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    Joined: Oct 2013
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    In my experience, if the parent has a choice, I see less parents of girls putting their children in the gifted programs than parents of boys. I have encouraged a parent to have their obviously bright girl tested, and they only had their son tested.

    I agree that possibly boys have a more obvious problem in regular education and maybe this is the reason?

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    Originally Posted by howdy
    I have encouraged a parent to have their obviously bright girl tested, and they only had their son tested.

    For us this was because DD achieved well in class and behaved herself, whereas DS exhibited behaviours that were disruptive and misinterpreted by the staff, which necessitated a search for answers. I've contemplated getting DD tested many times but haven't, due mostly to the cost. She and I have discussed it and I've suggested to her that she do what I did and get tested in her 20s.

    Sometimes I feel like I've short changed DD, but there aren't really any programs in our area other than the school pull outs which she's been a part of already.

    Anyway, I think a previous poster mentioned that bored boys act out and therefor get tested more, and that was the case for us.

    Last edited by CCN; 10/23/14 06:42 AM.
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    I don't know--it would be fascinating to find out how many kids are offered a spot but turn it down. All I know is that there always ends up being a long waiting list and they don't even invite all the kids who are eligible, just those who are on the top half or so of their rank ordered chart. The gifted programming in the regular schools sucks so much that it would be hard for me to understand why people would opt to stay, unless their child is happy there with established friendships.

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    National public education statistics put the ratio at 51.2% girls as of 2006, the latest year available. Previous years show similar numbers.

    http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d08/tables/dt08_053.asp

    My DD's anecdata backs the official numbers, as she has always reported her GT classes to skew more heavily to girls. Her district uses a formula that combines RIAS, achievement scores (dunno which test), and teacher recommendations.

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    I was finally able to pull up that study and it looks like the quant reasoning section on the CogAT plays an even bigger role than the nonverbal section. So for the nonverbal section, if you look at the tail end of the distribution (the top 1 or 2 percent), there will be 1.2 or 1.3 boys for every girl but for the math section it's even higher with more like 2 or 3 boys for every girl. Since our district is very strict about wanting CogAT scores in the top 2 percent (even for gifted programming in the normal classrooms), I guess that explains all the boys in the program. I'm not sure what role the achievement testing plays and whether there is a gender difference.

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    Our 11-1 ratio is based on testing given to every child - the state mandates testing of every child at regular intervals. Next-to-no students request exemption from the tests. I'm confident in saying there's no selection bias in our case.

    Thanks for those studies, ndw - I'll study them before my next discussion with the district.

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    I wonder if there are girls who test into the gifted program but whose parents decline the placement to keep them in class with friends.

    DS's gifted class is all boys. Troubling.


    Last edited by DeeDee; 10/23/14 11:09 AM. Reason: words
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    Originally Posted by DeeDee
    I wonder if there are girls who test into the gifted program but whose parents decline the placement to keep them in class with friends.


    This is what has happened with at least one of DD10's friends. I think it's a bit disturbing, having seen how easily DD has made new friends as she changes educational settings, but every parent gets to make their own choice.

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    Originally Posted by DeeDee
    I wonder if there are girls who test into the gifted program but whose parents decline the placement to keep them in class with friends.

    DS's gifted class is all boys. Troubling.

    But with a rate of selecting against being 10:1?

    These are highly sought after spots in our schools.

    I know of one boy in DD's class in this situation (not to keep him in his class with friends, but over concern with organization and work ethic). Last year's middle school principal wasn't so down with the whole FERPA thing, so she even named names. The elementary school principals have always been a bit better about student privacy, so there all I have to go on is the mommy rumor mill of dubious reliability.

    I'd love to see data on this.

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    My dd's gifted class has about 7 girls and 15 boys. But I'm happy with that because last year only 3 of 16 were girls. This year, the GT office admitted to changing criteria to get more girls, and they also drew some from a nearby district.

    My dd didn't have a great experience with so few girls last year, so I doubt I would have insisted she stay in that class if the ratio hadn't been changed. I suppose I would have looked at other schools or homeschooling. On the other hand, this is apparently an issue in our area-- the school itself is 2/3 boys, which does create an interesting dynamic all around.

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