I don't understand the perspective that if a child is born for example August 15th is held back for a September 1 cutoff that people think they should not qualify for GT programs.
I didn't see the 60 minutes segment, but I think what the posters above are saying is they think kids are being redshirted who really wouldn't make the GT cutoff if they were in their age-appropriate grade, but parents hold them back thinking they will have higher academic achievement simply because they are older. I'll be honest - it doesn't make sense to me that that would happen! And maybe it doesn't happen in all school districts, but most of the G/T programs I've heard of have *some* component of ability testing required for elementary, which if it's a true ability test you can't prep for it and it's normed by age not grade - so kids who aren't meant to be G/T aren't going to qualify just because they are held back for a year.
Yes and no here. Placement in GT/honors/accelerated classes is based nearly entirely on achievement in the district my girls attend. The district GT page specifically states that a GT id doesn't mean placement in GT classes, that achievement and work habits need to be in place. Kids without that id are also placed in those classes if the achievement is in place. A formal id does require two separate areas of indication that the child is gifted. Those two areas can be achievement (grade level normed, so being older may help here), ability (one part of the CogAT or OLSAT that hits the 95th and is age normed), performance (grades, teacher recommendation, etc. which are also potentially benefitted by being older), or behavioral characteristics (which are, again, influenced by the perception of the teacher who is identifying those characteristics).
So, for instance, a child could be identified as gifted in language arts based on As in reading and an advanced CSAP/TCAP (CO's NCLB tests) score in reading or writing even if the verbal part of the CogAT is not above average and the child has never taken a IQ test. S/he could also be identified as gifted in language arts, like my dd11, b/c she has a 99.7th VCI score on the WISC and 99th+ individual achievement scores on tests like the WIAT. Both of these kids get the same GT reading class and the later child actually may not wind up in the GT reading class if, like my dd and another child I know, the child is 2e and have behavioral issues or erratic achievement. My dd did stay in GT reading despite 2e, but I know gifted kids who have not. I also know gifted kids who are underachieving and also wind up with no services beyond supposed in class differentiation.
