Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion % of kids being gifted

That struck me as very funny!

P.S. We're also in an area with a ridiculously high number of kids IDd as GT. The number apparently changed recently (??? Not sure why...???), and I'm not sure what they're quoting now, but it's still in the neighborhood of 30%, if memory serves.

Granted, it tends to be an affluent area with lots of highly educated parents, but that big a percentage seems pretty nutty to me, too!

Exactly that's really all I'm saying. All I ever hear from administrators is how brilliant all of the kids are. Frankly my response is why not adapt the curriculum rather than label and not label children as gifted. I constantly think that my dd is border line. One of those kids who would do well in a challenging environment but probably doesn't have special education needs. Then I look at the work that comes home and realize that she is light years ahead. The disconnect is staggering. If 30% of our school's children are truly gifted and another 25% test gifted but don't get admitted to the program, then surely this curriculum - 3 letter words on spelling tests in second grade etc etc... - can't be serving anyone very well. But then I tour the halls and from looking at children's work there appear to be plenty of kids who need this level of basic work. This is what led me to believe that the system is becoming watered down and not meaningful. I think my dd is borderline and I shudder to think what is happening to the kids that are way outside the box. How could their needs possibly be served in this system? How can anybody's?

Ianfan.... I certainly wasn't offended! I don't think anyone else was.....I just wanted to offer another perspective.

I agree with everything you're saying here. Just because the administrators tell you how brilliant all the children are, doesn't make it exactly so.

A lot of people come to the board saying that their admistrator, upon receipt of a super high IQ score, such as your DD's, tell the parent: "Not to worry, we have tons of kids like that at our school(pat, pat). We know what we are doing."

And you might find if you start advocating, that you might hear something like this: "Well, there are children here that are even SMARTER than YOUR daughter."
-disclaimer-don't start borrowing trouble, you may never hear this.

It just seems like I've heard so many parents report that they have been told that, I've become convinced it's in some administrator handguide somewhere. Meant to get parents to "simmer down"!

Ianfan, just be careful and make sure you really want to peer behind the curtain. It seems like you are picking up some unfortunate subtleties of the system very quickly(hmmm,,,,wonder where she gets it from?)
You might not love what you see.

Yes that all sounds very familiar. We got that exact script in response to our concerns about reading. She had a bad teacher one year and it was a total disaster which is why I am so paranoid. In general we're happy with the school. My comments on rewards for active parents were not worded very well. My concern is basically this. If 40% of the kids that have qualifying test scores don't get in how is it that many kids get in through parent referrals without the scores. I have heard through the grapevine that if you push your kid will get in but have no first hand knowledge. It just seems like a strange system. If the test scores are worthless, which they may be, why make the kids take them at all? Why not use a different method?

I also know people, many people, who pay for COGAT/NNAT prep testing. So their kids take multiple practice test and receive instruction on how to solve the patterns etc.... The whole thing is just crazy the environment is so competitive. I just want my dd who loves to read and write to have a rewarding school experience and trying to achieve that is like walking through a field of landmines. I came to the board to for input on her test scores as a realty check looking for an objective opinion. Sometimes I worry that I'm getting caught up in the competitive whirl and losing all perspective :-(

Is the GT program good enough to merit all that pushing and prepping?

No one here does any of that because the program simply isn't worth it!

Everyone says it is like a high quality private school education in the public school system. They automatically accelerate math and reading and them compact them through sixth grade so essentially by the end of sixth grade kids are at a high school level. At least that's the idea.

Ditto here. They don't test them until 3rd and then they do nothing for them until they are in 7th. Big waste of time. Of course, the program is hugely underfunded. Our school receives $10 per year per identified gifted student.

We have about 5% gifted in our district (130 or above). About 2% of those (2 of 100 gifted) are highly gifted (145 or above). A town in the northern part of the state where there's a national research lab boasts 30% gifted.