<p>As so many have said, depends on the kid and the program. In some cases, these are little more than enrichment for bright, high achieving kids. My oldest is a fairly typical highly gifted kid, reading very young with strong unusual interests and, in his case, some social challenges. He was the kid that read the book in his lap in regular class and still knew almost all the answers. For him, the gifted program was a chance to be with like-minded kids. At that point the program was based on a variety of factors and expanded each year from 3-5th grade, with those that entered in 3rd grade the most “gifted”. That was about 5% of the grade. It was primarily enrichment and working on “higher level” thinking skills. That experience, along with a gifted camp, was the highlight of his elementary years.</p>
<p>My youngest is somewhat the opposite. He was not an earlier reader (and still does not love to read) and is very athletic and social. Quite honestly, his HG IQ score was a bit of a surprise. The program had changed by that time to be an HG program only so the number of kids was much smaller and extended into middle school. For him, as well, it was a very good thing. While his friends are generally not from the GT pool, it allowed him to stretch academically.</p>
<p>None of my children are super high achievers. I have come to believe that this is much more a function of personality than IQ. However, I find my son often gets the concepts quick easily but makes mistakes in execution. Some of this is focus, a bit of mind working faster than the pen, a bit of concentration issues, a bit of not being detailed oriented. The NMF kids in my oldest son’s year were all from the GT program. Not all of those former GTers were at the top of the class by GPA, particularly the boys, but all did quite well. </p>
<p>Properly run GT programs that target the correct students and provide enriched or replacement work, not just more work, can benefit many GT students. Unfortunately, many programs are poorly run or have very poor means of identifying the students. Just because a student has a “gifted” IQ, does not mean they are a star student or have no behavioral or social issues. In many cases, those are the kids that would benefit the most from a GT program.</p>
<p>I did a pull-out once a week/field trip type gifted program as a kid in my lousy elementary school and it was a blessing. I was exposed to chess and theatre, for example, something that would not have happened in my blue collar family in a run down area of town. </p>
<p>My daughter is also in the gifted programs in a much better school than I ever attended. It’s been great for her and the only days of classes she cares about missing.</p>
<p>My school’s gifted program consisted of one hour per week in which I was pulled out of class for a different teacher to give me logic puzzles and have me play Set with my best friend (the only other kid at the same level as me) (who I did this type of thing with after school all the time anyway). I tested out of all the math they had to offer me and didn’t belong in any reading groups, so their approach was to let me spend 3/4 of the school day doing whatever I wanted. By myself. I got along well with my classmates, but I felt really isolated, frustrated, and bored. I begged them to let me skip a grade. The last two years of elementary school were a miserable waste of time without any sort of useful GT program.
In middle school (after moving), I was allowed to skip a grade (but not two because my parents didn’t want to push me too much) and a few years of math. Even then, without any sort of gifted program, I wasn’t challenged in my classes until I got to IB. Once I got to college it all paid off and worked out, but I had a lot of frustrating years.</p>
<p>One of the side-effects of living in a tech area is the density of high-intelligence but low-social skill parents and kids. They are the ones who choose our district’s TAG program, something typically avoided by either smart/popular or smart/athletic kids. Our neighbor, a teacher in the elementary program, had to kick the kids out of the classroom during recess because they would rather stay at their desks. They would stand forlornly near the door for 25 minutes until she allowed them back in. </p>
<p>When they get to HS, the ones who do not lottery into one of the choice schools are put in with the general population. The HS teachers call it the “TAG Effect,” when TAG kids presume they will be at the top of the class without much effort but start bombing tests and are getting lower grades than some of the non-TAG kids. Some recover, some don’t, some were never quite as smart as they were led to believe. </p>
<p>I guess what I’m getting at is that our program works for some and not at all for others, and is not necessarily great for the kids selected.</p>
<p>Again, a lot of this is about gifted PROGRAMS. Parents need to advocate for gifted services, rather than trying to make their child fit a program that may not be what the child needs. As I mentioned in post #33, get educated about what gifted kids need.</p>
<p>My kids got a variety of services that were patched together - some enrichment, some pull-out, some acceleration. They did better with all of the honors and AP classes in high school, not so much because the material was hard or advanced, but because the classes self-selected so that like-minded students participated and enlivened the classroom setting. Teachers did not have to modify the curriculum to address learners who were struggling like my kids experienced in elementary and middle school classes. </p>
<p>Despite various opportunities, my kids never really learned to study. Both are at very challenging colleges and are just starting to learn how to actually study and develop skills to really learn the material. Since they did so well in high school, no one really pushed them. Many uninformed people think gifted students are such overachiever, but many of them are underachieving and not coming close to their potential.</p>