Share your experiences and tell us what policies you would like to see implemented to improve gifted education in the Tar Heel State!

My homeschooled son attempted to enroll in the local high school but was told they would not accomodate any subject acceleration because of NCLB. He enrolled in the local community college at 13 under a 2001 NC statute to allow academically and intellectually gifted students access to for-credit courses. We recently found out that the statute has either been rescinded or has simply run out of the 3 yr. trial time. My son will be grandfathered in but it leaves very few options for those who come after. I'd love to know exactly WHY the statute wasn't renewed - was there a problem? Was it underused?
This was one of the best "gifted-friendly" options in NC, and now it's gone. Help!

The first way to improve gifted education in NC is to improve regular education. We have huge numbers of supposedly "gifted" children and the number seems to be constantly growing. My belief is that most of these children are seeking the gifted designation and gifted programs because so very little is actually being imparted in the regular classroom.

For example, in second grade, my daughter took to school milk cartons to make a representation of her neighborhood. She worked together with all the other kids. Why did they study something so close to home? Because educator Dewey believed that young kids can only handle information relating to what they already know. This idea is over 100 years old and it is time to throw the idea OUT.

All the second graders in that class (certainly not just the gifted ones) could have studied Vikings, the geography of Africa, or Japan, or British kings. They were all capable of much more than Dewey ever gave them credit for.

If we could get away from these old and tired ideas (like that young kids are abjectly unable to fathom information from other states, countries, continents and time periods) then we could move to a position where we are teaching exciting and interesting things in the regular classroom. At that point, the need for gifted programs would go way down.

I dont understand how NC can be listed as supportive of early entry to kindergarten. Are these rankings based on Wake County, or the state as a whole? We have had an awful time in Chatham. I'd love to hear any stories, good or bad, about dealing with Chatham on specific issues such as:
early entry (too late for us now)
identification as gifted
gifted programming for K, 1 - 5th
funding
thanks
amy

Hi,

My daughter was an early-entry into Kindergarten . .Wake County. I'm nto happy witht eh public system here either. They do 'supplementation' sporadically. One way is to try to win the lottery to get into a Gifted & Talented magnet school .. which are in raleigh, a good 45min drive from Cary where I live.

So can u tell me what awful experince u have had in Chatham county. Isn't Chatham county 'similar' to Orange County? Does Orange County have better school system? I am almost considering moving to chapell hill, and i really want to know the distinction between chatham & orange.

Thx,
Lav.

Why would you want to move to Chapel Hill?

Does anyone know how many children have entered kindergarten BEFORE their 5th birthday in NC? If so, how did you do it?

My daughter is 4 1/2 years old (her birthday is 11/1/02) & we have had her tested with the Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence-III & the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Achievement -- Form A. Her FS IQ is 121 (in the 92nd percentile) & her academic skills score is in the 99.8th percentile & her basic reading skills score is in the 99.7th percentile. Her math reasoning score is in the 71st percentile.

She knows more than 180 sight words & reads many books independently. She performs well in many other areas as well, including memorization skills.

Please help! I am extremely frustrated with out local school system (public) & also with some of the private schools in our area. Any suggestions are appreciated. Please contact me @ recreational.therapist@gmail.com. Thank you.

I am in Craven Co. (in eastern NC -- New Bern) & have had an extremely difficult time with early admission here. We don't have magnet schools. There are only 3 private schools (all religious) to choose from & the catholic school won't take her based on the age limit as well. Please help!

Melissa

My wife and I are from North Carolina originally. We now live in Wisconsin. If we were to move back to NC sometime in the future (perhaps within 2 yrs or so) where would be the best place in the state that has a school for a gifted and talented 5 yr old girl. She has been reading since she was 22 months old and is currently in a combined 2nd and 3rd grade class.

I would at all costs avoid the Chapel Hill Schools for this. CHCCS is very antagonistic to gifted children.

We are in the Chapel Hill school district. We were told that gifted services are available starting in Kindergarten. We applied, and my daughter was rejected. Turns out there are NO kindergarteners in the program at our elementary school. The gifted specialist states that she would have to be 2 grade levels ahead to qualify. Then she states that my daughter tested above grade level. So I asked what 1st and 2nd grade materials she was tested on. Well, she wasn't. So, she was tested on K material only, which she passed with flying colors, but they didn't test on any other grade level material? So how can they conclude she's not 2 grade levels ahead? (I think she probably is 2 grade levels ahead.) We can't afford to have her privately tested right now.

My child is so bored, being in a classroom with kids who don't yet know their colors and can't count to 10. She wants to do multiplication and read chapter books. At this point, I'm thinking we're going to have to seriously consider pushing the school to skip 1st grade. But I hate to do it because she's already young for her class (not early, but young within the qualifying dates).