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    #223401 10/07/15 11:50 AM
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    _Angie_ Offline OP
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    Last edited by _Angie_; 06/01/16 12:22 PM.
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    Our district has kids take a cognitive test and they don't notify parents of test scores or gifted id for several months. I'm not sure what the big deal is, since all they do is plug scores into a computer system anyway. But everything is so dysfunctional and disorganized. DD messed up her CogAT test (she left half of it blank) and her CogAT bore no resemblance to her WISC IV scores obtained privately, so I had to send about 10 different emails to various people in administration and they all said "I don't know, talk to X." By the end of it, everyone hated me (but I did get her CogAT score finally spoiled and the WISC IV entered instead). There seems to be very little accountability for people in school district jobs. They do a good job and do things in a timely fashion if/when they feel like it. Some people are wonderful, but I have come across so many people who can't be bothered. Good luck--I hope you get it sorted out soon.

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    _Angie_ Offline OP
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    Wow, I'm sorry. That sounds terrible.

    Thanks...

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    Originally Posted by _Angie_
    there must be some policy.
    You may wish to check your state laws/policies and also your school board policies (often found online on your school or district website).

    For context, I'm aware of some schools/districts which are ensuring they achieve equal outcomes, including the equal representation of students identified as gifted, in proportion to the school/district population, by demographic. Unfortunately, this may involve quotas, and result in excluding some gifted children in order to maintain the prescribed ratios, or delaying the recognition of some children's qualifying scores until a time when acknowledging their scores fits with the school's prescribed demographic quotas. For example quotas and ratios can be maintained by these scenarios:
    - A gifted child with the same demographic profile leaves the school/program/grade level, allowing the deferred child to be identified as gifted as a replacement for the child who left.
    - One or more children with other demographic profiles are identified as gifted, allowing the deferred child to be acknowledged as gifted, as the combination of newly identified/acknowledged students maintains the prescribed balance of demographic profiles.

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    How much of this have you put in writing? I'd suggest first determining for certain what your district policy is re gifted id (either through the previous conversations you've had or by finding the written policy), and then putting together an email stating that you want your ds to be considered for gifted id, you've attached/included his private testing which places him at x% which qualifies him, and ask that they respond to your request before (pick a date that is 10 business days out). Send this all in via email. Address the email to either the principal at your school or the gifted coordinator for your school, and cc the district's supervisor or head of gifted education.

    If the time frame *does* drag out, you have evidence that you submitted his testing before November. My guess is that if they generally accept outside testing, they will still accept this set of testing. If they don't generally accept outside testing, you're probably going to have to go through the district testing no matter what. If your ds is retested and for some reason doesn't qualify, then you advocate again, thinking through the reasons that the second test results might have differed and documenting why the first test should be used. Hopefully you won't have to do that!

    Anyway, if you haven't made a written request yet, send the email with test results included today smile

    Best wishes,

    polarbear

    ps - make your email brief, to-the-point, and polite smile

    Last edited by polarbear; 10/08/15 09:00 AM.
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    Originally Posted by polarbear
    ps - make your email brief, to-the-point, and polite smile
    Agreed. Do not mention or bemoan delays encountered to-date. smile

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    _Angie_ Offline OP
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    Thanks! The written policy states they do accept outside testing. This was also confirmed when I spoke with the district AIG office.

    I've tried to do as much as possible via email, but the school AIG teacher always calls me back on the phone. At times I have replied to the previous thread with "As you mentioned on the phone, I plan to do blah and we will follow up by blah..." kind of thing, CC-ing the classroom teacher in an effort to keep everyone on the same page.

    Yesterday when I spoke with the district office I was so surprised at their take charge attitude about getting it cleared up that I forgot to ask them point blank if there were timelines set up in the process. Agh!

    I got a call back yesterday at end of day letting me know they wouldn't be able to answer my questions that day (went to voicemail) so I assume they will talk to me as soon as they can get a hold of the teacher at the school. The district office seems very responsive.

    But yes, I think you're right.

    I guess I will call the district and just ask them if there is any policy on how long the process will take once testing is completed. Most of the documentation I see talks about having to nominate by the testing interval, since it's once a semester. Maybe the school wants to wait and process his results with everyone else's, so they're waiting until the other kids finish the testing?

    3 weeks basically, until the results are invalid. At this point maybe asking directly if the results need to be submitted by us by one year from the test or if they can only be considered in the decision one year from the test would be useful as well.

    As you can see, brief does not come naturally. wink But I have managed to do okay when interacting with the school!

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    _Angie_ Offline OP
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    Also, maybe not clear in what I said, but I emailed the results one month ago with the official request. There were follow up papers sent (with copies for us) with another step in the process a couple days later.

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    Okay, spoke with the district again. They keep acting as though it is very strange that it's taking the school teacher this long. They asked for the test scores themselves and I sent them in directly. Once they approve them they will send them back to the school with the "approved" tag on them.

    I have no idea how working with the school AIG teacher will be going forward, but I think it's safe to assume his scores are considered submitted on time at this point.

    The district coordinator said it is their best practices to try to finish the process in 30 days. It is not typical for it to take an entire semester.


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    I spoke with my son's teacher this week and she expressed a lot of frustration with the AIG teacher. According to her she went out of her way to go ask the AIG teacher when my son would be evaluated and the AIG teacher said "not yet" or something to indicate she didn't feel it was time to do that.

    So much for the AIG teacher being his advocate and making sure the classroom teacher is differentiating. frown This AIG teacher seems to want nothing to do with my child at all, it's so very frustrating. Thank goodness his classroom teacher has a positive attitude, there seem to be AIGish peers in his classroom, and we weren't expecting a lot of services to begin with... but, ugh.

    I will email the central office again tomorrow and find out what's up I suppose.


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