Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research NCLB and Gifted Students

Bianc850a - so you're saying the entrance for your DD's school is a FSIQ of 138 on either the WISCIV or SBV indicating HG+?

Thanks bianc850a. Is this based on correlation studies?

Ren

Yes, those are the minimum IQ scores they list in order to receive an application. They get many more applications than there are spots, so having that IQ doesn't guarantee entrance.

My understanding is that if a child is qualified, they get in, and there is no limit as to how many "spots" DYS has available in any given month. Do you have information about quotas, Bianca?

There are problems with every method of differentiation. I'm thinking about underprivileged gifted kids who might not have the exposure to things 5+ grades ahead, though they may have the intellectual power to comprehend it. Then there are kids who are way out there in just 1-2 areas, but more average in others. There just aren't any easy outs when it comes to summarizing a person's intellectual capacity.

My preference is to look at a number of things, and never pigeonhole a kid based upon a single test.

And not only underpriviledged kids ... I think of my KG, borderline EG/PG. He's working comfortably 4-6 grades above level for reading, but only 2-3 above for math--even though math is clearly his strong point. I blame this on me. :-). We just don't work with him formally at home. I work full-time, and while we frequently play mathy games that he loves, we rarely do anything formal.

This has left some pretty gaping holes in his math ability (easily converts between fractions, decimals and percents, but can't add with carrying on paper--we actually *are* going to work on that tonight!).

But just because he doesn't, doesn't mean that he *couldn't*, kwim?

I think that's a very important point, Mia, and yet another reason why any one definition of HG/EG/PG doesn't really work for all kids. If the schools and their deep-in-GT-denial parents never give them anything harder than grade level, then that's all they'll be capable of doing.

In K, my son was reading at the 3rd-4th grade level...but we didn't have any books for him that were harder than the 3rd-4th grade level. So of course that was his limit!

I like what Dottie said about black-and-white definitions only working for black-and-white kids. We have to look at the big picture, using whatever tools we have available and seeing where our kids have been limited as well as helped.

Thanks Dottie,

Yes, I was talking about the entrance requirements to my DD's school.

I totally agree with you Mia and my DS7 is exactly the same - vastly further ahead in reading than math, although really I think math is going to be his strongest area at the end of the day.

It's much easier to have exposure to a lot of different reading sources than fill holes in math. I have DS working 3rd grade math right now (going into 2nd), and it's filling holes. A lot of it he really does "know" conceptually but maybe isn't familiar with notation. Ah ... one of the things we hope to fix somewhat by homeschooling. Anyway - it's much more about how they learn, rather than what exactly they know IMHO.

Well, I see what you're saying, CFK. Some PG kids are very good at this form of self-teaching.

But I think it's a mistake to assume that PG = needs no instruction. I don't accept this as true for all PG kids, nor do I think it is a necessary part of the definition for PG.

In fact, I think this is a pretty dangerous line to take, since it sounds very much like the line the schools often take: "If he's so smart, then why doesn't he know it already? If he's so smart, he doesn't need to be taught."