Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my view, a child that demonstrates that he/she has the curiousity, creativity and work ethic that could potentially produce changes that will improve our society is gifted. One who obtains high scores on IQ tests does not indicate giftedness to me. It just means that they are good at solving problems and taking tests in pressure situations. I wish they would evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own. I see it as an investment by taxpayers in future generations to improve society, eg., our transporation MESS in Northern Va. Otherwise, why waste the $ if its just the parent pushing their snowflake to test well? What does that give society?

Create products at home on their own? How are children from lower income families who may not even have funds to provide sufficient, healthy meals each week going to get supplies for these innovative products? I have to guess your child did not do so well on the testing provided but you think he shines in the area bolded above which proves (to you) he "needs" AAP while you believe others do not.

The actually do "evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own"...but a parent would have to include info on that in their packet. This is exactly what I did. As far as lower income people not being able to do it...the stuff my kid did that I presented was done on paper with colored pencils, paint, crayons...I think most people have access to these very basic materials.

Lower income families are not "in the know" to even understand that there is a way for them to submit additional materials. I'm sure they have much bigger problems on their minds on a day to day basis, like making rent, paying for gas to get to work, health insurance coverage, medical costs, etc., don't you think?

So, how do you propose FCPS selects for the program then? It seems like some people have a gripe about every element of the selection process.

I would add that it's not only lower income people who aren't "in the know", but people with more income than even me (household about 190K, both DH and I professionals, etc.) as a friend/acquaintance expressed disappointment that he son didn't get in, I asked if she was planning on appealing and whether she'd submitted a packet of info and she said no, she didn't even know there was a process til her son sad he was sad he wasn't in.

So...if smart, educated parents can't even be bothered to avail themselves of the information on the web and given freely by staff at the school, I don't even know what to tell you.

People know what they want to know. I bet these low income people know what the latest Rihanna song is or what Bruce Jenner is up to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my view, a child that demonstrates that he/she has the curiousity, creativity and work ethic that could potentially produce changes that will improve our society is gifted. One who obtains high scores on IQ tests does not indicate giftedness to me. It just means that they are good at solving problems and taking tests in pressure situations. I wish they would evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own. I see it as an investment by taxpayers in future generations to improve society, eg., our transporation MESS in Northern Va. Otherwise, why waste the $ if its just the parent pushing their snowflake to test well? What does that give society?

Create products at home on their own? How are children from lower income families who may not even have funds to provide sufficient, healthy meals each week going to get supplies for these innovative products? I have to guess your child did not do so well on the testing provided but you think he shines in the area bolded above which proves (to you) he "needs" AAP while you believe others do not.

The actually do "evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own"...but a parent would have to include info on that in their packet. This is exactly what I did. As far as lower income people not being able to do it...the stuff my kid did that I presented was done on paper with colored pencils, paint, crayons...I think most people have access to these very basic materials.

Lower income families are not "in the know" to even understand that there is a way for them to submit additional materials. I'm sure they have much bigger problems on their minds on a day to day basis, like making rent, paying for gas to get to work, health insurance coverage, medical costs, etc., don't you think?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my view, a child that demonstrates that he/she has the curiousity, creativity and work ethic that could potentially produce changes that will improve our society is gifted. One who obtains high scores on IQ tests does not indicate giftedness to me. It just means that they are good at solving problems and taking tests in pressure situations. I wish they would evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own. I see it as an investment by taxpayers in future generations to improve society, eg., our transporation MESS in Northern Va. Otherwise, why waste the $ if its just the parent pushing their snowflake to test well? What does that give society?

Create products at home on their own? How are children from lower income families who may not even have funds to provide sufficient, healthy meals each week going to get supplies for these innovative products? I have to guess your child did not do so well on the testing provided but you think he shines in the area bolded above which proves (to you) he "needs" AAP while you believe others do not.

The actually do "evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own"...but a parent would have to include info on that in their packet. This is exactly what I did. As far as lower income people not being able to do it...the stuff my kid did that I presented was done on paper with colored pencils, paint, crayons...I think most people have access to these very basic materials.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my view, a child that demonstrates that he/she has the curiousity, creativity and work ethic that could potentially produce changes that will improve our society is gifted. One who obtains high scores on IQ tests does not indicate giftedness to me. It just means that they are good at solving problems and taking tests in pressure situations. I wish they would evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own. I see it as an investment by taxpayers in future generations to improve society, eg., our transporation MESS in Northern Va. Otherwise, why waste the $ if its just the parent pushing their snowflake to test well? What does that give society?

Create products at home on their own? How are children from lower income families who may not even have funds to provide sufficient, healthy meals each week going to get supplies for these innovative products? I have to guess your child did not do so well on the testing provided but you think he shines in the area bolded above which proves (to you) he "needs" AAP while you believe others do not.

Nope. My kid did well enough on the IQ tests to get into our gifted program. Point well taken on the poor kids, but they can also be given similar project-based tests at school.

Presumably you sought outside IQ testing because the other tests were lower...?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Usually "bored" children have learned that complaining to their mothers about being "bored" will redirect their mother's ire/blame for lackluster reports from the child onto the teacher or school.

For little kids, I'd say that's pretty "gifted" figuring that out.[u] We're talking 1st grade? 2nd grade? I don't think they're that wily and if they are, good for them! (Making it up that they're bored to redirect the ire...O

No, that isn't gifted behavior, dear for a 7 or an 8 year old to do. It is called manipulation of a situation which is completely age appropriate. Are you now trying to say if your kid claims he is bored when he isn't really bored it shows how gifted he is? O.M.G.

you're retarded

You are a disgusting person to use that term in this way. I have a child with Down's will never be in any gifted program, but she is kind and loving and does not attack others who disagree with her. Seriously, if your gifted child flings around "retarded" as a casual insult for others who hold opinions with which said child disagrees, I am glad that my DD is not gifted. Your soul is small and mean.

