Little background: DD5.5 is in her second week of Kindergarten. Here's the contact we've had with the school so far:
1. Several months before school started, I let the academic director know I thought DD would need an ALP. (We are in CO- here's a link to what I found about ALP's here:
http://www.cde.state.co.us/gt/download/pdf/FF_G-Ed_ALP.pdf )
She seemed very agreeable and said she'd like to set up a meeting to talk about it, but it turned out to be a whole lotta nothin' where she said they only had one child on an ALP in the school. This ALP had one social goal and an academic goal of allowing the child to give oral reports in front of the class on a topic of the child's choosing. So I was not super encouraged by this meeting but figured we would let the school assess her and then see what they do.
2. Right before school started parents turned in a "getting to know your child" sheet. I put that she was a strong reader and good at math. (I didn't get any more specific than that with her strengths because we haven't done any official assessments ourselves and I figured they would roll their eyes at my own estimate of her grade level equivalencies.) For goals for the year, I put something like I wanted her to experience challenges with a good attitude while being instructed at a level appropriate for her.
So I asked DD what kind of assessments they've been doing in these first 2 weeks. (Bear in mind this is coming from a 5-year-old, but she does have a good memory.) She said the math assessment had 3 things and she got them all right- counting to 100, sorting some coins, and adding the value of 2 dimes. The reading assessment involved reading a couple lists of sight words, no stories or non-fiction passages.
I think there may be another reading assessment coming, but they sent home letters explaining which math groups the kids would be in. The options were K or 1st grade math, and DD got placed in 1st. The letter said, "Don't worry, if your child is in K math this year they will still be able to complete calculus their senior year of high school".
I guess I was expecting a more comprehensive math assessment that would actually show what kind of things she already knows. The school uses Saxon math, which might work for a lot of kids but I think the incremental, spiraling approach would be bad for her.
Anyway, I'm not sure what to do next. I did ask when we'd find out about the reading assessments and they said not until parent conferences (mid-October).
Should I wait it out until then? Should we pursue some independent testing and hopefully have that ready by conferences? Should I ask again about an ALP or wait until we have some more data?
