My DD (in kindergarten) made it into the gifted program! I am so excited. Her teacher has already started approaching her needs differently. Before the teacher had her pegged (or so she thought) as a behavior problem and wasn't willing to hear our concerns that maybe she was bored.

As glad as I am, it disappoints me that so many kids who are close but don't make the cut get nothing. So they just get to move along at the general pace without opportunities for extra stimulation. It just seems like a lot bigger percent of high performing kids should have the benefits.

That's great news! Hopefully, you'll find some other places to talk about your DD's achievements too. It's isolating if you don't feel comfortable talking about your kiddo.

It would be nice if schools did away with some of the cutoffs, and offered each kid appropriate challenges. And a lot of the traditionally GT programming (e.g., higher-level thinking) is beneficial to all kids, whether in GT or not.

Congrats to your DD. Hopefully her teacher will start to look at all her "behavior problem" kids in a different way.

Congratulations.

This is why a lot of districts are moving away from GT programs to pure differentiation - a lot of what is good for GT kids is good for all kids. All kids should be met where they are. The sad thing is that other places cut GT and claim to be putting differentiation into place, but they don't provide the training, support, etc. And for some kids (including many here) GT programs, differ., etc just won't meet their needs anyway.

Excellent news!!! We have to wait until the first part of May to hear back from the GATE program in our district.
I have Tom Petty's "The Waiting" on permanent loop in my head these days.

I couldn't agree more with St. Pauli. I believe all children need to be taught with appropriate challenges. Thank goodness your daughter got into the gifted program and I hope the program provides everything she needs.