I wish I was a superhero and could magically put every student in a program; however, that is not the case. For every program offered, I now accept 14 -16 students (in the past it was 10-12). Unfortunately, for each program, I usually have 15-45 students that are not placed.
In the past, I would put the students on a "wait-list" that meant they could potentially get a spot if one of the accepted students could not come. Usually, there would be on average 15-50 students on a wait-list, per program. In most cases, a spot would not open up, so technically, there was little movement on the wait-list!
The wait-list letter also explained why the student did not get a spot: the school had some servicing already, the student was not a first priority (some schools would send in 3 or more applications per program, and I would always try to service the school's first priority), or the student had some form of "enrichment outreach" in the past.
After I figured out the students that I would invite, next, I would send out wait-list letters to the schools so that they could be informed the student did not get a spot in the program, and they could place this letter in the student's file, for future reference.
This year, after much contemplation, I decided sending out the wait-list letters in paper format was too time consuming and a great waste of paper. I receive about 500 applications for all of my programs and I handle all of the paperwork. The more time I spend on paperwork, the less time I can spend working with students!
However, it seems schools want to know the status of the student and why the student did not get a spot. I understand this completely, and I fully sympathize with gifted contact teachers and classroom teachers who are handling this paperwork and want to know!
So as a solution this year:
1. If you haven't heard whether a student is in the program, via email to the gifted contacts, then the student did not get a spot in the program.
2. At the end of the year, I am going to send out summary sheets to each school that basically tells the school: how many students were seen in the challenge centre, and how many students did not receive a program. This is so that the schools have the big picture of how many students were referred, whether or not they received programming, and finally, the students they may want to refer the following year. This will also be helpful for me!
3. The gifted team will re-look at this process at the end of the year and re-evaluate this plan.
I know that the process is not perfect, and I really appreciate the patience schools have shown in not knowing whether or not a student has been placed.
That said, thank you for sending in applications and for working so hard on behalf of your students.
Right now, I am finalizing the Engineering 5/6 program, and will be sending out invites this week, and tomorrow, I will start working with The Mind Your Math students!
