Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Disaster Grade Skip Really Need Some Help

DH went behind my back at the end of last school year and got DD skipped from 2nd to 4th grade with the understanding that she would be monitored to make sure she wasn't failing.

DD ended 2nd with MAP scores of 221 for reading and 223 math (both 98%). Her reading during 2nd grade went from level Q to level S by the middle of the year (January).

Now for this school year:

At the beginning of this year, DD tested on MAP at the 4th grade level. Her reading fell to 83% in MAP (214) and math fell to 86% (218). Winter MAP she tested at 93% (230) in math but only 85% (219) in reading. She read one book during the semester that was 200 points below NWEA's suggested Lexile. Her middle of the year report shows that she is still reading at level S which is the same level she had as of January of 2nd grade.

She has made no progress after showing alot of growth in 2nd grade reading (went from level Q to level S in only 2 months in that time frame). Her teacher this year IMO has not been real supportive of the grade skip. When I spoke with her about my concerns in reading at conferences in October, she was short with me and simply said "I get it". Then DD went on to show negative growth on her winter MAP. I don't feel she got it.

Now this middle of the year report is horrible and our school transitions kids to intermediate school for 5th grade and DD has no chance of any accelerated placement in reading because of it. When I read with her I can tell she is not where she should be.

I could really use some advice on how to deal with situation. It feels like it's snowballing and I feel DD will be really harmed by going to the general classes in middle school when she was formerly at 98%. DH is hostile and says reading doesn't matter. Only math. i just feel that when you are transitioned to a low class in middle school you can never rejoin a former peer group and DD's future is irreparably damaged.

Do I have any rights in this situation? Is there anything I can do? Who would skip a child to see them fall to the 80th % and stagnate? It feels like educational neglect which in my state if a parent does this it is a felony. None of it makes any sense to me.

I know that MAP can feel like a nice, objective check on progress, but how is she doing in school other than on MAP? Is the reading level possibly due to topping our at the school (since you mentioned they switch schools after 4th)?

The comment that you made about the teacher not really being supportive may be key here, too. That can make the overall situation just difficult for your DD. Kids are resilient, though...I would not worry too much about irreparable harm.

While I understand your concerns about placement next year it is not a bad grade skip unless she is miserable. Going from the top of 2nd to near the top of 4th is a good outcome. If she was still on the 99th percentile she would need another skip. Can you talk to someone at the next school about entry requirements and testing? Here when we had an extension programme they did their own testing.

She loves the skip and has A in math and reading.

But on paper, she looks like an "average" student and won't qualify for the district's high ability program. This requires a 95% or greater on the MAP test. She is nowhere near this and seems to have alot of gaps in skills.

I agree with others not to worry about irreparable harm. I'm sure if she's getting As, she'll be put in the honors classes at the middle school.

I do like MAP tests as a measure of growth, but sometimes a kid has a bad day or the computer glitches or any number of reasons could cause one of the measures not to go up. I would ask for a meeting with the teacher and maybe the principal to discuss it, though. And I would tell them I'm concerned about why she seems to not be showing growth this year and wonder if there's anything happening in the classroom. Maybe you need to switch teachers?

But I think happiness is key. If she's found friends, is making good grades and shows growth overall, I'd try to sit tight.

Good advice above. Also, think about the difference between 2nd grade reading and 4th grade reading: in 2nd, children are working mainly on decoding, and a very little bit of literal comprehension. By 4th grade, they are all supposed to have mastered the fundamentals of decoding, and are now working on expanding higher-level reading vocabulary, literal comprehension, and the beginnings of inferential comprehension. The rate of growth (measured, keep in mind, by not-very-scientifically-determined levels in a reading program) shouldn't necessarily be as rapid. One always hopes to see a little more improvement, but she didn't truly stagnate from fall to winter (essentially maintained her percentile, and picked up 5 scaled points). She is also still a full standard deviation above the mean of the class, which roughly translates to functioning nearly a grade level ahead of her placement (which I would view as falling in the optimal range for grade-advanced students).

