Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments How did you choose your child's school?

Well said!

The only problem I see with this, and Kriston, correct me if I am wrong, is that you are talking about more for HG kids, right??? Haven't you said before you feel the MG population is being served well enough? (not perfect, but well enough) Percentage wise, how many HG kids are there out there? To me it isn't the same as the women's voting rights, civil rights, etc. because with those you are talking about enormous portions of the population who could come together for the greater good for a great number. If you are talking about things for that 1 kid out of an entire district, I just can't see that many people being too worried about it. I'm not saying it is right, I'm just being realistic. Or am I missing something in what you are saying?

I also think that if you are talking about a system revision, you have to look at the flip side of the coin too. I realize that this is a forum for GT kids, but we should not forget children who are average or lower. It is not as easy to get services for "lower than average" kids either.

I spent my career working with these kids and to get them the services they need is just as difficult. Most often they get what is considered a "minimum to get by". I had to sit in meetings and state for the record that some of these kids could do well without my particular service, simply because the service was just not available at the particular school. Had I not done that, the child would be hard pressed to get any services at all.

The entire educational system needs revision, based on the reality that ALL kids are individuals and they can not be put in boxes as they are now. Even among HG kids, no two are alike in their learning style, their interest and their capacity to learn in any one given clssroom.

I think that is why we continue to have the same arguments over and over with those who educate our children. There are too many variables that can not be addressed in the current system and I am wondering if there is a model that would work globally for all children?

Perhaps that is what the advocates (here and everywhere) need to develop? Should every child get the testing that we pay loads of money to get privately? Then, each child has a written score for placement...but what about the kids who are not good test takers?

Many variables to wrap your head around. Especially when you come from a situation like I did, where there was one school, one ciriculum, you sank or you swam. I am glad that there are options for my children and perhaps the questioning will bring a better tomorrow for the next generation.

As a taxpayer and US citizen I am entitled and feel responsible to understand and critically evaluate the effectiveness of our local and national public schools. It�s a commonplace preemptive argument against possible criticism to imply that you must have a child in the system in order to comprehend the issues.

Honestly, I have met a greater number of parents whose children are in our public schools who are completely oblivious to educational measures, issues and debates than non-participating, but informed citizens who try to effect change at the local level here. In many cases, as long as their child receives mostly As, the parents lap up whatever the school district proposes and accuses those who question the agenda of �not supporting the kids�.

I know there are many excellent public school districts throughout the country, but we don�t happen to live in one. What makes this particularly irritating is that there are several districts (with nearly identical demographics) both near and far that offer more academic challenge and perform far better on NATIONAL testing while collecting less than half per $100,000 in property taxes. Our school district mantra is the more money the district collects, the better the education for the kids. Period. They ignore the fact that our children are at a disadvantage for even moderately competitive schools because the high school doesn�t offer any AP classes at all and, of course, no IB diplomas.

Conversely, I�ve been researching schools in the N. VA area as we may be moving there next summer. I am certain we could be quite satisfied with one of several public schools in that area as their educational philosophies seems more aligned to our (higher) expectations. As an added bonus, our property taxes would be ~ 40% of what we currently pay for the same home value.

If you attack a perception problem head on, you will lose and waste your energy.

You have to come at it from a different direction entirely.

Austin,
I am learning to appreciate your insights from a different angle. But,being really new to getting my dds what they need, I feel like I'm trying not to burn bridges with teachers, get a good education for my kids, and educate "the system". I feel like I have no idea what the proper angle is so it all feels like a crap shoot and I dislike it for all parties involved.

Does that make sense?

You are correct. The citizens I refer to know better than to attack the schools, although the school officials have been quite tenacious with their attacks against anyone who inquires regarding their lack of transparency. Even those who know better, repeat the hype about the fantastic schools in order to maintain home values in this area. For selfish reasons (such as avoiding financial ruin), we hope the misperceptions hold at least until we sell our house!

Well, I will correct you: no, I am talking about more for ALL GT kids, perhaps even more for those kids above average but below GT, since often I think they often get the shaft worse than even the HG+ kids and could be quite well-served by many of the same sorts of helps that HG+ kids could use.

I think MG kids are generally better served right now than HG+ kids (or not-quite GT kids, for that matter), but even that service is hit or miss. Is an hour a week of fluffy fun in a GT pullout enough for an MG kid? I'd say no. And that sort of thing is all too common in schools today.

So yes, I think we have virtually the EXACT same situation that developmentally disabled families--or even the civil rights movement--were facing back in the day. I'm looking at a minority population whose needs are not being met, but it's a sizeable minority. If we put our voices together, we'd make a LOT of noise.

Well, I don't want to get into a "who has it worse" competition, but my son's 1st grade class was located right next to the special ed classroom. I saw TWO adults working 1-on-1 with kids. (That's more than one! Each time I was in the school, regardless of the time of day. It seemed to be the norm.)

Now, I do not begrudge the children that help. But meanwhile, my HG+ child was sitting in a regular classroom getting NO services whatsoever. No pullout, no differentiation, no nothing. (There's my "nothing with a bow on it," BTW...) He learned literally nothing in the 6 weeks he was in 1st grade except that he was a bad kid who got in trouble all the time, that he was the smartest kid he knew (ugh), and that school was frustrating and pointless.

If the school had given him even a little bit of 1-on-1 attention--let alone 2-on-1!--and we'd still have him in the public schools!

And don't get me started on the conversations I've had with a new friend who can't get over the fact that there's NO money or special public school setting for my son, when her developmentally disabled son the same age is getting a free, specialized education at a school just for him. "That makes no sense," she keeps saying. "If they can serve my son, why can't they serve yours?"

So while things aren't ideal for developmentally disabled kids, they're a whole lot better than what I see for GT kids. After all, if I'm aspiring to the services granted to developmentally disabled kids, then that says something about how bad it is, right?

I agree. We got a letter from the school last week saying that if we believe one of our kids has a disability, the school system will have to test him and provide services if the tests are positive. There is SO much for kids with disabilities, and next to nothing for bright ones. That's wrong. Just because kids are bright doesn't mean that they don't need help too. Yet instead, they get the opposite in many cases.

Val