Gifted and talented as measured by what? What instrument do people use to measure if a child is "gifted"? Test scores? Zip code? SES? Until someone devises a universal, unbiased way in which to test for academic talent I believe the terms gifted and talented will always generally apply to those in which the instruments favor.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
? Albert Einstein

Anonymous wrote:My experience with a child in a Janney/Mann K is that all the kids in my child's class are extremely bright. They all come from very successful families (for better or worse, you can't attend K at either of these schools unless you can afford a million dollar house which self selects for a universally ambitious/smart/highly educated parent population). My child's classmates all attended very highly regarded poreschools and had (have) every extracurricular advantage. So while these aren't "gifted" schools, I haven't met a single kid that isn't very bright. There really aren't any slacker parents/kids in AU Park, Wesley Heights, Spring Valley, etc.

Can we just agree that living in a million dollar house in no way correlates to bring a brilliant and ambitious and talented and highly educated.

Anonymous wrote:The JKLM kids are bright but that is not the same as gifted. It's a different type of kid and DC public schools typically can not provide the teacher quality and peer group to support them. They go private or move when their parents discover they're not getting enough challenge or stimulation.

Or more likely, they move the burbs for magnets or TJ. There was a long discussion on DCUM a few months ago about how the privates aren't geared to the very brightest kids; privates maybe geared to the 90th or 95th pctiles (kids who might do well at JKLM), but they don't have the resources for the 99th pctiles.

The JKLM kids are bright but that is not the same as gifted. It's a different type of kid and DC public schools typically can not provide the teacher quality and peer group to support them. They go private or move when their parents discover they're not getting enough challenge or stimulation.

Anonymous wrote:Spring valley has a lot of inherited $$$ 30-somethings, TV news "talent", and way- overpaid lobbyists who have the correct personality for that job but not Mensa intellect. I should know, I'm one of these.

There are plenty of ways to afford that neo-Tudor without having major grey matter. The children I meet around here are uniformly privileged, take superlative vacations, and are sually well spoken but that's not the same as gifted/bright.

Hee! Too smart for the money indeed: what the hell is a "superlative vacation"?

You're richer, I'm smarter. I guess we will have to make peace with that.

P.S. We may never come to terms about the inherent tackiness of a neo-Tudor. Eww.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a single one has a gifted program in DCPS. No kidding.

DCPS curriculum is about remediation, rather than enrichment.

If you want alternatives, apply to an innovative charter and hope like crazy you get in.

This.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring valley has a lot of inherited $$$ 30-somethings, TV news "talent", and way- overpaid lobbyists who have the correct personality for that job but not Mensa intellect. I should know, I'm one of these.

There are plenty of ways to afford that neo-Tudor without having major grey matter. The children I meet around here are uniformly privileged, take superlative vacations, and are sually well spoken but that's not the same as gifted/bright.

yes, but the TV news "talent", lobbyists, etc, aren't using public school anyway. They're all in private school. I can think of several dozen such families. The kids at Mann aren't all geniuses but most are very bright.

Gifted, bright, advanced. Don't these all mean different things?

Anonymous wrote:Spring valley has a lot of inherited $$$ 30-somethings, TV news "talent", and way- overpaid lobbyists who have the correct personality for that job but not Mensa intellect. I should know, I'm one of these.

There are plenty of ways to afford that neo-Tudor without having major grey matter. The children I meet around here are uniformly privileged, take superlative vacations, and are sually well spoken but that's not the same as gifted/bright.

yes, but the TV news "talent", lobbyists, etc, aren't using public school anyway. They're all in private school. I can think of several dozen such families. The kids at Mann aren't all geniuses but most are very bright.

Spring valley has a lot of inherited $$$ 30-somethings, TV news "talent", and way- overpaid lobbyists who have the correct personality for that job but not Mensa intellect. I should know, I'm one of these.

There are plenty of ways to afford that neo-Tudor without having major grey matter. The children I meet around here are uniformly privileged, take superlative vacations, and are sually well spoken but that's not the same as gifted/bright.

Brent has Advanced Learning classes for upper grades. I am sure many elementary schools in dc have something like that To serve kids that are performing above grade.

Anonymous wrote:My experience with a child in a Janney/Mann K is that all the kids in my child's class are extremely bright. They all come from very successful families (for better or worse, you can't attend K at either of these schools unless you can afford a million dollar house which self selects for a universally ambitious/smart/highly educated parent population). My child's classmates all attended very highly regarded preschools and had (have) every extracurricular advantage. So while these aren't "gifted" schools, I haven't met a single kid that isn't very bright. There really aren't any slacker parents/kids in AU Park, Wesley Heights, Spring Valley, etc.

Right, as usual, it's the advanced kids in the schools not in upper NW, or the few other such schools scattered throughout the city, that are the ones suffering. Parents in the schools like yours need not worry; your children already have access to challenging curricula.

To the people suggesting there are not enough gifted kids - what makes you think that? I assure you there are; they are trapped in schools that are being beaten over the head with AYP goals. But, please - explain how you know there are not enough gifted kids in DCPS to justify having any programs.

My experience with a child in a Janney/Mann K is that all the kids in my child's class are extremely bright. They all come from very successful families (for better or worse, you can't attend K at either of these schools unless you can afford a million dollar house which self selects for a universally ambitious/smart/highly educated parent population). My child's classmates all attended very highly regarded preschools and had (have) every extracurricular advantage. So while these aren't "gifted" schools, I haven't met a single kid that isn't very bright. There really aren't any slacker parents/kids in AU Park, Wesley Heights, Spring Valley, etc.

21:50, please post here early and often. All children need a robust curriculum, but a school system needs a threshold number of truly gifted - not just bright - kids to build a successful program.

OP, there's a simpler explanation than race, class, etc. DC is just plain small. Something like less than a third of the kids in MoCo. Highly gifted or extremely talented kids are pretty rare in any population. So no matter we think as parents or the DC CAS shows in tests, there just aren't enough G&T kids with similar skills in K-8 to create any type of sustainable, scaleable options as well as support the IEPs and 504s as mandated by law.

It's a numbers game of SPED vs general ed. (Flawed numbers at that.)

If your child is off the charts gifted (with test results to prove it), contact Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. cty.jhu.edu and private schools to expand the options for your child beyond public and public charter options in the District.

I think nation-wide there is a move away from the notion of gifted and talented. What I have seen are magnet schools that provide advanced academics so either smart or very hard working kids can get in.