Imagine this: you open up your monthly water bill and see that your bill is inexplicably $555.93 when normally it’s around $30 a month. (By the way, I didn’t just make up this amount. This ACTUALLY happened to me when I opened my mother’s water bill one month last year- ugh!) What is the first thing you do?
Call the water company and appeal the bill!
I know, duh, right? Nobody is going to accept a $555.93 monthly water bill without checking out what happened and appealing for a lower bill. Well, often, the same is true for parents opening that gifted determination letter and seeing that their child was found not eligible for gifted services. They want to know why their child did not qualify for the gifted program, and then they want you to re-evaluate the determination.
Any gifted program worth its salt will have an appeals process in place for parents to utilize when they think an incorrect determination was made. In fact, most state legislature regarding gifted education requires that school divisions create an appeals process for families. A typical appeals process requires that parents meet with the school’s Gifted Resource Teacher first to go over the determination results. Then, if the parent would still like, they may request an appeals review in writing, after which the school division will convene an appeals committee to hear the appeal, make an appeals determination, and notify the parents of the appeals determination. Parents are a part of the appeals process, unlike in the eligibility process where only parent input is typically used.
Though an appeals meeting may feel uncomfortable, gifted staff should realize that the parents are just being strong advocates for their child. Schools can help make appeals less likely by conducting a transparent gifted identification process and keeping parents informed of the types of testing done, when it will be done, the results of the testing, and the criteria for gifted identification and placement in gifted services.
It’s important to note that parents will often share information about their child during the appeals meeting that the Identification/Placement Committee did not know. These things can tip the scales toward a favorable appeals determination. Thus, an appeals meeting could possibly have been avoided if the school had used a thorough Parent Input Form so that the Identification/Placement Committee would have had the most complete information possible about the referred student when making its determination.
Have you participated in the appeals process before? What tips do you have for Gifted Resource Teachers and/or for parents? Let us know in the comments!
Teaching for Talent 