Anonymous
05/30/2016 12:59 Subject: PG County schools? TAG prgram?
I have started a petition. We need more dedicated centers for gifted students to free teachers from having to differentiate curriculums which is a myth anyway. Without more dedicated centers, not just to the arts but to the advanced students as well, the teachers can't focus on the lower performing students and their needs, or advance the middle of the road kids to excel higher. I know everyone wont agree but what we have now is not working- we need to do something different.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/354/051/807/lets-br...es-county-public-schools/#sign

I have started a petition. We need more dedicated centers for gifted students to free teachers from having to differentiate curriculums which is a myth anyway. Without more dedicated centers, not just to the arts but to the advanced students as well, the teachers can't focus on the lower performing students and their needs, or advance the middle of the road kids to excel higher. I know everyone wont agree but what we have now is not working- we need to do something different.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/354/051/807/lets-bring-talented-and-gifted-students-back-to-prince-georges-county-public-schools/#sign

I would add, in AA county, each school has its own gifted and talented program. Kids (k-12) attend the school their neighborhood is zoned to. There is no deviation from this, with the exception of trying for a charter school (and there aren't many of those). But it doesn't matter if your kid tests well, he/she just is put in higher level classes in the neighborhood school.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the info+ on AA schools....we are still in the early stages of looking into places to move since DD1 is just entering K now

Sorry for all of my typos.

Yeah, people like to say "AA schools are good." But it really depends on the specific school. Some are good; others are not. The high schools are mediocre. They all have their unique issues.

I would say that it's more important to find a good elementary school. In AA County, once a kid is identified as gifted and talented (or whatever term they're using nowadays), they are usually put in better classes, so it helps to get a good elementary school foundation so that by the time they get into middle school, they test into the higher level classes. Once a kid hits middle school (at least in AA county), if he/she has not been put in the higher level classes, it's hard to move up, so to speak. No one will admit this, but it is the case.

Anonymous wrote:Even if we are zoned to it as the neighborhood school and DC is TAG identified? If you "lose" at the lottery, do you still get some sort of TAG services at your neighborhood school? I thought kids did, it just wasn't center-based, it was pull-out or something. I thought that if that was the case then DC would have automatic placement into the TAG center if it was at the school DC was zoned to. Or is it lottery or nothing for any type of TAG services? That would be kind of crummy if there is no differentiation or anything if you lose at the lottery.

Sorry, I misread your post. OK, I'm not positive about this. But I believe that all kids who qualify for the TAG designation, get some kind of TAG service, depending on which type of school they are at. There is a lottery for the TAG schools, which (except for Glen Arden Woods ES) are only partially TAG, otherwise they are "comprehensive". If you happen to live in the zone for that school, if your child doesn't "win" the lottery for TAG placement there, as it is his/her neighborhood school anyhow, if he/she attends there in ES they will probably place him/her into the TAG class anyhow. This is because they wouldn't want to fund a specialized pull out class for 2 hours a week, just for one or two kids.

But I do not know if the same is true for middle school. Do not look for our County's programs to make a lot of sense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For MS I don't know (other than a TAG school that is K-8), but Roosevelt high is where the nextdoor girl went and all her friends, who all babysat for us at various stages, and all reports that I have heard about Roosevelt HS from parents and students say good things.

Wouldn't Kenmoor be the feeder MS? Granted, I'm 33, but I grew up in Cheverly, went to Happy Acres ES (now Gladys Spellman ) for 1st, Capitol Heights ES for 2nd-6th for TAG, then Kenmoor for TAG, then Roosevelt for Science/Tech.


People are saying Roosevelt is hard to get into, but "back in my day" if you didn't get into the science and tech program, you could attend by taking a language all 4 years that wasn't offered anywhere else -- Latin, Russian, Italian, etc. Is that not still the case?

I think they cut that loophole about 5 or 6 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:For MS I don't know (other than a TAG school that is K-8), but Roosevelt high is where the nextdoor girl went and all her friends, who all babysat for us at various stages, and all reports that I have heard about Roosevelt HS from parents and students say good things.

Wouldn't Kenmoor be the feeder MS? Granted, I'm 33, but I grew up in Cheverly, went to Happy Acres ES (now Gladys Spellman ) for 1st, Capitol Heights ES for 2nd-6th for TAG, then Kenmoor for TAG, then Roosevelt for Science/Tech.


People are saying Roosevelt is hard to get into, but "back in my day" if you didn't get into the science and tech program, you could attend by taking a language all 4 years that wasn't offered anywhere else -- Latin, Russian, Italian, etc. Is that not still the case?