<p>It seems to me that a lot of people decribe their child as gifted. Do you mean that they are a musical prodigy, a genius, etc.?</p>
<p>Just curious because my C, I believe is quite intelligent, has muscial talent, and is a good athlete. </p>
<p>Is there room in boarding school for the above or are the HADES schools only composed of prodigies and geniuses???? </p>
<p>Obviously I'm worried about M10 rejections</p>
<p>We just had a discussion about this very topic…where was it? Anyone with better recall than me?</p>
<p>Identifying Giftedness</p>
<p>What is giftedness? What do we mean when we speak of our student population as those who have high performance capabilities? There are many different conceptions, definitions, and theories of giftedness. Adherence to a particular definition can be politically charged and can create intense feelings within the community of adults who deal with gifted children. While we do have certain standards for admission at The Sage School, we have not adopted a formal definition of giftedness. Our standards for performance and behavior are high, and our experience suggests that our students manifest many areas of talent including superior academic performance, leadership, creativity, and artistic expression. We challenge our students to make the most of their gifts, in and out of the classroom.</p>
<p>Definitions of Giftedness</p>
<p>Formal definitions of giftedness are provided by a variety of governmental agencies, advocacy groups, and theorists. A small sampling of definitions follows.</p>
<p>The United States Department of Education:</p>
<p>Children and youth with outstanding talent perform or show the potential for performing at remarkably high levels of accomplishment when compared to others of their age, experience, or environment.</p>
<p>These children and youth exhibit high performance capability in intellectual, creative, and/or artistic areas, possess an unusual leadership capacity, or excel in specific academic fields. They require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the schools.</p>
<p>Outstanding talents are present in children and youth from all cultural groups, across all economic strata, and in all areas of human endeavor.</p>
<p>National Excellence: A Case for Developing America’s Talent, October 1993.
[National</a> Excellence: A Case for Developing America’s Talent](<a href=“http://www.ed.gov/pubs/DevTalent/toc.html]National”>http://www.ed.gov/pubs/DevTalent/toc.html)</p>
<p>And, an earlier United States Office of Education* definition. (Marland, 1972):</p>
<p>Gifted and talented children are those identified by professionally qualified persons who, by virtue of outstanding abilities, are capable of high performance. These are children who require differentiated educational programs and/or services beyond those normally provided by the regular school program in order to realize their contribution to self and society.</p>
<p>Children capable of high performance include those with demonstrated achievement and/or potential ability in any of the following areas, singly or in combination:</p>
<p>General intellectual ability
Specific academic aptitude
Creative or productive thinking
Leadership ability
Visual and performing arts
Psychomotor ability
*The United States Office of Education is now the Department of Education.</p>
<p>Over time this federal definition was narrowed to the following:</p>
<p>“The term “gifted and talented students” means children and youth who give evidence of high performance capability in areas such as Intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who require services or activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop such capabilities.” (P.L. 100-297, Sec. 4103. Definitions) (1988).</p>
<p>Copy of a page on an official school dedicated to teaching gifted children. For link, use [Sage</a> School: Identifying Giftedness](<a href=“http://www.sageschool.org/having-a-gifted-child/identifying-giftedness.aspx]Sage”>http://www.sageschool.org/having-a-gifted-child/identifying-giftedness.aspx) . For website, go to [Sage</a> School](<a href=“http://www.sageschool.org%5DSage”>http://www.sageschool.org)</p>
<p>I am sure many of the kids at HADES have something that sets them apart from the mainstream. However, there are also many teens with what my daughter’s advisor calls GKQ (Good Kid Qualities).</p>
<p>Can I just say that I’ve always hated the term, gifted students. I don’t understand why we can’t call the program advance placement or accelerated, especially in elementary school.</p>
<p>One thing that I really liked during my private school searches is that it just routine to have different placements depending on ability…which just seems logical to me so that the class can work at the level that it needs to for everyone to get the most out of it. But no big deal is made of “gifted” etc. When I was looking for a private middle school placement for my younger child the adcom pointed out a 6th grader learning Calculas one on one with the teacher because that is where he was in his mathematical development. In other math classes, 6, 7 and 8 graders were mixed according to where they were. It all seemed very natural with no pejorative connotations because kids a few years apart in age were mixed in appropriate levvel classes.</p>
<p>maddog15, from my experience, we can’t call them advanced or accelerated because it “hurts” the other children and because of “No Child Left Behind” policies, more money is going towards basics and challenged students instead of gifted ones.</p>
<p>Pittsburger, Thats my point. The word gifted made my classmates feel less than average. And it was “hurtful”. One of my classmates actually asked me, when I returned from the gifted program, whats so gifted about you? I think the money is better spent on the challenged program than the “gifted”. I went to a blue ribbon school and the gifted program was a waist of time and money.</p>
<p>‘gifted’ , currently, tends to mean in the top 5% or less of the population. SOmetimes it means the top 1%, sometimes not. There is no universally accepted usage.
