All children should be considered for the extended math program.
Agreed! Based on information provided by the OP, the child did not achieve the cut score on the qualification test.
It should not matter who their parents are.
Agreed!
Agreed!
... the child does not understand the directions, the parents do not know the system,
Some may say this is a universal experience, as it is not unique to those in a minority culture; Many "majority culture" students may err in instructions and many "majority culture" parents do not know the system.
Parent should not NEED to network.
Agreed. On the other hand, as you so eloquently stated earlier, "... if their parents talk to other parents in the school, they better understand the process. Which gives them better success in advocating." There are sayings such as "No man is an island", "Two heads are better than one", "It takes a village to raise a child" and many more which allude to strength in numbers. Parents join this forum to network; While parents here may share general information, parents in their own school may be helpful in illuminating their local system.
It should be about the child, and what the child needs, not about how well the parents advocate.
Agreed. When the child has not qualified by the test administered and parents would like another opportunity for their child to qualify, advocacy may come into play.
Many of us here on this board unfortunately are aware that the educational system does not always accurately identify those in need of advanced level work. And we do advocate. And we support each other by sharing advice and ideas. And we know that advocacy has varied success.
Agreed. However there is no evidence that the varied success of advocacy is due to "bias", but rather that some may choose to follow approaches which have been known to be well-received.
I don't see any evidence that PAA has rebuffed, excluded, refused to learn the system...
Agreed. The conversation went from a specific case (paa) to a generalization (examples in your district) to philosophical discussion of "bias", to whether having a different first language or culture meant one is facing "bias" in the system. I do not appreciate the creation of one lengthy rant-like quote from my various posts, removing the context of prompts to which I was replying.
... or seen advocacy as a fight,
Actually the OP twice used the word fight, presumably in regard to advocacy:
"Is it worth a fight with the Principal/Board/superintendent etc ? I believe being a parent I need to get the max benefit offered by the public school system and we have to fight for our kids if they really deserve it."
I'm sorry for any derailment I may have inadvertently caused by my choice of words.
This conversation flowed naturally from the OP raising the question of whether "politics" was at play. This is an important conversation to have: parents of gifted kids tend to suffer the same difficulties everywhere; There is not a separate tier of gifted services for "majority culture" as "bias" would imply. Other than that one word, +1 on your post.
