I do want the personal experiences. They have been tried and tested.
Who did the testing? Was this done by the teacher? We do not have "normed" tests in place for our Kindergarten and 1st grades. Those are my "testing" concern grades. Were the parents allowed to "nominate" the child for the testing pool or just the classroom teachers? If you could design the method of notification for the parents, what would you involve?
This is where we are after several years with NOTHING formal in our corporation. We now have to address parent notification and even program awareness. This really is where it is great to have the input of someone in the been there/ done that category. Your input is priceless and will be carefully looked at as we pull this together. In all honesty, at this point, if we took this directly to our parents they would think we were nuts unless they are one of those who has sought outside programs for their child.
When I was working with ID as the GT teacher, I only had formal ID on 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. I know the data that we have for 3rd grade will be ADEQUATE, not great. Second grade has very little formal data, but it should be doable. I still think that the process needs to include some informal assessments. That is one of the areas that I am totally lost on, but know that the resource is out there. But then, who do we give those assessments to? Classroom teachers? Parents?
I truly believe that GT involves so much beyond traditional classroom. Thinking skills are key to that child being ready to use all of the "STUFF" they know so naturally. I really spent the first part of my curriculum with the fourth graders learning to accept different answers and realizing it was okay to be wrong occasionally. (In actuality, I was probably rebelling against my own educational upbringing where the occasional teacher would point out that "DUCKY" missed something.) I wanted my students to understand that bright didn't mean perfect and that there could be workable solutions besides their own.