Smart is good for the top schools, but even they are not necessarily looking for the most highly gifted kids.</p>
<p>NE Mom:</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I guess it is commonly known that colleges look for the kids who stand out that are in the top quintile for their class in HS. I guess that I would not have associated that with the term “gifted” though.</p>
<p>Sorry, but in my house, “gifted” describes any kid who actually thinks to put on waterproof boots before going outside in 8 inches of slushy snow melt!</p>
<p>In our experience kids were put into the Gifted Program or the Highly Gifted Program based on their IQ scores and teacher input. I’m not sure this is the best way to identify because in my mind “giftedness” looks different from child to child - often it is much more than a score on a standardized test. However, we were more than grateful for the program - my son would have been miserable and bored without it. Of course the programs vary from school district to school district.</p>
<p>That being said, in our experience, there was no “are you gifted” on any of the school applications my son filled out. Yes, each school has a criteria for academic accomplishment/potential, but they are all looking for a well rounded, varied student body.</p>
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<p>Amen to that one! </p>
<p>We were on campus the night of the “formal”. All the girls wore strapless dresses, high heels, light shoulder wraps and no pantyhose. I tried to talk some sense into them (it was 20 degrees outside) and a women in the cafeteria said “Give up honey! I had the same argument last night with my own daughter.” </p>
<p>The best compromise I could get was a to buy her a “shrug.” After some stern looks (and the fact that they took photos outside and were shivering) she and her friends wore coats to walk to the buses, but took them off as soon as the boys appeared. Sigh. Guess my kid isn’t “gifted” after all. lol!</p>
<p>If “giftedness” is a static thing, then what about this…[Heidi</a> Grant Halvorson, Ph.D.: The Trouble with Bright Girls](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>The Trouble with Bright Girls | HuffPost Life)</p>
<p>Excellent discussion. I think/hope BS help this since they seem to stress that to take full advantage of the BS experience you should try new things, you might fail or be less than successful but it is a failure to not try…anyway this is my limited understanding of what they seem to be pushing</p>
<p>Not that it matters, many people consider someone to be “gifted” if they have an IQ above 130</p>
<p>When my child was identified as “gifted” at age 4.5 (IQ and Mensa), I knew there had been a mistake and I needed to figure it out—lol.</p>
<p>After hours, then days then years of research and study, I understand the classification. The most simple explanation that I uncovered was that: gifted kids brains are wired differently; they think and act outside of the “norm” thus they have a need to be educated differently.</p>
<p>Gifted meant different to my d. It did not mean better or worst just different. Gifted kids are and should be classified as special ed. The definition of special ed is IQ’s out side of the normal bell shaped cure; 5-7% from the top and bottom.</p>
<p>Most people would understand that if they had a child in the lover 7% on the IQ level, they would not have the best educational experience in a regular classroom, well kids on the top end are just the same. Keep in mind that there are also levels of giftedness. Profoundly gifted children greatly differ from moderately gifted, (think: profoundly ■■■■■■■■ verses mildly ■■■■■■■■) there is a spectrum. </p>
<p>Labels are difficult on everyone, all parents of gifted kids want(ed) was that their kid have what all parents are supposedly allowed under the law: adequate and appropriate education. </p>
<p>I was happy that my child attended “gifted centers”. These kids were ok to be smart, different, play chess during recess or solve rubric cubes, yet not be considered a nerd or be proud of calling yourself one. There were no bullies, they were"with there own kind".</p>
<p>My child is not a Mensa member but he was in the gifted program. He asked to be pulled out of it. He much preferred to stay in his regular class. I personally think the word gifted is the wrong word for the school program.
We added extra intellectual stimulation for our bright child outside of school. Science camp, language courses in Europe, Exeter summer camp ect.</p>
<p>I realized from a relatively early age that my son was special (my daughters are quite ordinary and, in the interest of honest parenting, I tell them that every day). My son loves baseball and I, along with coaches and other parents, quickly observed his clear and unerring ability to swing and miss on breaking balls outside of the strike zone. </p>
<p>I think, as a technical matter, he is a savant.</p>
<p>Muf–remember that all parents do not have the ability to provide the outside activities, to the extent of summer programs.</p>
<p>As a city worker I am required to live in the city, thus living is very expensive. My thought has always been if I must live in the city, the city should educate my child, properly! It is a difficult call. </p>
<p>Labeling exist everywhere. My child is always seen as African American before anything else, even before beautiful, smart, accomplished, nerd. What would you have the group be called, “special”? But all kids are special, right? It is a tough call. Kids that attend bs now have a label. The “boarding school” label is one my d wears proudly, again it does not make her better or worst than public school kids, just different.</p>
<p>I agree if your child asked to be removed then that is the correct option, for him. My kid asked to be removed from the gifted center because it wasted her time! </p>
<p>I homeschooled my kid from 6th-8th grade.</p>