you submitted two different letters from mathnasium? ugh, they probably just wanted you to go away at that point.

Anonymous wrote:We took a chance on this, twice actually. DC goes to Mathnasium, which has a different approach than Kumon. The director, who had been personally been working with DC wrote a letter that we included with the initial referral. Got denied. Then we submitted a second letter with the appeal. Got accepted. So it's hard to say if the letter helped or hurt. But the 2nd letter was a lot better- gave more concrete examples and hard data on assessments that they had done.

No one would know if he was admitted in spite of, not because of, the letters.

We took a chance on this, twice actually. DC goes to Mathnasium, which has a different approach than Kumon. The director, who had been personally been working with DC wrote a letter that we included with the initial referral. Got denied. Then we submitted a second letter with the appeal. Got accepted. So it's hard to say if the letter helped or hurt. But the 2nd letter was a lot better- gave more concrete examples and hard data on assessments that they had done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am planning to put an appeal together. Should I put in a letter of recommendation from KUMON center? MY DC is at an advanced level of reading at Kumon, but not sure how the screening committee thinks of places like Kumon. Is a negative or a positive for appeal

I would not include anything from Kumon. It's more likely that the committee will think that your child is over-prepped than it is that they would be impressed or swayed by Kumon.

This was my thought as well. Not saying this is true, but in my mind Kumon-goers are also likely to prep for the abilities tests.

What is your child's DRA? What was the iready reading score? Those would be much more compelling than Kumon for showing advanced reading ability. I'm a bit skeptical of the Kumon reading levels, and I'm sure the AAP committee is as well.

Anonymous wrote:I am planning to put an appeal together. Should I put in a letter of recommendation from KUMON center? MY DC is at an advanced level of reading at Kumon, but not sure how the screening committee thinks of places like Kumon. Is a negative or a positive for appeal

Do not submit kumon as it is not about talent it is repetitive work. Usually kids whi get into AAP gets bored at Kumon due to repetitive work and no creativity.

Anonymous wrote:I am planning to put an appeal together. Should I put in a letter of recommendation from KUMON center? MY DC is at an advanced level of reading at Kumon, but not sure how the screening committee thinks of places like Kumon. Is a negative or a positive for appeal

I would not include anything from Kumon. It's more likely that the committee will think that your child is over-prepped than it is that they would be impressed or swayed by Kumon.

Anonymous wrote:I am planning to put an appeal together. Should I put in a letter of recommendation from KUMON center? MY DC is at an advanced level of reading at Kumon, but not sure how the screening committee thinks of places like Kumon. Is a negative or a positive for appeal

OH, definitely.

I am planning to put an appeal together. Should I put in a letter of recommendation from KUMON center? MY DC is at an advanced level of reading at Kumon, but not sure how the screening committee thinks of places like Kumon. Is a negative or a positive for appeal

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Anonymous wrote:In our case, DC clearly had the IQ scores (99 percentile), yet school submitted horrible work samples (basic worksheets). It was so bad you have to wonder if it was intentional. GBRS was also much lower than teacher recommended and teacher was shocked he didn't get in. Yet, DC has been recognized for his work (creative writing, won Art award, etc). I just don't get it.

Wait . . . you submitted a WISC in 99% and were rejected? What in the world is going on???

Right! My appeal surely won't work. DD got a FSIQ of 130. I think that's 98%. We were going to appeal with that but then I saw this.

Don't let a post on DCUM prevent you from appealing.

Agree! Don’t let anything you see here stop you. It’s not like the committee holds it against you. We filed an unsuccessful appeal last year, but referred again this year in third grade (with new Cogat scores) and DC got in. You have the WISC already— I don’t see why you wouldn’t use it.

Not PP you are talking to but do you mind sharing what you submitted in the unsuccessful appeal? We're appealing. Any advice? Was your child in pool? Mine isn't. Do you recall GBRS. My child's is 10.

