, his AART, and his principle as I believe that the GBRS is biased.
Anonymous
Post 04/24/2023 19:21     Subject: Re:AAP appeal with low GBRS
Anonymous wrote:With those Cogat And Nnat scores you should appeal. Gently threaten to sue. Your child will be in aap as the county is very afraid of being sued. Gbrs are very subjective. Your child’s scores mean they should be aap.


There is no law suit that will get your kid into AAP. By all means, appeal. But don't be a jerk.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2023 16:18     Subject: Re:AAP appeal with low GBRS
With those Cogat And Nnat scores you should appeal. Gently threaten to sue. Your child will be in aap as the county is very afraid of being sued. Gbrs are very subjective. Your child’s scores mean they should be aap.
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2023 22:54     Subject: AAP appeal with low GBRS
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:You won’t receive the GBRS beforehand, but you should still apply. It doesn’t take much time, and you have nothing to lose. FWIW, years ago, my kid got 15 and 16 GBRS for K and 1st - we requested the scores - low GBRS and rejected in 2nd, high GBRS and IN in 3rd. Sometimes, the score is more about the teacher than it is about your child.


This is a good example of how unreliable the GBRS is, though most kids only get one shot at it. How ridiculous its is that FCPS would place so much weight on such a subjective and unreliable measure which apparently varies so much according to the evaluator. It would be far more equitable to base AAP eligibility solely on the objective testing...maybe have the kids take a third test to account for a "bad" test day. Even acknowledging that the goal of FCPS is heavily tilted toward social engineering, they'd be better off with more objective measures and less weight on the GBRS which can have the same child moving from "gifted" to "average" to "gifted" again from year to year.


PP here. Honestly, I think they should simplify things greatly. Every kid who meets at least 2 of the 3 following should be admitted: 1. Test scores > 132. 2. Achievement scores showing that the kid is at least one grade level ahead in math and reading. 3. Teacher recommendation. That way, kids who have the test scores and are academically advanced will be admitted, even if the teacher doesn't like them. But, the kids who are advanced and solid students but get lower test scores could still get in.
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2023 22:49     Subject: AAP appeal with low GBRS
Anonymous wrote:You won’t receive the GBRS beforehand, but you should still apply. It doesn’t take much time, and you have nothing to lose. FWIW, years ago, my kid got 15 and 16 GBRS for K and 1st - we requested the scores - low GBRS and rejected in 2nd, high GBRS and IN in 3rd. Sometimes, the score is more about the teacher than it is about your child.


This is a good example of how unreliable the GBRS is, though most kids only get one shot at it. How ridiculous its is that FCPS would place so much weight on such a subjective and unreliable measure which apparently varies so much according to the evaluator. It would be far more equitable to base AAP eligibility solely on the objective testing...maybe have the kids take a third test to account for a "bad" test day. Even acknowledging that the goal of FCPS is heavily tilted toward social engineering, they'd be better off with more objective measures and less weight on the GBRS which can have the same child moving from "gifted" to "average" to "gifted" again from year to year.
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2023 22:16     Subject: Re:AAP appeal with low GBRS
Anonymous wrote:We have a full slate of occasionallys in my kid's GBRS. My kid is pretty difficult and had a really hard time post-COVID. We referred him as a third grader (he didn't get in during second grade and we had him retake the cogat and provided a WISC from his neuropysch (he was tested for ADHD and actually ended up diagnosed with anxiety/depression).

Scores: COGAT -- 141 with all scores in the subsets between 136 and 148.
WISC 144, with a high of 158 verbal and lower scores in the other zones 130s.

What is difficult is his iready scores are low (25th percentile). His writing is terrible and he shuts down. We have spent the year working on getting him to keep working. He shuts down often in class.

I don't know what to do with this kid. He has needs academically, but he is not performing well. Someone mentioned the underachieving gifted child but that seems like such a cliche. I don't know what to do. Appeal?


I would not appeal this year. Instead, address his anxiety/depression. Consider private schools that specialize in these types of cases.

Anonymous
Post 04/11/2023 19:32     Subject: Re:AAP appeal with low GBRS
Anonymous wrote:We have a full slate of occasionallys in my kid's GBRS. My kid is pretty difficult and had a really hard time post-COVID. We referred him as a third grader (he didn't get in during second grade and we had him retake the cogat and provided a WISC from his neuropysch (he was tested for ADHD and actually ended up diagnosed with anxiety/depression).

Scores: COGAT -- 141 with all scores in the subsets between 136 and 148.
WISC 144, with a high of 158 verbal and lower scores in the other zones 130s.

