As I previously said, the better programs are in the wealthier neighborhoods because that is where the smarter students are (for the most part). There are quality gifted programs in the public school system, you just have to ferret them out. Schools receive extra funding for special programs. The reason for the huge push for gifted is/was, of course, money. Consequently, in Miami, very few students in the gifted programs were truly gifted Non-minority students were accepted based on IQ test only. Students were also allowed recommendations - from a person/persons of their choice - for their giftedness. Under this plan, student IQ scores were augmented with additional points for various challenging life situations: divorce, death in the family, single mother, illness.you name it, there was a point for it. In the past (may still be going on) minority students were allowed into the gifted program via 'Plan B' - we teachers lovingly referred to it as the 'I B gifted program' - which included observational data. Placement in special programs will be based on 'observational' data, which means 'giftedness' will soon be in the eye of the beholder. My school psychologist friend (from another FL county) tells me that testing for exceptional ed placement is soon to be a thing of the past. Okay.sorry for the rant.thanks for listening Florida does not and if it did, it would be private leaving the majority of the kids who really needed it, unable to afford it.

This is why the programs here are so bad! Many states have programs that cater only to the highly gifted (140+). I heard it is common here for people to test their kids numerous times until they pass. I wish people here would just GET THAT! There is so much abuse here. A gifted program is not just higher academics, or at least it shouldn't be. People need to understand that identified 'Gifted' children (I mean truly gifted, not just smarter than average) function in a whole different way and have completely different intellectual, psychomotor, sensory and emotional needs than other learners. If the teachers have to start catering to those with scores below 120, it would be like putting an average learner in with someone with a severe learning disability. My son has a 150, the average in GT is 135. 1) Why would she want to put him in if he is not gifted and 2) this kind of abuse really hurts the kids who are gifted. So here is my rant.this child does not belong in the gifted program any more than her son does not belong in the SPED program. She was asking for recommendations of private psychologists who would do the test. Okay, so I was on a site for parents of highly gifted children yesterday and a poster in SoFLA was saying that she had her son tested for the GT program and he got a 119 (cut off 120 apparently) and they would not retest him.

Gifted testing miami beach