Pushback on Willy Nilly Acceleration - Gifted Issues Discussion Forum

Here's a link to SwitchedonMOm's blog entry titled "PUshback on Willy Nilly Acceleration." Article Link

Quote

What they�re saying, in a nutshell, is that students� abilities vary. That one size does not fit all. That just because someone at 450 Hungerford Drive says all students will meet certain advanced standards doesn�t make it so. To paraphrase the good Dr. Weast (with a nod to Fred S.), these folks are �willing to put ability on the table.�

Unspoken in the article is what this says about grouping. Because remember, MCPS has been eliminating GT classes at the middle school in favor of heterogenously grouped classes. MCPS officials argue that they can offer the same accelerated, rigorous classes to all students by providing �support� and �scaffolding� to struggling students. What people in this story are saying�and what parents have known for, like, forever�is that fishes are not wishes. As things are structured now, it�s not working. It doesn�t work for struggling students, and it�s doing no favors to the students who are ARE comfortable with the rigor and acceleration being offered�and could do even more if given the attention.

Where's the banging head on wall icon???????????????? Why why o why must it be so difficult.......

Our local school system is moving in this same direction. They are aspiring to have around 80% of the kids taking college courses or AP courses in highschool (pretty similar to the school district this article references). I don't see as how we can expect 80% of the kids to be above average. It doesn't make statistical sense to expect 80% of people to fall above the 50th percentile.

Then again, our other local district is in the habit of skipping kids grades without IQ scores. I believe that my older dd is one of the few kids for whom they've actually had IQ scores when deciding on a skip. In other instances, it is basically the parent pushing for the skip and the school saying that it is up to the parent -- no testing required.

Cricket2,

I, too, live in this type of school district and I often ponder if socioeconomic plays a substantial role in these kids lives. Majority of the student population is in at least one AP class but I also wonder how much is due to paid services to tutor their children. The bookstores in the area are taken over by tutors in the afternoon and all the kids I know are in those sessions. And, of course, if you don't get into AP classes you are considered a low life. Really sad. But the comment about jumping grades exclusively on the parents' recommendation took me back and a little scary to say the least. Even in our high demand district the students are only considered for grade skips with documentation.

They use the Iowa Acceleration Scale, but just leave out IQ scores and adjust the total possible points downward to remove the available points for IQ. They also allow parents to fill out all of the subjective parts -- how they get along with peers, how quickly they finish assignments, etc. -- which gives the parent a lot of room a give the kid high scores that will sway the overall #. We insisted on having dd's teacher fill everything out that was at all subjective. If the kid doesn't come out as a good or excellent candidate on the IAS, the school recommends that they not skip, but ultimately the parent can override that decision.

Parents can override the decision if the school recommends the child not skip? Wow. That would never happen here...