Sure. DC was not in pool. Cogat was in the low 120s, NNAT was 118, GBRS was 12. DC took the WISC — mid 120s FSIQ, with a big disparity in sub scores (only average working memory and processing speed, which suggested ADHD, as we had long suspected). In the appeal packet we included WISC, additional work samples, letters of recommendation. In third grade, DC has been treated for ADHD and is in Level III services. Retook Cogat/NNAT in December at GMU with a big improvement in scores. Also, DC’s participation in class improved, likely because of ADHD treatment. GBRS was 13 this year and the comments from the school committee were much more compelling in my opinion.

Yes, no reason not to appeal. It never hurts you. We appealed in second grade with a denial, got a retest CoGat in third which was much much better, as well as Level 3 services, and a teacher who he really connected with (verses the 2nd grade one who didn't get him at all) and he was accepted in third grade no problem. Honestly, I have no idea what the committee is thinking half the time, so you might as well appeal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our case, DC clearly had the IQ scores (99 percentile), yet school submitted horrible work samples (basic worksheets). It was so bad you have to wonder if it was intentional. GBRS was also much lower than teacher recommended and teacher was shocked he didn't get in. Yet, DC has been recognized for his work (creative writing, won Art award, etc). I just don't get it.

Wait . . . you submitted a WISC in 99% and were rejected? What in the world is going on???

Right! My appeal surely won't work. DD got a FSIQ of 130. I think that's 98%. We were going to appeal with that but then I saw this.

Don't let a post on DCUM prevent you from appealing.

Agree! Don’t let anything you see here stop you. It’s not like the committee holds it against you. We filed an unsuccessful appeal last year, but referred again this year in third grade (with new Cogat scores) and DC got in. You have the WISC already— I don’t see why you wouldn’t use it.

Not PP you are talking to but do you mind sharing what you submitted in the unsuccessful appeal? We're appealing. Any advice? Was your child in pool? Mine isn't. Do you recall GBRS. My child's is 10.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our case, DC clearly had the IQ scores (99 percentile), yet school submitted horrible work samples (basic worksheets). It was so bad you have to wonder if it was intentional. GBRS was also much lower than teacher recommended and teacher was shocked he didn't get in. Yet, DC has been recognized for his work (creative writing, won Art award, etc). I just don't get it.

Wait . . . you submitted a WISC in 99% and were rejected? What in the world is going on???

Right! My appeal surely won't work. DD got a FSIQ of 130. I think that's 98%. We were going to appeal with that but then I saw this.

Don't let a post on DCUM prevent you from appealing.

Agree! Don’t let anything you see here stop you. It’s not like the committee holds it against you. We filed an unsuccessful appeal last year, but referred again this year in third grade (with new Cogat scores) and DC got in. You have the WISC already— I don’t see why you wouldn’t use it.

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I posted this last year, but I would be willing to bet at least a few parents in FCPS have filed lawsuits, or strongly threatened to do so, over rejections when a kid has scores above the cutoff.

Interesting... guess that is why they make such a point to say it isn't based on one score but if you have a child identified as gifted by an IQ test / psychologist, I don't see how you counter that, especially if they ever had to show they data on scores for children that were admitted with much lower scores.

Bingo. It's not based on test scores, it's holistic.

That's awfully convenient, isn't it? They can reject any child for any reason, and then claim that the process is holistic. After a point, there need to be some standards or some criteria governing the decision. One would think that if a licensed psychologist tests a child and declares the child as gifted, then that should at the very least be enough to access a program that encompasses an awful lot of non gifted children.

EXACTLY! How does the subjective portion (GBRS and work samples the school sends in) outweigh a nationally standardized and normed test given by a licensed psychologist?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In our case, DC clearly had the IQ scores (99 percentile), yet school submitted horrible work samples (basic worksheets). It was so bad you have to wonder if it was intentional. GBRS was also much lower than teacher recommended and teacher was shocked he didn't get in. Yet, DC has been recognized for his work (creative writing, won Art award, etc). I just don't get it.

Wait . . . you submitted a WISC in 99% and were rejected? What in the world is going on???

Right! My appeal surely won't work. DD got a FSIQ of 130. I think that's 98%. We were going to appeal with that but then I saw this.

Don't let a post on DCUM prevent you from appealing.