Prepping to get kid into Gifted & Talented school/class

[Praying Colonel]

Yeah..I've made up my mind. I am not going to prep her. I will just tell my parents to back off and just support my decision. All the other kids in her little class will be prepping for it. We are going to opt out.

Good for you--and this is a good opportunity to establish proper boundaries with your parents. I wouldn't even bother supporting my decision. It's not a debate. You're the parent and you're the one who calls the shots, for better or for worse.

 

[castleview]

It is common to prep kids for this test in NYC. The programs are not geared for genius children, just brighter than average. Just like a genius doesn't need to prep for the SAT"s but a bright kid can get some help from it, same with the G&T test. Getting your child into a G&T elementary helps to get them into a better HS, which helps to get them into a better college, etc.. Some people look long term and others don't care. It may or may not help every kid, but it doesn't hurt and it may help.

OP - look at the stats for which schools/programs feed into Stuyvesant, Bronx Science and Brooklyn Tech. If your local elementary/jhs has decent numbers I wouldn't worry about it. If they feed into a local hs with high drop rates, high pregnancy rates, etc., then I would look more seriously into the G&T elementary program. If you have a good local high school it's not as big of a deal.

Remember that there tends to be more well to do kids in the G&T programs, that can donate more to their schools and help out when there are budget cuts. The parents tend to be better educated and more focused on education for their child. It will make a difference in the overall class experience and the friends that your child will make. It's not to say that you can't have great kids in your local school, but it will be a bigger mix and include more kids that have parents that are less involved, focused on education, etc..

Just something to think about.

The problem I have with this statement is that you're talking about the top three schools that are for truly gifted students. There are plenty of other competitive high schools in NYC like Midwood and Townsend Harris just to name two - and that's not including the private schools. If the OP's daughter is truly gifted, then she'll be "discovered." You wouldn't want her entering those high schools if she wasn't qualified. Slight bias as my cousins went to Stuyvesant and have blocked all memory of it out for their mental health. I'm exaggerating, but hopefully you get the point.

Assuming the OP is in NYC, I would try and find an old post by Disneyjunkie detailing the NYC High School Admissions Process. It's very informative and fascinating.

 

[Forevryoung]

My cousin is finishing up Kindergarten in the G&T school near their apartment in Manhattan.

It was TORTURE waiting for her to take the test, get in, get a spot... In NYC kindergarten isn't guaranteed so if she didn't get in there, she might not have had a kindergarten class PERIOD. Then my aunt and uncle would have had to pay $15,000 or so for private kindergarten (with an extended day program as they both work).

However, my cousin is truly gifted. Shes probably reading on a 5-6th grade reading level and just turned 6 (she finishes stacks of "chapter books" a week). She got ONE question wrong on the entire test, without any prep.

For some children it's a necessity, for others it's not. I learned much about the G&T programs in NYC last year

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

There are three types of parents:

1.) Normal

2.) Ambitious

3.) New York City Neurotic - this is what I'm becoming.

If you really want to see "NYC Neurotic", check out urbanbaby.com. The forums have all kinds of posts about these gifted programs/school with people comparing their kids scores, etc.

Good luck with your decision.

Yeah..I've made up my mind. I am not going to prep her. I will just tell my parents to back off and just support my decision. All the other kids in her little class will be prepping for it. We are going to opt out.

My cousin is finishing up Kindergarten in the G&T school near their apartment in Manhattan.

It was TORTURE waiting for her to take the test, get in, get a spot... In NYC kindergarten isn't guaranteed so if she didn't get in there, she might not have had a kindergarten class PERIOD. Then my aunt and uncle would have had to pay $15,000 or so for private kindergarten (with an extended day program as they both work).

For some children it's a necessity, for others it's not. I learned much about the G&T programs in NYC last year

Ugh, the issues city parents have! We went through the school selection process in Chicago a few years ago. It's slightly less psychotic than NYC. Slightly. FWIW, we decided to not do the admissions test for the selective enrollment schools. Like you, I couldn't imagine spending all that extra time trying to commute to one of the special schools. We are very happy with our neighborhood school.

For those of you who aren't in a major city, there is no comparison between your school's GT programming and the "GT" programming in the inner-city. GT is a bit of a misnomer in the city. As several PPs pointed out, it's something that you can prep for. It's not about the child's raw IQ or being "discovered" by your classroom teacher. Think of city GT programs like selective enrollment schools rather than GT schools.

NYC parents and refugees, have you ever watched the documentary "Nursery University"? Good stuff.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Prepping for GT?? Either you are GT or you are not. You can't train someone to be truly GT. Then again, GT nowadays isn't always truly GT, just smart or well-trained.

I know this is going to be a contraversial topic but I'm in a pickle. My daughter will enter Kindergarten next year and I'm looking at options. At first I thought it might be good for her to go into a G&T program based on what I know my daughter can do. I spoke to her pre-school director and he's all about prepping kids for the G&T test. His school pumps out G&T kids and the school is a factory for them. The local Chinese paper puts a yearly centerfold ad of all the kids in his school that gets in. He's widely celebrated in the community.

So I signed my daughter up for prep classes with him (he only preps 4 years olds because he says after that its too late to get in the system due to lack of available seats). I put her on the list but did not pay him yet. I go in this Saturday to put my $$ down.

I have done tons of research about what G&T options are available to my daughter and I'm not happy at all. Most of them are really far away from our home, which would be fine for an older child but not a baby in Kindergarten. After much research and rumination, I actually would love her to stay in our neighborhood school (non-G&T) and I think my daughter will thrive there and will be perfectly fine.

The problem: My parents and sister (and the rest of my family) believe that if I don't encourage my daughter out of her comfort zone she will always take the easy road out. Just FYI, I normally take the easy way out in a lot of things I do and I don't push myself so my family thinks this curse will befall my child. My parents (who are helping me raise my daughter) strongly want me to prep her for the test and perfectly willing to make the necessary sacrifices for her. But I don't want this for my child. I just want her to be close to home.

My parents feel that even if my daughter does not go to a G&T school, she should prep for the test just so that she is stimulated. The cost of the prep is not an issue for me, I just don't want to push her too hard even though I know she can handle it.



Your thoughts?

 

[Spoonful of Sugar]

I assume this has already been said, but in case it hasn't... my thought would be that if this preschool is known for pumping out gifted kids, then they're probably not actually gifted, just taught the things on the test. I wouldn't want my child put in a gifted program based on that. But I see you've already made a decision not to do the prep, and I think it's a good decision.

 

[DisTeach1]

This entire thread makes me extremely grateful my son is just average...

 

[PrincessBelle09]

I've just got to say, this whole topic is absolutely nuts to me. No offense to anyone, I just don't get it! They're little kids! =)