Just curious if a child is identified as “Gifted/Talented” within their school district, will this show up somewhere on their transcript that is sent with college applications?
I think this is a question for your child’s guidance counselor since this is probably school dependent.
There was no such marking on my D’s transcript as the school only used G/T and grades to qualify for accelerated classes.
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Highly unlikely, since it is not an academic designation.
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Must depend on the district. My student has a G/T designation on her high school transcript.
Not doubting you - I just find it to be weird. Ultimately, the transcript is about the kid’s academic achievements, and that is just the professional opinion of a counselor.
This is something that should be in a kid’s school records, especially in elementary school, but I don’t see what benefit having this on a transcript will have. In fact, since it is, in essence, a diagnosis by a professional, I do not see the difference between having this on a kid’s transcripts and having a learning disability on the kid’s transcripts. This should be something that the student can choose to tell the college or not. I do not think that it should be the high school’s decision to make.
I actually think that it is not to the benefit of a kid to have it on their transcript. There is a danger that it would lead AOs to give less consideration to the work that a kid does (“they’re smart, it’s easy for them”), and, because gifted kids often underperform, this can come across as laziness.
The worst case can be for twice-exceptional kids, especially those who are not diagnosed in high school or until late in high school. Their G/T status will be on the transcript, but not their diagnosis of a learning disability. That is in addition to all of the issues that 2E kids have to deal with to get accomodations.
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This was sort of the basis for my question. My D23 was identified as GT in the 3rd grade but she is not super strong in Math and never has been. Didn’t want a GT label to negatively effect her application.
@MWolf we’re in Texas (public school). The state allows students to earn ‘endorsements’. In our district, in order to graduate as G/T, that means you took a certain number of required G/T courses all the way thru 12th grade (most kids drop out of the G/T program long before 12th grade), and you had to test into the G/T program by junior high. It is an academic distinction, in our district.
It’s been a few years, but her G/T was listed on her transcript, along with her ‘endorsement’.
Here’s a list of the ‘endorsements’
Just my sense, but unless it’s a state school and you are in-state and the program is known to be strong, most schools won’t care. Most states either don’t provide GT classes or the program is bastardized by parents who have test-prepped their kids into the program. In most states, GT kids will either take AP classes or somehow manage to go beyond the curriculum offered through outside programs, research projects, ECs, etc.
- Mom of a kid that was once described by an evaluator as a “gifted underachiever”
Do any of these Texas high school diploma endorsements matter for Texas public universities, other Texas post-secondary education (e.g. fire or police academy or EMT school after the public service endorsement), or employers who hire high school graduates?
@ucbalumnus that’s a great question! Honestly not sure. They started the whole ‘endorsement’ thing my last kids senior year. She was auto admit to our flagship schools, NM Commended, I honestly didn’t pay attention to it, as it didn’t matter for her.
Our district does have an outstanding Career & Technical Academy, where many legit certifications can be earned (cosmetology, pharmacy tech, auto mechanic, etc) But I think those would be listed separately, not lumped into an ‘endorsement’.
I found this link.
That makes sense, since it is based on academic achievement, rather than on the results of testing by a psychologist. I thought that the school was putting evaluation results on the transcripts.
In this case, it’s really just another measure of the rigor of the courses taken, rather than an evaluation of the potential abilities of the student. That does belong on a transcript.
There is super smart and there is super ambitious. Kids who are super smart but not super ambitious tend to have happier lives in my experience, which is, after all, a pretty smart choice, no?
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@MWolf yes, you stated what I was trying to say…but couldn’t figure out how😅 Definitely an academic achievement, based on testing to enter the program (at a young age) and taking specific g/t added rigor classes yearly…up until graduation. Very few stick with the g/t program. Most of her classes were AP & g/t combined; only those identified in the g/t program were eligible to enroll in those sections. She preferred them-small class size, great teachers and she thrives on the rigor.
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Our non-Texas school doesn’t include it. Our school is traditional in its approach to the gifted program — acceptance is based on IQ score and monitored through an IEP — so I would think that it would be a violation of student confidentiality for our school to disclose that a child is gifted.
I certainly wouldn’t want it on my child’s transcript. The bar would be that much higher for an applicant. Plus, at our school, kids in gifted usually do well in rigorous courses, but are very rarely at the tippy top of the class. I wouldn’t want a perfectly good academic performance downgraded because an AO might have a different expectation for a gifted student.
I’m sure it’s school specific.
Our HS transcripts show standardized state test scores from junior high through HS (just the raw numbers - nothing to indicate if they are low, medium or high - and not the SAT - which is required for juniors) and junior high classes that count for HS credit (languages and math). Nothing from elementary school is listed.
My DS is at a public school in Ohio, and this is exactly out experience too regarding how the GT program functions (IQ test and IEP).