Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Help with appeals for gifted program

Does anyone have any experience with successfully appealing placement into a gifted program. My dd10 was placed for Math, but not for ELA and I have a meeting Monday to discuss this further. My dd more than qualified in 2 of the 3 criteria on her terra nova and teacher recommendation. She missed the qualification on the STAR test by one point(they only took the spring score and her fall score would have qualified her). I understand that they have criteria in place for a reason, but I find it odd they only use those three measures and it is either yes or no based on the last score not the overall. My dd has been tested 16 times via STAR testing over the years since K and all but 4 had high qualifying scores. She is not only a straight A student, but gets almost 100% across the board in ELA and they don't take that into account at all. The director of the program agreed to meet with my husband and I she did say she felt like we had valid points with everything I said, but I feel like she may be placating me.

Some more information about my daughter:
She has been in a nationally recognized weekend gifted program since K
She participates in the EPGY math program
She is highly self motivated
She has been on a goal plan since K, but honestly it has been no help for her and this last year has been her most frustrating for her.
She spends her days in class reading b/c she is finished with work(can read 40-100 pages a day in class in addition to finishing her homework while in class).
She is very self motivated and loves to learn, but sadly is very frustrated in the school environment. Her 1st and 3rd grade teachers did great with her, but I feel this year has been the worst for her as far as being challenged.
While her last test score dipped for her star testing she was in the 98th percentile on Terra Nova In view and her state testing(they don't use this as a qualifier) was off the charts.

I feel that all other indicators show she belongs, but to block her because of one test and not take into consideration that she is not only getting A's, but 100% and the fact that she received the highest points for teacher recommendation is a disservice. Anyone have any success appealing a decision like this? I don't want to insult their selection process, but I feel like my daughter needs to be in a more challenging environment.

Thank you for reading this and any suggestions.

I can't help but I think it is a valid appeal.

It does seem like you have laid out a valid case. You may want to at least skim From Emotions to Advocacy if you can get hold of a copy before Monday, just to help you think about the negotiation strategies you will use.

If you can't get a hold of a hard copy you can get it on kindle.

Thank you for the quick replies. I will order the book on my kindle.

I actually made an error in my post. She missed the gifted program by one point on the rubric (you need 5pts)to qualify. Her percentage on star was actually 3 points too low, but her fall was high enough.

I think the strangest part for me is their is no credit for class grades. Isn't that odd?

It feels very frustrating because she truly loves to learn and I have had days where she cries hard because she doesn't want to go. I hate to use the phrase she is bored at school when talking to them as I feel it may be insulting to them, but that is exactly how she feels. She often asks why she can't just stay home and read all day because that is all she does at school. Makes me feel bad for her and I don't want to see her give up on her love for learning. The sad thing is she has become very involved in soccer and we can't do enrichment every session. I feel like right now she has to choose between soccer or the enrichment. I feel like being in the self contained gifted program would do much for her emotionally...if that makes sense,

You may have read this elsewhere on the forums... there is a crowd-sourced list of tips on preparing for a meeting. Also this
recent thread has several posts which discuss reasons to not use the word "bored" when advocating.

At the meeting, you may wish to ask whether there is a maximum number of students/seats for the ELA program, what that maximum is, and whether all seats are currently allocated.

In preparation...
1) You may wish to work on reorganizing your list with the most compelling pieces of evidence first.
-- ELA specific
-- Most recent scores first
-- Other personality traits for success
2) Depending on several factors, including length of the meeting, you may wish to drop the least-compelling evidence (or not).
3) You may wish to organize everything into a packet... one copy for school, one for you.

Due to the short timeframe, let's brainstorm on your list. These are just some initial thoughts...

Some thoughts to consider:
-Is this an ELA-specific program?
- Does it have an ELA component?
- Would her teachers vouch for your child's progress, level, and/or need for more advanced work?
- Might the school be inclined to believe that your child's presence in a weekend program lessens the need for your daughter to be in the school's ELA program?

If not related to ELA, you may wish to move this down further on your list, giving it less priority.

This is a great trait for advanced work. Is her motivation observable when working in ELA?

Possibly the goal plan needs to be updated to reflect her current strengths, growth goals, progress, interests.

Strongly ELA related.

What does the ELA program involve? Will it be enough?

You may wish to create a table or list of dates, tests, scores, (most recent first) marking those which would be qualifying scores.

Applicable. Children need a challenge worthy of their potential.

Highly applicable.

Well worth mentioning at the meeting.

You have a valid case, and little reason (I suspect) to think the appeal won't be accepted. The key is to stay calm and neutral of emotion.

I would recommend putting together a written document you can hand to the coordinator at the appeal: the first part of it should include all of the testing results in writing, including the STAR test being one point away from the cut-off. Next, include any other testing results that show her ability and achievement levels. I would then include (last thing) a brief statement re her high level of motivation. If you can get a written recommendation from your dd's current teacher I'd include that also.

I am not sure what the "goal plan since K" you mentioned is - is it an ELA plan, and is it some type of differentiated work? If so, her performance on it may be relevant and worth including.

