Parent: I received a notice that my child's application was "qualified pending." What does that mean?
Me: It means we do not yet know if your child qualified as G/T, but we wanted to be sure to include them in the lottery.
Parent: Why do you not know if they are G/T?
Me: We do not have the test scores back yet.
Parent: But they will be in the lottery?
Me: For now, yes.
Parent: Does that mean they do not have to be G/T to attend your school?
Me: That is not what it means at all. All students have to be G/T to attend my school.
Parent: But you just said they would be in your lottery, and you don't know if they are G/T or not!
Me: They will be. All students for whom we are waiting test scores will be in the lottery. However, when we get the test scores back, they will be marked as either qualified G/T, and their lottery placement will remain, or they will be marked as not qualified, and they will be dropped off of our lottery lists.
Parent: So what does qualified pending mean?
Me: It means we do not yet know if your child is G/T.
There is a camp song called "There's a Hole in the Bucket." It describes a conversation between Liza and Henry that runs in a never-ending circle. He needs something, but it's broken and to fix it he need something else, and so forth and so on, until it brings you back to the first thing he needed. Sometimes, when I have conversations like this with parents, I'm singing that song in my mind ...
Me: It means we do not yet know if your child qualified as G/T, but we wanted to be sure to include them in the lottery.
Parent: Why do you not know if they are G/T?
Me: We do not have the test scores back yet.
Parent: But they will be in the lottery?
Me: For now, yes.
Parent: Does that mean they do not have to be G/T to attend your school?
Me: That is not what it means at all. All students have to be G/T to attend my school.
Parent: But you just said they would be in your lottery, and you don't know if they are G/T or not!
Me: They will be. All students for whom we are waiting test scores will be in the lottery. However, when we get the test scores back, they will be marked as either qualified G/T, and their lottery placement will remain, or they will be marked as not qualified, and they will be dropped off of our lottery lists.
Parent: So what does qualified pending mean?
Me: It means we do not yet know if your child is G/T.
There is a camp song called "There's a Hole in the Bucket." It describes a conversation between Liza and Henry that runs in a never-ending circle. He needs something, but it's broken and to fix it he need something else, and so forth and so on, until it brings you back to the first thing he needed. Sometimes, when I have conversations like this with parents, I'm singing that song in my mind ...
