2. 4-5
6-8
Targeting EG/PG 4-5 year olds will require
building relationships with feeder pre-schools
Advantages of entry
at 4-5 years old
Students aren’t yet
demotivated by a poor
prior school fit
High motivation to learn
Ease of social transition
into a new school setting
because all students will
be “new”
Opportunity to build a
tightly-knit cohort creates
a barrier to entry and
minimizes future attrition
Risks
Parents not fully aware of
how extreme their
children's abilities are
Lack of reliability of IQ test
results on young children
- Costly ($500+ for
WISC IV, Stanford
Binet V)
- Need to repeat tests
later if results are
inconclusive or
borderline
How to reach
EG/PG families
Parents rely on outside
opinions to discover their
child’s EG/PG status
Build relationships with
Toronto preschools (esp.
Montessori)
- Teachers ID extreme
ability and offer
reference to Toronto
Academy
Use portfolio of works for
kindergarten
admissions, test for
EG/PG at later age (~6-7)
“We started looking for a private school because her Montessori teachers had pulled me
aside after her first day (18 mos) and said they'd never met a kid like her.”
– Mother of PG daughter, 5
9-11
3. 4-5
6-8
Our primary marketing feed to kindergarten will be
teacher recommendations
Age
Education/Childcare Option
Home care/relative
Daycare
Resources
Pediatrician
Montessori
Teacher feedback
OISE Eric Jackson
Lab School
Preschool
0-3 years
Position as an
alternative to
waitlist parents
(Parents register as
early as conception.
Only 10 boys and
10 girls admitted to
nursery. Attrition
enrolment
thereafter.)
Preschool
Other
To ponder: How can we access pediatrician contact information cheaply? Scrape Google?
Pediatrics associations? IMS health data?
9-11
4. 4-5
6-8
EG/PG 6-8 year olds may not look gifted, so school
psychologists will drive EG/PG identification
Advantages of entry
at 6-8 years old
More data on students’
abilities
IQ tests results more
stable and reliable than at
4-5 years old
Parents increasingly
aware of educational
mismatch in age-linked
classes
Parents may participate in
gifted advocacy
Risks
Some EG/PG children
might develop behaviour
problems or engage in
behaviours that mask their
true ability
Need for “deprogramming”, systematic
down-time that allows a
smooth transition into a
new school setting, before
entering the Toronto
Academy
How to reach
EG/PG families
School psychologists and
gifted co-ordinators
- EG/PG may present
as a behavioural
problem and underachievement if the
child is in a poor-fit
academic setting
Parent advocacy groups
- ABC Ontario
Educational programs or
conferences for gifted
families
- EDGCO
School psychologists will be aware of behavioural problem children, and the most obviously
gifted students will be flagged to gifted co-ordinators in public schools.
9-11
5. 4-5
6-8
We’ll pursue relationship building with the public school
boards to target students finishing kindergarten
Age
Education/Childcare Option
Resources
School psychologist,
Gifted co-ordinator
Public (TDSB/TCDSB)
Montessori
Teacher feedback
OISE Eric Jackson Lab
School
Kindergarten
4-5 years
Position as an
alternative to waitlist
parents
(Parents register as early
as conception. Only 10
boys and 10 girls
admitted to nursery.
Attrition enrolment
thereafter.)
Private
Other
To ponder: How can we access school psychologist contact information cheaply? Scrape
Google? Psychologist associations? School district lists?
9-11
6. 4-5
6-8
Families most likely to be aware of poor educational fit
at 9-11, but tests may yield false negatives for EG/PG
Advantages of entry
at 9-11 years old
Risks
How to reach
EG/PG families
Gifted public programming
(mostly pull-out) now
offered at no extra cost
Public schools pay for
private IQ testing
Poor academic fit is most
obvious to parents and
EG/PG students
Some EG/PG students are
able to self-advocate to
parents for greater
challenge
(e.g. “I’m bored”, “I never
learn anything at
school”, “I hate school”)
Low rate of identifying
EG/PG students in school
diagnostics
- IQ tests conducted by
psychologists who
specialize in detecting
developmental delays
- ID based on
achievement and not
strongly correlated
with EG/PG
High risk for false
negatives testing
- Parents may believe
their EG/PG children
aren’t EG/PG
Same as 6-8 year olds
However, it is harder to
get accurate information
from parents and teachers
because under-served
EG/PG students may
rebel and/or hide their
abilities, making
identification problematic
9-11
