Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment How many times to test?

You are overthinking this. Make your stand, but not at your daughters expense, and get your DD into the gifted program that she needs. if you really wanted to go all the way in making sure your DD does not have any advantage that other kids have, you'd have to put her into the absolute worst school in the district, put her in front of the tv, feed her junk, beat her daily and get drunk (and find a man to sexually abuse her). What BS, you are shouting? Just a matter of degree. Every single gifted program in the world will be primarily filled with advantaged kids, for reasons of nature and nurture advantages theses kids have that you do not want to change, will not change and ought not to change. I gather that you just could not bring yourself to ask the district to exempt your daughter from a requirement that she missed by ONE point, for a legitimate reason, to leave her in an environment that does not meet her needs? Not fair to your daughter, who is your primary responsibility.

I felt like THAT MOM when I put down DS name for private school. I passionately believe in socioeconomic integration, but I also know that the public school we were zoned for could not meet his needs, and he would NOT Have found friends, and been deeply unhappy (I know the road not traveled, because I speak to mothers who could not or would not travel ours, and their kids are very lonely. )

At some point (as soon as I regularly get a good nights sleep again) I will enter the political fray and fight for SES integrated schools AND proper ability grouping for clustered gifties. But until then, I need to use my energy to move DS through elementary with the least harm done (private school is just about adequate, not perfect, and we may need to accelerate him into gifted middle school). How about reaching out to the
ELL kids families and help them find good educational options for their kids?

Sorry, I realize I have been harsh, probably precisely because I have. Struggled with similar issues and made different choices, so forgive me if you feel that I have made assumptions and been unjust in my ranting.