Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy PSSA

At every GIEP meeting, the special ed coordinator at my DD's school brings up the PSSA test. She feels that preparing for the PSSA' s should be the focus of the gifted plan. My DD has scored advanced evry time in all subject areas. How do I convince them that state tests have no bearing on her needs?

Well, you could tell her that forcing your daughter to waste time preparing for a test so that she gets a score that will benefit the school far more than your daughter is not your idea of meeting her needs.

Of course, you'll feel good for a while after you said this, but it won't get you anywhere. But you can think it and people here will agree!

Alternatively, if she took the test last year with no special prep, you could present the results of that test and suggest meaningful alternatives to test prep. I'd make a short list of things that you think would benefit your daughter.

Our district consistently has PSSA scores in the top 5 in the state, but the kids do very little preparation. There is no need to prepare if you are teaching grade appropriate material. I think they do a sample test so they are familiar with the format.

The kid I declared "not college material" at age 4 had two years of perfect math PSSAs (all questions correct) and the two times they had the writing PSSA (grades 5 & 8), she had a perfect score on that section too. So, let them know that a "not college material" kid can easily ace the PSSAs.

Perhaps, to some people, passing score on standardized test = learning.

Passing standardized tests should be a natural byproduct of successful education. It should, by its nature, be a small sampling of the knowledge and understanding learned through the overall comprehensive education of a kid. You'd expect successful enrichment would naturally raise gifted kids performance into the advanced area or reinforce the underlying skills and abilities that already would.

Any directed attempt to teach to a standardized test is akin to putting lipstick on a pig. Is that their perception of the actual quality of the education they offer? Whether that's the intended message or not, there is definitely an underlying trend of gifted children taking their toys (high scores) away and going home to school.