Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy District: "Don't confuse us with the facts"

Aquinas, I think you hit a nerve!

I think so!

On a lighter note, after seeing me seethe in response to the meeting, DH had the presence of mind to ask me if I'd snidely referred to the superintendent as "Supernintendo" while excoriating her ideas.

Some may say you tapped into a commonality, one so large as to be international, and so pervasive a trend as to be creating a toxic environment in public schools for gifted kids.

Yes, you've hit a nerve and I totally agree with the above, except it's the feelings of belonging of all children except the gifted ones that are important. Our board is adjacent to yours, if I recall correctly, and DD, in second year of kindergarten, has no peers - NONE. She only recently said she found a friend at school who would listen to what she has to say. There is no one to talk with about the things she is interested in and so she spends most of her time conforming to the games other children want to play or the topics they want to talk about. Why aren't her interests as valued as the other children's? She can belong only if she goes along with what others want, otherwise she has to entertain herself. This is the antithesis of fostering a sense of belonging.

In terms of academics, again, she is a second class citizen. Her teacher told me that the stretch goal in reading for children entering grade one is level 6 and that they usually get about %40 of the class to that level. DD is at minimum level 20 and so she gets no instruction in reading. Sure, they've subscribed to Raz Kids and DD can work at her own pace but I've had to teach her all of the background info around answering comprehension questions myself.

How can her teacher focus on working with DD when she needs to get 60 percent of the class up to speed and is busy putting out fires all day? DD is constantly called on to model behaviour for other children who are having difficulties or help teach/explain a topic they are learning about in the class. Her teacher is always telling me what a big help DD is. That's nice, I want her to be helpful and kind, but it is also not DD's job to teach or help with classroom management. She's at school to learn and work on improving her weaker skills.

Of course they aren't seeing a difference in outcomes between the gifted and non gifted students. They are holding the gifted kids back and not teaching them anything and then giving them all the same test. Other kids are told they should strive to achieve new academic heights and my DD is being told, indirectly, to hold herself back and be kind, don't get too far ahead because others will feel bad.

All of this and we actually have a teacher who gets that DD is ahead and needs more but just physically can't because she's got her hands full including everyone.

Sorry for the personal rant. It just makes me so mad. We are working on getting an IEP. I do wish you the best of luck with getting your school up and running. It is sorely needed.

Yes. This. So frustrated. I knew they were not planning on providing any instruction for dd7 because she already "met the end of the year grade level expectations", and were going to focus on getting the remainder of the kids to also meet those same end of the year grade level expectations. Now I get her report card and I see that she fails to "*exceed* end of the year grade level expectations"... Wait, what? You refuse to assess her to see where she is academically, then tell me she is only "meeting grade level expectations" because you won't test her (or provide any) above grade level instruction? Infuriating!!! I am told it is a "district policy" not to test above grade level. AHHHH! Now I know how they get them to "all even out by third grade".

Yes.

If you cut down those tall poppies often enough, they WILL stop growing.

And they will learn to hate education. And they will never learn how to take on a challenge and see the success that comes from perseverance and good old hard work.

And then we are shocked when they don't turn into ambitious high flyers that rock the world.

Excuse me. I need to go change the litter in the cheetah cage.

BTDT. On the bright side, some of the new testing is helping our cause. Our school recently adopted the STAR test, which is adaptive (giving the child harder items when they get easy ones right). The math ceilings at three years above whatever grade level they enter in the child's record; the language arts test apparently does not have such a ceiling (i.e. will test right up to 12th grade level for an elementary schooler).

After three and a half years of the school refusing to test DS's actual levels of performance, we now have evidence. Supplied by them. And they are showing signs of taking it seriously.

It is hard to get schools' practices to change, but sometimes possible.

Well said.

Yes, the system learns very fast. The government school system also has a taxpayer-funded communication system in place. This may place parents at a disadvantage as parental communication systems are piece-meal at best, and largely consist of open-access forums which are as easily read by school officials and policy-makers as they are by parents.

Well said.

We bailed on our public schools before even starting. DS4 can read and write and would not be eligible for kindergarten until Fall 2016. We both work and don't have time to play Sisyphus every year with a recalcitrant bureaucracy. It's frustrating - we pay taxes and live less than a mile from a nice elementary school that we will never use.

Good luck with starting the gifted school. There is unmet demand for schools like this and I seen for myself what a huge difference a good gifted program can make for kids.