Dottie - that is our school too. No 1st grader is assessed or given anything above 4th grade level. I had a one on one conversation with a 1st grade teacher at our local GT Magnet. They do the exact same thing. She thought it was a step in the right direction that the once a week library visits that the kids get, they can check out books at any level. Well, that's great. But it does nothing to assess or teach kids at their actual level.

My DS went from self choosing books at 4-5 grade level at the beginning of the year to basically being able to pick up and read anything he wants now and was kept at that 4th grade level in class all year.

ACS - you definitely hit the jackpot with that teacher!

Fortunately for us, this was only a on-the-spot screening for a "rough estimate". When DS went in for the official screening, I requested in writing that they start him much higher. They still had limits though, .

It is good to be past the "learn to read" years!

We did the homeschool after school. K was a 1/2 day program, the teacher was great, she made every effort she could to work with us. That being said it wasn't enough in all areas math/ reading. She did however help with writting and spelling. After school we did about 15 minutes of reading outside of the little books he was given to take home. In math they asked for 5 minutes at home we did about 15min. Some days more or much more, some days none. In advocating we met with the K teacher principal, district gate coordanator, director of elementary schools, and two of the school board members. All had open doors, they were all nice, however they all were against a grade skip to 2nd for next year. However if we pushed I am sure it would have happened. We became active with the PTA, the school site council, etc... Over time the principal and the teacher started to become advocates also. That being said let me give you an example of how they still don't fully underrstand. End of year k evaluations, the k teacher asked for and got permission to test his reading up to begining 2nd grade. The teacher infored us that he is reading at leval F, I know he is more at level L (I have simaler tests)There testing says F, because its as high as they tested, not as high as he can test. I appreciate the effort. The mentality is very stongly set. SCHOOL IS ABOUT SOCIAL INTERACTION NOT ACADEMICS. Also fear is at issue, when the ES school placed DS5 with a 2nd grade teacher for Math, it creates a problem at 4th grade as to where to send him for math. Advocacy takes time, even once a school agrees that your child is gifted, then what? Our school agreed to allow John Hopkins online math for next year, isntead of classroom math, they agreed to moving him up a grade fo reading. We decided that it was not enough and went the private school route. The best is be adaptable, things always change.

I'm sorry you've already run into somebody who doesn't get and is opposed to grade skipping.

I don't know how far WPPSI can take you as far as mental age goes. We never saw any age equivalents for DS5 IQ test, I didn't even know they do that these days. DS5 was tested at 5 years 4 months and even with the low ceilings for gt kids managed to get DYS score. I just wanted to point out that you can still score really well on WPPSI at the age of 5. Call the psychologist and ask more about the mental age and what score he would have to get in order to have mental age of 7.

I would also strongly suggest achievement testing since IQ is just a number but grade/age equivalents is something the administrators understand much better. Perhaps they meant achievement test age equivalent of 7?

Dottie has quite a good explanation why you want your child to excel as opposed to just pass at the end of the year tests when you are doing grade skip. It pretty much boils down to the fact that you still want your child to be in the top 10% of his new class.

Not all teachers can figure out how far the kids are. Today was my kids' final day in Montessori and I got to take home all they workbooks. They had DS3 doing CVC words, which is really laughable. He could have done this more than a year ago. DS3 reads 2nd-3rd grade books without any problems now. It makes me really wonder how much they got to know him during the year

One more thing. 1/2 K is not that bad as long as you really take it as a social outlet, you know like PreK. Major problems usually start with full day school. If he has to go to K than 1/2 is so much better than full day.

BTW, this was a very hectic work day for me. But I've been reading all of the posts between meetings. Just wanted to say thank for the input & support. Edwin, yes, that is exactly the vibe I'm getting right now (SCHOOL IS ABOUT SOCIAL INTERACTION NOT ACADEMICS). Somewhat funny, because this is exactly the opposite of what my parents told me when I attended school umpteen many years ago!

JB

Note this has been my experance so far, however I am sure there are some that understand. Note even my DW belives there is a strong social aspect of school. She may be correct, there are many parts to learning. I just disagree when they seem to make it the main focus in discussions. I really belive most want what is best for the child. It's hard for them to understand. My brokker has used the just let him be a kid, and look at all the bright kids that have went through school with no acomadations and are doing fine. His advice is not malicious, just uninformed. Like school is the only place they learn. We will do the sports shortly, outside activities, friends, party's etc... Just at school we want him to be with a peer group and be chalanged. We want him to value effort, learn to push himself. But to the outside it looks like we are pushing them and making them into social outcasts. Best of luck with the school, the good thing (Great thing) is that you see it and you are now an advcocate. In time your child will also learn to advocate. Look at all the parents that just drop and run and expect the schools to do it all.

The funny thing is the schools complain about those parents, too. Where is this mythical perfect parent they are imagining? You know, the one who makes sure their child is ready for school and that the child's issues are addressed all without asking anything of the school.

I don't think they can have it both ways. I think that involved parents are always going to be asking more of the school. If they want us to be involved they have to accept that.

nt

I don't think schools are looking for the parents who don't ask anything of the school. My kid's teachers have been perfectly willing to help with things that I've needed help with. In fact my DS10's teacher was instrumental with our figuring out he has visual perception/tracking issues. What I think the school's don't like are parents who don't come in with facts to back up their claims. I know lots of parents who feel their children are exceptional but they don't have "proof". These are the ones the schools deal most often with. The schools have to make some sort of criteria in order to weed out the really gifted kids.



I think this is an example of a great parent here. She volunteered regularly and developed a great relationship with the school. So they took her seriously. I think that once you get the schools taking you seriously, they will be much more accommodating. Dottie and acs have both have wonderful results with this.

Well...

I did all these things, and the teacher told me she felt like I "didn't trust her." She saw the test scores before I did, and I was volunteering in the room--all per school protocol. I didn't just lurk! I was supposed to be there! But being involved in the classroom and asking only that she send home harder books as homework (so no extra work for her!) apparently meant to her that I was looking over her shoulder.

In our case, I'm 100% with Cathy on this one. I wasn't supposed to ask for anything "special," at least not from that particular teacher. Granted, she was no poster child for GT education. But still, Cathy's experience is the same as mine.

Sometimes I think test scores can work against you, actually. The more I thought about it, the more I came to the conclusion that she thinks that DS7's high achievement test scores occured because I was a pushy mom. Why else would she be so defensive before I had even begun to advocate? Either she just hates and fears GT kids (which is possible, since there are people out there like that, for whatever reason) or she decided out-of-hand that I was a problem parent. What could have caused this, when I'd said about 3 sentences to her? (And had had an excellent relationship with his K teacher, BTW, so no teacher's lounge talk working against me.)

All she had were his test scores, so I'm betting they played a part in how she saw me. And she didn't interpret them as a good thing...

Just my humble experience!