Hi Cricket -
You gave a great example in your post on Forum Guidelines of a topic that is important and interesting enough to have it's own thread for clarity. I hope you don't feel picked on if I quote you over here. Let's try 'treadgrafting' and see if how it goes.
I'll freely admit that I have major pet peeves about group ability tests and their use in iding gifted kids and the way gifted is mis/overidentified in many of the schools with which I am familiar. I am trying to ascertain if the times where I move in that direction on a thread are part of the problem here.
eta: I think that the reason I feel more free to discuss those types of issues here is b/c most of us have HG+ kids even if they aren't DYS level. I, personally, believe that HG+ kids are more harmed by policies that place huge #s of bright, high-achieving but not gifted kids in the GT classes and exclude kids who don't do well on group tests since HG kids are possibly more likely than mildly gifted kids to not do as well on a group test. Also, filling the classes that are supposed to meet gifted kids' needs with kids whose needs are much different b/c they aren't gifted is essentially a heterogenous grouping & leaves HG kids with nothing. This is kind of the only place I have to vent about it.
Locally, I only know of one or two families with whom I am friendly who have kids with GT ids who are in a similar spot to mine. On the other hand, most of the families I know casually or more closely do have GT ided kids. These kids are so different from mine, though, that these aren't the types of conversations we would have.
BTW - what does eta stand for?
Anyway - We don't have gifted programs mandated on a state level, nor did we have any at a local level. In some way I prefer that to locals that have programs and are unwilling to accept private WISC IV or SB's as alternate identification paths. Better to have no program at all than to have one that disqualifies a child for thinking too deeply.
I just downloaded a sample to my kindle of Alternative Assessments with Gifted and Talented Students, edited by Joyce L. VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D I wonder if it will be chock-full of good ideas...
My DS's idea is one of my favorites - ask all kids if they think that they need harder school work, under polygraph testing, and send the ones who say yes for a trial to the next grade up. Repeat as needed.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