What is difficult is his iready scores are low (25th percentile). His writing is terrible and he shuts down. We have spent the year working on getting him to keep working. He shuts down often in class.

I don't know what to do with this kid. He has needs academically, but he is not performing well. Someone mentioned the underachieving gifted child but that seems like such a cliche. I don't know what to do. Appeal?


Get him tested for ADHD or Anxiety because something is happening that causes him to shut down. You need to address that. I doubt moving into a class that moves more quickly is going to cause him to not shut down when writing or in class.
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2023 19:12     Subject: Re:AAP appeal with low GBRS
Anonymous wrote:We have a full slate of occasionallys in my kid's GBRS. My kid is pretty difficult and had a really hard time post-COVID. We referred him as a third grader (he didn't get in during second grade and we had him retake the cogat and provided a WISC from his neuropysch (he was tested for ADHD and actually ended up diagnosed with anxiety/depression).

Scores: COGAT -- 141 with all scores in the subsets between 136 and 148.
WISC 144, with a high of 158 verbal and lower scores in the other zones 130s.

What is difficult is his iready scores are low (25th percentile). His writing is terrible and he shuts down. We have spent the year working on getting him to keep working. He shuts down often in class.

I don't know what to do with this kid. He has needs academically, but he is not performing well. Someone mentioned the underachieving gifted child but that seems like such a cliche. I don't know what to do. Appeal?


Appeal. It won't hurt and may help. The underachieving gifted kid is not a cliche but unfortunately it can be impossible. AAP may be a solution, or it may not. Anxiety and depression is really hard. Does he have a 504 or IEP? If not, have you asked for one?
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2023 18:59     Subject: Re:AAP appeal with low GBRS
We have a full slate of occasionallys in my kid's GBRS. My kid is pretty difficult and had a really hard time post-COVID. We referred him as a third grader (he didn't get in during second grade and we had him retake the cogat and provided a WISC from his neuropysch (he was tested for ADHD and actually ended up diagnosed with anxiety/depression).

Scores: COGAT -- 141 with all scores in the subsets between 136 and 148.
WISC 144, with a high of 158 verbal and lower scores in the other zones 130s.

What is difficult is his iready scores are low (25th percentile). His writing is terrible and he shuts down. We have spent the year working on getting him to keep working. He shuts down often in class.

I don't know what to do with this kid. He has needs academically, but he is not performing well. Someone mentioned the underachieving gifted child but that seems like such a cliche. I don't know what to do. Appeal?
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2023 14:53     Subject: AAP appeal with low GBRS
You won’t receive the GBRS beforehand, but you should still apply. It doesn’t take much time, and you have nothing to lose. FWIW, years ago, my kid got 15 and 16 GBRS for K and 1st - we requested the scores - low GBRS and rejected in 2nd, high GBRS and IN in 3rd. Sometimes, the score is more about the teacher than it is about your child.
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2023 14:42     Subject: Re:AAP appeal with low GBRS
The “local screening committee”. Usually comprised of the classroom teacher, AART, and assistant principal/principal who work together to create the GBRS and select work samples. IRL, it’s the classroom teacher who does it all, and the committee gives a stamp of approval. That’s my understanding of how it works at our school.


Can we ask for GBRS scores before we submit AAP package? That way, if we know it's bad, we can skip that year. Will the teacher discuss GBRS scores during the PTA meeting?

The bottom line - We got 4 FO by the 2nd-grade teacher and stellar test scores. I am trying to figure out if we should try again next year, but how will we know ahead of time if DC is doing well in class? PS: When we talked to a 2nd-grade teacher, she said DC is doing great.
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2023 11:34     Subject: Re:AAP appeal with low GBRS
Anonymous wrote:
The GBRS are low to high: Occasionally, Frequently and Consistently. There is no rarely. I just received back a copy of our GBRS Commentary through our school’s AART. If you’re rejected, can get a copy.


Does anybody know who decides GBRS ratings?


The “local screening committee”. Usually comprised of classroom teacher, AART, assistant principal/principal who work together to create the GBRS and select work samples. IRL it’s the classroom teacher who does it all and committee gives stamp of approval. That’s my understanding, anyway, of how it works at our school.
Anonymous
Post 04/11/2023 11:05     Subject: Re:AAP appeal with low GBRS
The GBRS are low to high: Occasionally, Frequently and Consistently. There is no rarely. I just received back a copy of our GBRS Commentary through our school’s AART. If you’re rejected, can get a copy.


Does anybody know who decides GBRS ratings?