In what way do you feel that she is not where she should be in reading? Are her grades not good? Are comments coming home from the teacher regarding not comprehending, or not keeping up with class expectations? Sometimes, as parents, it can be hard to get a good handle on what "should" looks like, because we don't have a wide enough perspective on "normal". (Case in point: SO thinks our youngest child doesn't have a good sense of pitch. We went to a very respectable student recital this weekend, after which it became clear that, in comparison to a wider sample of children, that was not the case!)

A few other thoughts: very little is irreparable. There are many paths to equally satisfying educational (and life) outcomes. Reading, in particular, is one of the areas where extracurricular self-education is as important as (or even more important than) formal education.

But I think the most important consideration here is actually (and I am trying to say this as gently as possible) the distance between you and your spouse regarding this parenting decision. For most children, almost any non-abusive schooling situation will be at least bearable, as long as her parents are united in supporting her through it. If she senses the discord between you regarding her education, the risk is high that she will begin to believe that she is the cause of conflict between her parents, which, I need not say, will be far more damaging than anything an educational mismatch may do.

Please believe that I am not judging you--we've all found ourselves in situations where we've cared so much, or been under such stress, or been so exhausted, that we've lost perspective. I do encourage you to take a step back, find some time to have a private, uninterrupted mutual listening session with your spouse, and get on the same page. It is apparent that you both care deeply about your child. Start from this point of agreement, and you will, given enough time and listening, be able to find common ground.

DD's older sister had the same class last year and we felt like it could go fine based upon that experience with that teacher.

But this year, it seems the school has decided to switch up things and have teachers "co-teach" on subjects. DD's reading/grammar teacher is now another teacher so she switches rooms for that.

It's a very weird situation because even the recent e-mail to the teacher was from DD's assigned teacher, while DD says the other teacher does all the instruction for reading so somehow the teacher who is actually teaching reading is not even in the loop. I don't even know how to approach her because we didn't know nor were we told that she would be the reading teacher this year. We don't get reports from her or anything. It's very weird.

DD also showed no improvement on the MAZE test for comprehension, actually showed negative growth on that as well.

As for friends, the school put 2 what I would call "manufactured" friends into the classroom so DD would be happy. One who has had speech therapy like DD has and was going for half the year with her and another who lives nearby and rides the bus with DD and coincidentally sits in the same seat as DD. This year is fine for that.

But next year, the middle school is huge. It's over 1300 kids and the school is currently trying to get people to transfer out because they are 300 kids over capacity for the next school year.

Older DD who did very well last year and had great friends has struggled in her classes to make friends because she is in with kids she has never met before and doesn't seem to have much in common with. There are quite a few advanced classes and some kids never get a class with those elementary friends ever again. She has no friends from school this year and it's been hard.

I worry about younger DD because she has been labelled "shy" by her teacher and she doesn't have any girl friends in her class outside of those 2. Without them, I feel she would be right back to being unhappy.

You've received great advice above.

Some may say that because your daughter is happy, is earning As, has two friends, and the school is caring and supportive enough to have matched-up these potential friends... the grade skip is successful.

Was the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS) utilized to assess for the likeliness of a successful grade skip?

This old post contains a roundup of advocacy ideas, tips, advice, and resources.

Curious, did the child take the MPG test in 2nd, or the 2-5 test? Also, I've heard that with a grade skip, there might be a year of somewhat lower scores while adjusting to the acceleration and then in the second year, they might jump ahead again.

In my experience, the reading ability of a kid doesn't always follow this nice progression of predictably, gradually getting more advanced. Some kids will plateau for awhile, only to jump back to grade level expectations (or above) out of nowhere.

DS did that when he was 6. He was not an early reader (at all) but suddenly around 6.5 started reading chapter books and was barreling through Harry Potter several months later (with full comprehension). I'm pretty sure that can happen in the older years, too.