re: Testing your kids for Gifted/Talented classes

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I might have gotten knocked up by some guy at Glen Oaks High at 16 and moved to Mall City and popped out 5 kids

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Nah, you would have gotten knocked up by a slightly older West Jeff grad and moved around in the Air Force with him. How you doin'?

Gifted program was fun and helped me a lot, I would always finish early and get bored with normal school work. I started in third grade, at my school you couldn’t get tested until 2nd grade. Anyhow, we got to dissect sharks and learn guitar and shite while others were sniffing glue. I stayed in all the way through, and am glad I did.

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FTR, we don’t think he’s gifted, but he’s pretty damn bright

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Must get it from his mom.

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excellerated classss

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Must get it from his mom.

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excellerated classss

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No doubt

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leaning towards not testing him for it because it seems like bullshite to me and I think it may do more harm for him to be isolated from his peers and stuck with the GT kids who, quite frankly, can be fricking weird.

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As a man who was in gifted and talented as a kid, you're a fricking idiot.

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you want them to be mentally challenged

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Maybe not so much.

Here’s how the gifted testing works, at least in East Baton Rouge Parish. You do not need a referral for a teacher, although that is helpful. If your child has awesome grades you can request a screening from the gifted and talented office. But if your child has awesome grades, it would be helpful to get a teacher to make that recommendation. Just about all teachers would do that for you if your child has excellent grades. If the child passes that screening the gifted office will then do a full gifted evaluation on your child. There is no fee whatsoever if it is done by East Baton Rouge Parish pupil appraisal or any public school district in Louisiana .

You can bypass all of this and get it done privately. The cost is usually between $400 and $500. There are many benefits to getting it done privately despite the cost. Typically you are dealing with more experienced professionals who do not rush through the testing and are more likely to get a reliable and valid measure of your child’s true abilities. Additionally, you don’t have to jump through any hoops if the testing is done privately. However, be sure and get it done by someone with experience in doing testing for the school district. Don’t just go to any psychologist. Be sure they previously have done testing that is acceptable to the gifted office. There are certain requirements for testing and the reports.

The criteria for gifted are the same throughout the state. A student must receive a certain number of points in a matrix in order to qualify for placement. Points are assigned in three areas- I Q, reading achievement, math achievement, Students in pre-K and kindergarten require a higher number of points in this matrix than students in grades one through 12. There is a reason for this. Mainly that I Q scores in younger children are much more variable and also regression to the mean. Every school district in the state will also accept a private evaluation provided that evaluation meets certain criteria.

This is the matrix that is used.
Points are assigned in the three areas of IQ, reading, math. For gifted placement in grades one through 12, one must receive a minimum of seven points with at least two points from IQ. Six points are allowed in special circumstances. For pre-K and kindergarten, one must receive a minimum of 10 points, with at least four points coming from I Q.

1.0 - <1.5 SD = 1 point
1.5 – < 2 SD = 2 points
2.0 + SD = 3 points
Pre-K and K only: 2.5+ SD = 4 points

Finally, an I Q score of three standard deviations above the mean for grades pre-K and kindergarten automatically qualifies a student no matter the academic scores. An IQ score of two standard deviations above the mean in grades one through 12 automatically qualify as a student. However in both cases the evaluation must also include academic achievement testing.

LINK to Louisiana gifted criteria and testing procedures

Lol

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you want them to be mentally challenged



Maybe not so much.

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Lol. Not the best wording.

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I was pulled out for enrichment starting in 4th after moving schools

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Definitely from Florida.

And it's definitely IQ based. I can't remember if the cutoff was 125 or 130. But I believe it was an average of the different scores.

I thought it was great. We learned about unique things at a young age. I remember things like learning human anatomy, Rwandan genocide, and a lot of things that you wouldn't expect elementary school kids to learn. But maybe I had a particularly good enrichment teacher. I know she won teacher of the year at least once.

Though the critical thinking stuff was the most beneficial. Teaching young kids to problem solve and think outside the box at a young age, was definitely helpful.

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I'm leaning towards not testing him for it because it seems like bullshite to me and I think it may do more harm for him to be isolated from his peers and stuck with the GT kids who, quite frankly, can be fricking weird.

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You are a parent. An adult. You can drop the jocks vs nerds mentality.

You should take every opportunity to make sure you kid is as engaged and challenged as possible in school. If you keep low standards for your kid, then why think he'd ever set high standards for himself?

As others have said, keeping a young, bright mind in middle of the pack classes because of your own social biases could very likely be detrimental to his development.