Originally Posted by Grinity
[quote=Eleanor05]Also, last year his teacher did reading assessments and said he tested to the O level. I asked her if that was where he hit the ceiling or where she stopped the test. She said her book only went up to O and the very next day she sent DS to the reading specialist who said he was at an R or beginning 4th grade, I think.
Quote ("Good for you for asking about the ceiling issue. It so amazes me to watch teachers makes statements like 'he tested to O level' without batting an eye, sadly this is normal moral behavior from a teacher's perspective.

The big question is 'how far up would he have to go for reading to find a room with a reading group that's working at an R level." )end quote

This sort of not testing to see where the child really is frustrates me tremendously!!! And not providing challenging books to read is especially hard to understand because it is so easy to do.

At the end of GD7's Kindergarten year we were given her reading level as "I" which we knew was not realistic. When the teacher was asked she said the district did not allow them to test more than 2 grade levels ahead. At the end of 1st grade her reading level was stated as "V" with 184 wpm fluency and perfect score on comprehension. I'm not sure if she even hit a ceiling there or that was as far as they could test. A recent homework assignment was to read and name a book that was difficult for them last year - GD said she couldn't do that one because there were not any difficult ones for her last year. Of course there are books that would be hard for her but none she tried to read.

Last week her 2nd grade class was reading Henry and Mudge books. Fortunately GD still enjoys them even though she read them 2 years ago. She is identified as GT in a mixed ability classroom. She now gets math enrichment homework worksheets which completely lack challenge - she finishes them in no time.

I keep hoping the differentiation will improve as we get further into the year. Good luck to you.