Anonymous wrote:In my view, a child that demonstrates that he/she has the curiousity, creativity and work ethic that could potentially produce changes that will improve our society is gifted. One who obtains high scores on IQ tests does not indicate giftedness to me. It just means that they are good at solving problems and taking tests in pressure situations. I wish they would evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own. I see it as an investment by taxpayers in future generations to improve society, eg., our transporation MESS in Northern Va. Otherwise, why waste the $ if its just the parent pushing their snowflake to test well? What does that give society?

I agree completely.

Anonymous wrote:

State testing begins in third grade in my state - I think the teacher is more concerned with getting the lower kids to pass the test than ensuring all children are challenged. I can't really even blame her, they are under a lot of pressure.

Unintended consequence of NCLB required testing.

Get rid of the testing and, hopefully, teachers can go back to teaching every kid where he is.

In VA the SOLs predate NCLB.

^^BTW, not a single poor or English as a second language kid got into our school's gifted program, yet we have 33% FARMS. So something is wrong with the system despite the social engineer's best attempts to improve things by making the IQ tests unbiased.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my view, a child that demonstrates that he/she has the curiousity, creativity and work ethic that could potentially produce changes that will improve our society is gifted. One who obtains high scores on IQ tests does not indicate giftedness to me. It just means that they are good at solving problems and taking tests in pressure situations. I wish they would evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own. I see it as an investment by taxpayers in future generations to improve society, eg., our transporation MESS in Northern Va. Otherwise, why waste the $ if its just the parent pushing their snowflake to test well? What does that give society?

Create products at home on their own? How are children from lower income families who may not even have funds to provide sufficient, healthy meals each week going to get supplies for these innovative products? I have to guess your child did not do so well on the testing provided but you think he shines in the area bolded above which proves (to you) he "needs" AAP while you believe others do not.

Nope. My kid did well enough on the IQ tests to get into our gifted program. Point well taken on the poor kids, but they can also be given similar project-based tests at school.

Anonymous wrote:In my view, a child that demonstrates that he/she has the curiousity, creativity and work ethic that could potentially produce changes that will improve our society is gifted. One who obtains high scores on IQ tests does not indicate giftedness to me. It just means that they are good at solving problems and taking tests in pressure situations. I wish they would evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own. I see it as an investment by taxpayers in future generations to improve society, eg., our transporation MESS in Northern Va. Otherwise, why waste the $ if its just the parent pushing their snowflake to test well? What does that give society?

Create products at home on their own? How are children from lower income families who may not even have funds to provide sufficient, healthy meals each week going to get supplies for these innovative products? I have to guess your child did not do so well on the testing provided but you think he shines in the area bolded above which proves (to you) he "needs" AAP while you believe others do not.

In my view, a child that demonstrates that he/she has the curiousity, creativity and work ethic that could potentially produce changes that will improve our society is gifted. One who obtains high scores on IQ tests does not indicate giftedness to me. It just means that they are good at solving problems and taking tests in pressure situations. I wish they would evaluate these kids based on how they creatively solve problems and/or create innovative products at home on their own. I see it as an investment by taxpayers in future generations to improve society, eg., our transporation MESS in Northern Va. Otherwise, why waste the $ if its just the parent pushing their snowflake to test well? What does that give society?

Anonymous wrote:

State testing begins in third grade in my state - I think the teacher is more concerned with getting the lower kids to pass the test than ensuring all children are challenged. I can't really even blame her, they are under a lot of pressure.

Unintended consequence of NCLB required testing.

Get rid of the testing and, hopefully, teachers can go back to teaching every kid where he is.

Get rid of testing so that your lazy and dumb kids can "have fun" at school?

Anonymous wrote:

State testing begins in third grade in my state - I think the teacher is more concerned with getting the lower kids to pass the test than ensuring all children are challenged. I can't really even blame her, they are under a lot of pressure.

Unintended consequence of NCLB required testing.

Get rid of the testing and, hopefully, teachers can go back to teaching every kid where he is.

+1000

State testing begins in third grade in my state - I think the teacher is more concerned with getting the lower kids to pass the test than ensuring all children are challenged. I can't really even blame her, they are under a lot of pressure.

Unintended consequence of NCLB required testing.

Get rid of the testing and, hopefully, teachers can go back to teaching every kid where he is.

Anonymous wrote:I have seen this from three sides: as a child who was skipped a grade, as a teacher, and as a parent of a GT child. Skipping a grade in ES hurt me and I was bored in math during my middle school thru high school years because I didn't truly understand the concepts, not because I was as advanced as I was in language arts and other subjects. As a teacher, I find enrichment for the truly advanced kids so they are never bored. My own daughter was bored in 1st grade but she tests off the charts.

It would be nice if all teachers differentiated instruction. DC's first grade teacher was great at it, second grade teacher was ok, third grade teacher's version of enrichment is to have the kid read a book when they are done. Reading is great, and DC has grown a lot in reading this year. Math is way too easy though and he has learned very little. Everyone gets the same work and instruction. Dare I say that he now thinks math is boring?

State testing begins in third grade in my state - I think the teacher is more concerned with getting the lower kids to pass the test than ensuring all children are challenged. I can't really even blame her, they are under a lot of pressure.