Anonymous
Post 12/29/2010 20:42     Subject: Re:cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
International asian kids have some of the highest math and science proficiency levels, with countries such as China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and Singapore.

Are they all gifted and can all of them do calculus coming out of primary school? Not likely, but it does help that a lot of their kids are put into cram schools and spend most of their waking hours staring at books.


Sounds like a number of area swimmers and lacrosse players I know. Their lives and that of their parents revolve around such activities since pre-K!
Anonymous
Post 12/29/2010 20:12     Subject: Re:cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
Any news on COGAT or NNAT scores this year ?

2 years ago they mailed the NNAT score early Dec. and COGAT early Jan but we haven't seen anything this year.
Anonymous
Post 10/04/2010 13:47     Subject: Re:cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
pp at 6:59 didn't say she was unhappy with her 5th-grader's peer group; rather commented on what her kid had said. I recall from grade school myself we all knew who the smartest kids were. You listen to them answer questions in class, partner with them on projects, examples of their writing is posted n the walls etc.



Well, if your kid is in an academically-advanced program, taking the trouble, possibly, to change schools to attend such program, and you believe more than half the kids in the class "aren't too swift" and "must have peaked in 2nd grade" then one would infer that the peer group is not that great.
Anonymous
Post 10/04/2010 11:18     Subject: Re:cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
Anonymous wrote:That's odd. I'm very happy with my 5th-grader's peer group in the Center. I know most of her friends, and they all seem bright, and, perhaps more importantly, they're extremely creative, outside-the-box thinkers. Some of the stuff they come up with is really interesting and clever, and a lot of it isn't classwork, it's just stuff they are allowed to do in their "free time" in class but they get really involved and intensely focused on things. Last year my DD and 3 of her friends made and illustrated a whole set of little books for fun - they naturally divided up the project based on their talents - 2 were the illustrators and 2 did the writing & dialogue, and they spent a LOT of time typing up the text, editing & revising it, adapting the drawings when the text changed, etc. They used a publishing software they had at school to lay it out in book format. All because they thought it was fun to do together. I've seen lots of examples of this kind of thing in our Center.


pp at 6:59 didn't say she was unhappy with her 5th-grader's peer group; rather commented on what her kid had said. I recall from grade school myself we all knew who the smartest kids were. You listen to them answer questions in class, partner with them on projects, examples of their writing is posted n the walls etc.
Anonymous
Post 10/04/2010 11:00     Subject: Re:cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
That's odd. I'm very happy with my 5th-grader's peer group in the Center. I know most of her friends, and they all seem bright, and, perhaps more importantly, they're extremely creative, outside-the-box thinkers. Some of the stuff they come up with is really interesting and clever, and a lot of it isn't classwork, it's just stuff they are allowed to do in their "free time" in class but they get really involved and intensely focused on things. Last year my DD and 3 of her friends made and illustrated a whole set of little books for fun - they naturally divided up the project based on their talents - 2 were the illustrators and 2 did the writing & dialogue, and they spent a LOT of time typing up the text, editing & revising it, adapting the drawings when the text changed, etc. They used a publishing software they had at school to lay it out in book format. All because they thought it was fun to do together. I've seen lots of examples of this kind of thing in our Center.
Anonymous
Post 10/04/2010 09:03     Subject: Re:cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
Anonymous wrote:My fifth grader tells me at least half the kids in his AAP Center class must have peaked in the 2nd grade, because they don't seem all that swift to him. (And the other half definitely belongs he says, and he isn't among the smartest ones).
So I think it is very possible the precocious 2nd grader with high CogAts may have been advanced at that point in time, or extensively coached, but other kids may catch up with them in later grades.


The screening tests that the kids take have little to do with the subjects being taught.

A kid's success has a lot to do with many factors, not just how they did in the screening test. These factors include quality of the teaching, teaching environment, home support, peers, etc. I hope you teach your child to not judge others and just to mind his own business.

It's sad that you disparage those kids based on what your child tells you. Maybe those same kids are saying the same things to their parents about your kid.
Anonymous
Post 10/04/2010 06:59     Subject: Re:cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
My fifth grader tells me at least half the kids in his AAP Center class must have peaked in the 2nd grade, because they don't seem all that swift to him. (And the other half definitely belongs he says, and he isn't among the smartest ones).
So I think it is very possible the precocious 2nd grader with high CogAts may have been advanced at that point in time, or extensively coached, but other kids may catch up with them in later grades.
Anonymous
Post 10/03/2010 21:41     Subject: cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
Anonymous wrote:There is a huge correlation between working way above grade level (e.g., a K student starting school reading at a 3rd grade + level or doing upper-level math) and intellectual giftedness.


International asian kids have some of the highest math and science proficiency levels, with countries such as China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and Singapore.

Are they all gifted and can all of them do calculus coming out of primary school? Not likely, but it does help that a lot of their kids are put into cram schools and spend most of their waking hours staring at books.
Anonymous
Post 10/03/2010 21:01     Subject: cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
Anonymous wrote:There is a huge correlation between working way above grade level (e.g., a K student starting school reading at a 3rd grade + level or doing upper-level math) and intellectual giftedness.


Being gifted does nothing for you unless you apply it.
Anonymous
Post 10/03/2010 20:29     Subject: cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
There is a huge correlation between working way above grade level (e.g., a K student starting school reading at a 3rd grade + level or doing upper-level math) and intellectual giftedness.
Anonymous
Post 10/03/2010 19:17     Subject: cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
Some of the gifted kids don't really show it the first few years -- the same way that some of the kids working above grade level are not really "gifted." You'll see, some of those kids the parents think are so brilliant in kindergarten or first grade level out in a few years.

Anonymous
Post 10/03/2010 18:02     Subject: Re:cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
Anonymous wrote:
FCPS is a really big district. Just because one school or even one teacher does, does not mean they all do.


The PP used the word "usually" -- and "usually" teachers differentiate instruction. Even in a class of 20-25 students.
Anonymous
Post 10/03/2010 16:37     Subject: Re:cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
Some teachers do, some don't. I think differentiating in a class of even 20-25 kids is HARD for a teacher, much less in a class of 25-30. My DD's first grade teacher was brand new (first year teaching) and had a hard class mix (lots of special needs and ESOL). No. there was not a lot of differentiation. Some in reading, but none in math. Her second grade teacher was FANTASTIC! Until she went on maternity leave and we had the long term sub from hell.

FCPS is a really big district. Just because one school or even one teacher does, does not mean they all do.
Anonymous
Post 10/03/2010 16:30     Subject: cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:So the teachers don't usually differentiate instruction at all for children in grades K-2? Sounds like a lot of really bored kids.


Yes, they do.


but some kids are just "shy" so you may need specialized testing to uncover their giftedness. Please try to keep up people.
Anonymous
Post 10/03/2010 16:14     Subject: cutoff scores for Fairfax County GT centers for this year?
Anonymous wrote:So the teachers don't usually differentiate instruction at all for children in grades K-2? Sounds like a lot of really bored kids.


Yes, they do.