Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Being that cap hill has no middle school option, I find that quite troubling.

Capitol Hill has two middle schools: Eliot-Hine and Stuart-Hobson. You may choose not to send your children there, but that doesn't mean they are not options. We know numerous parents whose children are happy there, and my child is at Watkins and we plan to send him to Stuart-Hobson, as do many of his classmates' families.

Anonymous wrote:Being that cap hill has no middle school option, I find that quite troubling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If we're really just talking about identifying and challenging "well-prepared" kids, then in-class differentiation should work. As should the "AP classes for all" approach already used by DC high schools--if you're invested and are willing to work to keep up, you're in.

So why do we need gifted tracking again?

Yes, but in DC it is quite common to have middle school and high school students who are reading and doing math at a second grade level or thereabouts. Tell me how in class differentiation works under those circumstances?

If differentiation works, then why are there so many illiterate students in DC? You cannot blame the family on failure to teach students to at least read and do basic math of multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, fractions, decimals, and percents. I am not buying that at all since schools have kids as a captive audience so they should be able to teach basic literacy and math.

For the record, I am for offering gifted classes for any students able to do the work with passing grades.

What high school (that you plan to send your kid to) has kids reading at 2nd grade level?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldnt a school in ward seven be academic? I'd send my white kid there for a gifted program.

I would too, if my kids qualified. If the G&T magnet were metro-accessible I wouldn't think twice about it. Think of a guaranteed self-selecting cohort of motivated, high-performing smart kids. That is GOLD in DC. You aren't even guaranteed that in Ward 3, with all of the social supports in place that you'd expect in a closed universe of prosperous families with graduate-level education.

-- JKLM mom

Ditto, but only if all the kids can do advanced work. It's a no-go if there are kids not at grade level who were admitted using some sort of holiste admissions bullshit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, but in DC it is quite common to have middle school and high school students who are reading and doing math at a second grade level or thereabouts. Tell me how in class differentiation works under those circumstances?

If differentiation works, then why are there so many illiterate students in DC? You cannot blame the family on failure to teach students to at least read and do basic math of multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, fractions, decimals, and percents. I am not buying that at all since schools have kids as a captive audience so they should be able to teach basic literacy and math.

For the record, I am for offering gifted classes for any students able to do the work with passing grades.

sigh, such an expert. If you're that good roll up your sleeves and get in the trenches and become a teacher and see if you can work miracles. Enough with the volunteer to teach motivated gifted kids

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of "illiterate" kids (and adults) all over the country, not just in DC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldnt a school in ward seven be academic? I'd send my white kid there for a gifted program.

I would too, if my kids qualified. If the G&T magnet were metro-accessible I wouldn't think twice about it. Think of a guaranteed self-selecting cohort of motivated, high-performing smart kids. That is GOLD in DC. You aren't even guaranteed that in Ward 3, with all of the social supports in place that you'd expect in a closed universe of prosperous families with graduate-level education.

-- JKLM mom

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If we're really just talking about identifying and challenging "well-prepared" kids, then in-class differentiation should work. As should the "AP classes for all" approach already used by DC high schools--if you're invested and are willing to work to keep up, you're in.

So why do we need gifted tracking again?

Yes, but in DC it is quite common to have middle school and high school students who are reading and doing math at a second grade level or thereabouts. Tell me how in class differentiation works under those circumstances?

If differentiation works, then why are there so many illiterate students in DC? You cannot blame the family on failure to teach students to at least read and do basic math of multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, fractions, decimals, and percents. I am not buying that at all since schools have kids as a captive audience so they should be able to teach basic literacy and math.

For the record, I am for offering gifted classes for any students able to do the work with passing grades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If we're really just talking about identifying and challenging "well-prepared" kids, then in-class differentiation should work. As should the "AP classes for all" approach already used by DC high schools--if you're invested and are willing to work to keep up, you're in.

So why do we need gifted tracking again?

Yes, but in DC it is quite common to have middle school and high school students who are reading and doing math at a second grade level or thereabouts. Tell me how in class differentiation works under those circumstances?

If differentiation works, then why are there so many illiterate students in DC? You cannot blame the family on failure to teach students to at least read and do basic math of multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, fractions, decimals, and percents. I am not buying that at all since schools have kids as a captive audience so they should be able to teach basic literacy and math.

For the record, I am for offering gifted classes for any students able to do the work with passing grades.

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldnt a school in ward seven be academic? I'd send my white kid there for a gifted program.

Anonymous wrote:
If we're really just talking about identifying and challenging "well-prepared" kids, then in-class differentiation should work. As should the "AP classes for all" approach already used by DC high schools--if you're invested and are willing to work to keep up, you're in.

So why do we need gifted tracking again?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks here keep talking about "truly gifted" and describing them only in Einstein terms which would only be the category for profoundly gifted.

You do realize that there is a range of gifted from mildly gifted to profoundly gifted and that not all gifted kids give the appearance of an Einstein, don't you?? In fact, even Einstein was told he was a failure as a student and his teachers never thought of him as gifted at all. In fact, they thought the opposite of Einstein!

DC has unusual demographics with a lot of high powered, educated people here and therefore, it is quite plausible that DC has a higher concentration of gifted students here.

Those who diss gifted education, hurt disadvantaged gifted students in DC too by regulating them to classes filled with students years behind them where their needs are unlikely to be met.

As for test prep and people trying to game the system to get access to gifted education, I say so what. As long as a student can maintain passing grades in gifted education classes, then the more the merrier IMHO. School districts should also offer free test prep to any student who desires it and all children should be assessed for giftedness via traditional testing and via teacher insights.

Why not just take the top 2% of NNAT and CoGAT scores, no appeals?

+1. NYC basically takes the top 3% of the entrance tests for their magnet programs - some starting in K - with strict cutoff, no appeals. But there has always been controversy because the population skews majority Asian at schools like Stuy.

Same thing will happen in DC except here it will skew majority white - which is untenable, politically.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why wouldnt a school in ward seven be academic? I'd send my white kid there for a gifted program.

Why don't they just open a "gifted" charter school?

Because the federal law authorizing charters in DC prohibits any sort of barriers to entry. Must be open to any DC resident, or if more applicants than seats, allocating seats via lottery.

DC can do test in, and does at the high school level (and perhaps in the future at MS). Charters are prohibited from doing the same (unless Congress amends the law, which is unlikely).