There is actually a gifted chapter in our district--I have been to a couple meetings, and one involved the school administration.
This sounds good.
The district is very proud of itself for having a gifted program but fails to realize that these cluster groups in grades 3-6 simply do not work.
What might work? This may be an area to brainstorm... possibly with other parents... possibly your children and others may have suggestions as well.
And that there are no options for younger grades other than acceleration.
Commonly related to IQ stabilizing at a certain age... but yes, gifted kids may already be learning noticeably more quickly than age peers, even as toddlers.
They seem to realize there are concerns but it takes years for them to do anything or get their act together.
Sharing what is working elsewhere may help them avoid "reinventing the wheel".
They also have another program for 4th to 6th grade, but in our huge district of thousands of kids, only about 25 or 30 kids per grade are accepted.
Doing the math, if there are 3,000 and 30 are accepted, that program may be designed for the top 1%, one student in 100.
It's a school within a school type program (for highly gifted) and kids end up skipping a couple years of math.
Accelerated math...
That would be ideal for DS if he can hang in there a few more years,
He is a mathy kid...
but he is not strong in verbal ability only non-verbal and to qualify for that program you need to be strong in everything.
Then actually the program would not be ideal for DS. Or some may say it would be ideal for him, but he would not be ideal for it... he and others with the same relative strengths (but not globally gifted) may hold back the students who are. Unrequited love... painful.
The district superintendent actually wants to open another GATE school so that more kids can be served, but with huge budget issues in the district, that's unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Not understanding this as a budget issue as it is not adding seats but rather repurposing a number of seats from general ed to gifted ed. This may be something to ask about and rally other parents behind.
The focus is definitely on the higher level grades, not elementary. It sounds like the high school program has a lot more opportunities. It's a highly rated high school and very large. So there are lots of AP classes or classes to get college credit. But that is a long way away.
These classes are advanced academics and may be something to look forward to, but are not a panacea as they may not provide the appropriate pacing for a gifted kid.
The gifted chapter leaders are trying to advocate but part of the problem is that the district is in a huge financial mess at the moment. If the next voter levy does not pass it will have to chop about 15 percent of the budget. It will be bad--kids will lose transportation, music, go down to a 4-day school week.
Yes, because our national economy is slow, fewer are employed and property values in many areas are falling, therefore less income tax and property is being collected from families, and as a result the government has less taxpayer money to redistribute. The national debt is growing, to be paid by our children and grandchildren: There is an expression "Robbing Peter to pay Paul". The gifted chapter leaders may wish to brainstorm on ways to educate children within a smaller budget, and the parent volunteerism you mentioned earlier may be part of the solution. What is working in other areas? You may wish to research this, including resources on the Davidson database (for example, a search for "budget" revealed 146 articles, and a search for "urban" revealed 72 articles on Urban Education).
My DD's 3rd grade class already has 26 kids but it will go up over 30.
While not ideal, some students have been well-educated in classes as large as 60. It takes a strong internal desire and will to learn. Parents can help encourage that at home.
So the crumbling budget is all they can think about right now.
Yes, part of their job is to remain fiscally solvent.
I applied for open enrollment to the next district over for next year. It is "rich" and does not have these issues,
You may wish to verify this, not by reputation, but by attending their board meetings & budget meetings, reading their website and also vetting their gifted program for "fit" as outlined in a previous post. Sometimes families find that districts are identical in their gifted programs; one with a larger budget may allocate more financial resources into sports, teacher salaries & benefits, buildings, etc... not into the gifted program. Meanwhile parents may be afterschooling and providing weekend and summer enrichment classes. If qualification for the gifted program is not an absolute cut score, but relative to the population, children not receiving afterschooling and outside classes may not qualify; while their IQ score may be high, their achievement may not keep pace with peers who've had more experiences. Be on the lookout for quality experiences on a shoestring budget, including opportunities to socialize with other gifted kids... they DO learn so much from each other. Network and bond with other local parents of gifted kids.
And I still need to tour the schools and talk to the district gifted coordinator there. I can use ideas from these forums in terms of what to ask, so thank you for that.
Hopefully not just what to ask... but also how to prepare... what to observe... what to offer.
