Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Too many kids in GT programs?

Oh and we have a lot of red shirting but red shirting means nothing to our GT program b/c they only use WISC and the Woodcock Johnson and/or WIAT... all of which are normed by age not grade level. Though it does seem like a lot people assume that it is a bunch of red-shirts in the program.

They use a combination of initial screening (KBIT), achievement scores, teacher/parent evals, and finally the WISC-IV in their matrix. There are 3 stages, and each stage has a minimum score to get through to the next.... minimum scores to get through are not very high.

Kids do not have to score 130 or above on IQ test to get in.

But everyone wants their kid in the program, when it is actually not really do any good for anyone involved (too many kids, not enough resources). So frustrating.

IN the case of my own district, YES-- the percentage of students identified in each school in our district is publicly available information. Right there on the website.

Just like Nutmeg's situation, our "GT" is pretty much a network of cronyism, TigerParenting, and the small-town/big-fish phenomena inherent in a community like mine.

Similar numbers of identified students, too. Now, while the local demographics (many faculty brats, and a terminal-degree rate hovering near 15-20% for the ADULTS in town) support the notion that the local IQ is probably around 115, that's a LONG way from saying that 30% of the students in our district are IQ>130, I think. Statistically, this is just an impossibility.

In addition, there is STAUNCH denial that there is any difference whatsoever between a student at the 90th percentile and one like my DD (and other kids on the forum here) who are at the 99th+.

Which brings us to "we don't need to do anything more. ALL of our classes are rigorous and challenging... because we have 30% GT students in our school."

Uhhhh-- but-- er-- oh, just-- nevermind. <--- which is how we got to where WE are. Homeschooling/virtual schooling and 3+ accelerations later. Actual school administrators in town recognize this problem for what it is-- entitled helicopteritis-- and privately admit that the situation makes it virtually IMPOSSIBLE for them to do right by HG+ children like my DD. They see a handful of them-- perhaps one every five to eight years-- and quickly send them packing either to homeschool or accelerate the heck out of them and push them into the local community college ASAP.

Local HS counselor all but admitted that he's encountered exactly THREE PG students in-district in thirty years (and he's probably seen ~30K students in those years, so that math seems about right to me). My DD is one of the three. So they know that what they are doing isn't right for those few kids, and they feel bad about it-- but they also know that they are skating on thin ice with a population much like the one referred to in Ashley's post. That population of parents who are 85th-95th percentile and 'striving' is a deadly force to be reckoned with, unfortunately. They want "the label" for their own kids, and frankly don't even stop to think about what it does for kids like ours. If they did, I'm not so sure that it would matter, anyway.

But I'm pretty bitter over this. I've paid a TON of property taxes into a system that is useless to us.

Which just goes to show that some sort of ability grouping is required. The 85 percentile kids probably really do need more than they get in a class aimed at the bottom half. But they don't need the same as the 99+ percentile.

I could only imagine how frustrating it would be to have a PG kid, and have to deal with such a situation.

Exactly...

Was thinking to post very similar.

Hk- I feel you about the taxes. My dh is asking if we should move:(

I guess we are of the minority...our (title I funded) elementary school of about 250 students has 2 identified gifted kids (one being our DD). DD7 will hopefully be #3 after we get results from her recent testing. There was one more student, but that child is no longer in the gifted program (for reasons I'm not aware of, but I have my guess). I would love to have a couple more kids identified so they can do some group activities together.
I don't see parents fighting to get their kids in the gifted program - this may be because they don't see the purpose or just that the gifted program isn't really "advertised". I also think most parents have faith in the school that they will do and are doing what is best for their child since they are the educators, so even if they thought their child was gifted if the school says they are not then that is that.

As a direct (historical) consumer of property taxes and as a current tax farmer, I thank you for your contribution to my personal welfare.

Keep up the good work!