Anonymous
06/01/2016 08:01
Subject: The Choice Study report recommendation 3a
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This paper is ridiculous. It shows that if you lower the standard for the underrepresented group, they are more likely to be identified as gifted. Just because it is dressed up in a What is the goal here? You either want to identify the kids who are gifted and needs an appropriate education at their level, or you just want to be able to say the gifted program has a racial composition that is proportional to the student population? I don't think proportional representation should be a goal in itself. Nurture the gifted minority kids early so that they can be be equally prepared for the magnet tests. But don't lower the standard for the program--that helps no one.
This paper is ridiculous. It shows that if you lower the standard for the underrepresented group, they are more likely to be identified as gifted. Just because it is dressed up in a What is the goal here? You either want to identify the kids who are gifted and needs an appropriate education at their level, or you just want to be able to say the gifted program has a racial composition that is proportional to the student population? I don't think proportional representation should be a goal in itself. Nurture the gifted minority kids early so that they can be be equally prepared for the magnet tests. But don't lower the standard for the program--that helps no one.
Well the authors also state:
"However, placing both groups of students, those
who meet the general group and those who meet the group-specific norms, in a typical
gifted program is unlikely to provide the services needed for many students. Instead,
multiple levels of service must be applied to allow for all students to grow and develop
within the various content areas."
Therefore, the authors would agree that this method would identify more students but the quote above implies that lowering the standards and putting both groups in the same classroom would not benefit either group. What would their solution look like in MCPS--multiple levels of service?
The author also dose not recommend replacing the qualified kids with the lower income kids but expanding the program to include more lower income kids. As it is set up right now, the local schools that house the magnet program already have the opportunity to send more kids to participate in the magnet program, at least in some activities. So in some ways, only looking at the magnet program itself for racial composition is a bit misleading.
MCPS ought to think about having local gifted programming in every school, at least at the elementary school level. Every child who desires more challenge, should be challenged with a rigorous curriculum.
I agree with the bolded part. It would be ideal if every elementary school had one class per grade devoted to kids who are working above grade level. Grouping could be flexible with kids being pulled into this track every year. This would allow the school to work more aggressively to improve the performance of URMs who might not qualify immediately in kindergarten or perhaps even in first grade due to family circumstances (ESL or no books at home etc.). This would hopefully ensure that by third grade the children in this high performing class would be more representative of the student body in the school and presumably they would be more likely to apply and be accepted to HGCs etc. I think this would be a much better approach than changing the criteria for admission to the HGCs and magnet programs. The report cited by the OP seems to suggest that educational outcomes are not necessarily improved when you introduce quotas based on race/SES. The approach I am suggesting would I believe be more likely to improve the academic performance of groups that are currently lagging ito academic performance.