I would probably not mention:
"She has been in a nationally recognized weekend gifted program since K" - unless this is a program that you have to qualify for with testing.
"She participates in the EPGY math program" - again I don't think this would mean much to the school with re to the ELA decision - first, I think it's possible to get students into EPGY without much proof of giftedness when they are young, and second, it's math. She's already qualified for the math program at school.
"She spends her days in class reading b/c she is finished with work(can read 40-100 pages a day in class in addition to finishing her homework while in class)." - this may or may not help. It doesn't necessarily relate to needing a higher level of challenge - just says that she can finish her in class work quickly.
"She is very self motivated and loves to learn, but sadly is very frustrated in the school environment." Keep the emotions out of this discussion - both yours and hers. If the meeting appears to be headed to a denial, you can bring up that she's frustrated, but I wouldn't do that unless I felt for certain the appeal was going to be denied. If you do mention that she's frustrated, don't phrase it as "sadly she's frustrated" - just be straightforward without attaching your emotion to it.

"her state testing(they don't use this as a qualifier) was off the charts." - state testing is most likely not used because (if it's like most state tests) it is typically geared to assessing whether or not a student has mastered the current grade level curriculum, and doesn't differentiate between high-ability students.


*You* feel it is a disservice - but the school may see this as a case of having to set some type of policy, having to have some cut-off point - this isn't anything personal re your daughter. (please note - I agree with you and would feel the same way you do - but I'm trying to point out what you need to focus on to advocate successfully).


YES. Not in your state or your school district, but our ds is one of the high ability kids on this board who scored much lower on the Cogat than on WISC/WJ-III/etc. We did successfully appeal.


Your feelings are valid, but you don't have to go about this by starting off telling the school your dd needs to be in a different environment - chances are you wouldn't be the first or the fifth or the 2100th parent who's tried that argument to get their child into the program (I've been surprised how many parents with test scores way below any type of cutoff in our district will fight fight fight to get their kids into the gifted programs because their children "need" to be in a more challenging environment. To be honest, I suspect most of their children to need to be in a more challenging environment. The key here thought, is that you have a very strong *data* to back up your appeal. Advocate from the data, not the emotion, and I suspect it will be a very quick meeting with a decision to admit your dd.

Best wishes,

polarbear

I have never had to appeal a placement decision. However, over the years I have been fortunate enough to get unsolicited information from teachers and administrators through informal chats, which may or may not apply to your gifted programs. It is difficult to give you good advice without information on your specific programs, including the driving force behind their selection/exclusion process.

In general, it seems the squeakiest wheel gets grease so that the parents who make the biggest fuss over non-placement are more likely to get their kids into the programs, often even over more objectively qualified kids. However, that is true partly because the qualification criteria are often set too low, the number of slots are far too few, so that the bottom half of the accepted kids are fairly interchangeable with the top rejected kids. It may well be that there is only a small group of kids who are sufficiently beyond the minimum criteria with the rest/majority of kids who are borderline either way. In that scenario, there is no reason why your DD couldn't be one of the ones who gets to move over that arguably arbitrary line.

In your DD's case, it would be helpful to point out that the relevant STAR score is not an accurate reflection of your DD's general performance based her other higher STAR scores. Perhaps she was sick or sleep-deprived that day . . .

Another point that was brought home to me was that not all teachers are equal. Some opinions are more respected than others so bring in other past teachers even if they can't be the official designated recommendation. In a completely different context, I have used the opinions of more experienced/respected teachers to sway the actions of other teachers/administrators.

By the way, I would not argue the straight A's and 100% scores on ELA unless straight A's and 100% are actually difficult to get in those particular classes. In my kids' elementary school, straight A's were fairly common and many many assignments were designed for most kids to succeed so that 100% on worksheets/tests were not unusual/unexpected. However, if you have outside testing scores of any kind (I.Q., Achievement, Talent Search, etc.), then it wouldn't hurt to bring those in.

Good luck and go into the meeting confident that your DD belongs in the program.

Thank you to everyone for the informative responses. I really appreciate it. I will try to keep emotions out of it and I already have all of the data to give to them at the meeting.

As far as her goal plan it includes both ELA and Mathematics, but we have had 3 years with nothing really followed on the plan(K, 2 and 4th). To make a long story short we would meet twice a year and I would explain what we felt needed to be done and they would write out "goals" and they would or wouldn't be met. My dd has had stacks of worksheets come home and was often separated in the back of the class grading papers or tutoring other kids at the worst of times and other times she had great independent study projects to work out that brought her a lot of happiness and enrichment. Those teachers and I always worked well together and it was an open line of communication. The other years I felt like it was a constant struggle of back and forth. After awhile I would kind of give up and hope for the best the next year. This last year I kinda had it in my head next year will be different when she can be placed in the self contained class...shame on me I know.

The program she can do on the weekend is both Math and ELA, she tested into both. She has taken classes in both. I have the teacher notes on all her classes. It is not a program that you can get into without high test scores.

I think that there are lots of kids who do well in class so I agree that isn't a definitive sign so I will move that to the bottom of my list.

I think all of her teachers she has had in school would speak to her strong work ethic. It is something every teacher she has had points out. I know her teacher did give her a strong recommendation for getting into the program.

I understand that state testing isn't necessarily an indicator of being gifted, but just that her scores are well beyond the exceeds standard and that maybe it would be another plus. I feel like STAR testing isn't always a good measure b/c these kids take them all the time and it is almost like they don't view them as important and will often just sit down and hurry up to get done so they can read. At least that seems to be the opinion of a lot of parents. I know my dd gets tired of taking them, but she knows they matter and does care about how well she does.

I feel like when I look at my list of data as to why she is a good candidate there are many and there list only has one. That makes me feel hopeful. Thanks again, it has been helpful to read the tips and honestly just vent before our meeting on Monday.

You must be in our school district. We are in the same boat. Polarbear and the others have great tips. Keep on fighting for your child.