Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Acceleration advocacy advice needed

DD6's test results are in and now we must persuade her school that skipping grade one is essential. There appears to have been a fair amount of the social-emotional kool-aid drunk by the powers that be, so it will not be easy. I have completed the IAS (72 points assuming zeros for school support), have a full report with WISC and WIAT scores, a generally good relationship with the school, and copies of A Nation Deceived to be distributed as needed. I likely have only one shot at this, so I need to be sure I'm not missing anything. I could also use tips on what I must do/say and what I should avoid at all costs!

Another good resource which provides point/counter-point for parents is Re-forming Gifted Education, [i] Matching the program to the child[/i], by Karen Rogers

Many parents find a degree of success by focusing on needs, including the need for learning at a challenging level (not the challenge of busy work, tutoring classmates, or practicing patience while waiting for others to catch up).

I'd suggest also bringing any examples you can that illustrate where she is performing academically now vs grade level curriculum for first ( and beyond) grade levels in math and reading/writing. the other thing I'd recommend is to think through every possible objection you can imagine the school staff putting forward as a reason not to skip and have an answer to that question already prepared.

This is totally just gut feeling on my part, but in my experience, teachers reacted more positively to actual examples showing where an individual child is at rather than research/opinions/etc from recognized experts in the field of giftedness. Having done the research will help you tremendously in forming your opinions and giving you solid background for making your request, but passing out copies of A Nation Deceived wouldn't help much (here) unles the staff was already firmly interested in providing a differentiated education. BUT... That again is just my experience where I live!

Good luck with your advocacy - let us know how it goes!

polarbear

I'd make sure you know your district's policies and see if your state board of education (or equivalent if you're outside the US) has a policy (even if the school is a private school because its administrators may not want the school to seem pedagogically inferior to public schools since the research is on your side).

In Ohio, our Department of Education has this webpage. It was helpful to know Ohio's policies and position to back up my argument for my DDs subject acceleration.

Have you looked around the Davidson database? I did a lot of reading there as I figured out what the best schooling option was for my son and then I focused on how to be the best advocate. Here's a link:

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/browse_articles_165.aspx

I was successful advocating for a skip at two different schools (we didn't end up doing the skip the first time) and I think it was because I focused on his achievement scores and asked what he would be able to learn if he stayed in the same grade. In his elementary school, I showed them the IQ testing, as they needed it for the IAS, but it was the achievement data that made them realize they had to do something radically different. So they approved a skip, or outlined some specific ways they would differentiate his curriculum if he stayed. It was our decision after that.

In our latest skip approval in a new school district, the guidance counselor took a look at the scores (I had Explore and MAP scores but didn't include IQ data.) The counselor chatted with my son about his interests and then said he would approve the skip. We walked to the registrar, changed his grade level, said thanks and left!

I have had one negative experience in advocacy, though. It was with the principal at the school my son would have skipped into the first time. She was rabidly anti-skip even though she was at a gifted school. She proudly refused to read "Nation Decieved," or any other article, and said she made her decisions based on observations in the hallways, not research. She wouldn't have been able to stop the skip, but since she was such an idiot, we decided we didn't want our son to go there.

Good luck!

Have you read the Davidson guidebook, Advocating for Exceptionally Gifted Young People?

Have you read other threads on preparing for a meeting? Lots of good advice has been shared on other threads recently as it seems several families have scheduled meetings. Some of the tips were -

- Research state laws and the school or district policies and practices. This information is often found online. You may wish to print and put this in an advocacy ring binder to refer to over the years as the laws and policies/practices may change over time.
- Have any test results and other pertinent facts available to share (milestones, reading lists, other accomplishments/achievements)
- It is good to have them speak first. If asked to speak first, you may simply wish to thank everyone for attending and summarize that you are all here to share information and ideas about how to best meet your child's educational needs... and that you would like to hear from them.
- Agenda
- Know who is in the meeting, and their role(s)
- Stay calm
- Know what you are asking for
- Take notes so you can summarize in an e-mail afterward [Some families announce they plan to record the meeting and then do so, rather than taking notes.]
- Use active listening (rephrase what has been said, and put it in a question form) to clarify understanding
- Be open to receiving the school's data/observations.
- Listen to any proposals they may make, ask appropriate probing questions, such as how a proposal may work, how the proposal may help your child, the schedule/frequency of service delivery, etc
- Do not be forced to make a decision if you need time
- Summarize next steps & time frames, and/or need for a follow-up meeting
- Thank everyone for their time & interest
- After the meeting, write a summary (points of agreement, etc) and share it, possibly by e-mail

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I've been following similar threads over the last few months, anticipating this situation, and felt reasonably well-prepared until I saw DD's test scores. The reality of the situation is a bit unnerving.

I am intending to email the key school people this week to request a meeting, which likely won't occur until sometime in July, and thought I should attach the report. Any thoughts on whether that's advisable at this stage? I don't see a downside to sending it now, but I'm very, very new to this particular advocacy topic.

In general, how a school or district may respond can depend upon outside factors such as the level of training they've received and the nature of that training. For example, training in teaching gifted children may range from "management techniques" such as mainstreaming gifted children, slowing them down while creating uniformity in the classroom, -vs- cluster grouping with intellectual peers and providing advanced instruction based on readiness and ability.

Previous experiences with other families may also make a school amenable or resistant to advocacy/acceleration, with the effect of negative experiences being like smacking the oobleck with a spoon, creating an unyielding solid which is less likely to be flexible.

Other experiences have shown that families may find schools which were participating in research studies may have made decisions influenced by their research study participation (ultimately influencing the research study results).

Regarding your concern over whether to send test results along with your meeting request, some may say lead with your strongest information. Possibly the strongest piece is your knowledge of the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS) and your family's willingness to use this proven and objective tool? Some may say that IQ scores and/or achievement scores could give indication that a child needs more without giving definition of what those academic needs may look like in the classroom.

Best wishes with this, and please keep us updated.

I expect about 5% of the children in the district achieved above the 95%. But if you have a test designed so the top 80% get 100% then your data can't really show that.

Twice I've held back results to hand them over the results in person. In both cases, I did it to gauge the response as they saw the scores. For a school system that constantly says "oh, we have many kids like yours," presenting the results to catch that look of shock as it crosses their faces for a moment betrays the truth.