Gifted Bulletin Board

Welcome to the Gifted Issues Discussion Forum.

We invite you to share your experiences and to post information about advocacy, research and other gifted education issues on this free public discussion forum.
CLICK HERE to Log In. Click here for the Board Rules.

Links


Learn about Davidson Academy Online - for profoundly gifted students living anywhere in the U.S. & Canada.

The Davidson Institute is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting profoundly gifted students through the following programs:

  • Fellows Scholarship
  • Young Scholars
  • Davidson Academy
  • THINK Summer Institute

  • Subscribe to the Davidson Institute's eNews-Update Newsletter >

    Free Gifted Resources & Guides >

    Who's Online Now
    0 members (), 167 guests, and 10 robots.
    Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
    Newest Members
    parentologyco, Smartlady60, petercgeelan, eterpstra, Valib90
    11,410 Registered Users
    March
    S M T W T F S
    1 2
    3 4 5 6 7 8 9
    10 11 12 13 14 15 16
    17 18 19 20 21 22 23
    24 25 26 27 28 29 30
    31
    Previous Thread
    Next Thread
    Print Thread
    Page 1 of 2 1 2
    #182905 02/24/14 11:03 AM
    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 32
    K
    KellyA Offline OP
    Junior Member
    OP Offline
    Junior Member
    K
    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 32
    So, I just got through my first act of advocacy to NOT have my daughter repeat Pre-K next year solely due to my state's age restrictions.

    I had no idea how hard it would be to stand my ground -- I mean they were non-hostile, but I don't like to pretend I'm an expert on things I'm not. Believe me, I understand that reading a few books & a few studies to support (and even a few to attempt to refute) my point does not make me an expert in gifted education.

    That's what made it difficult, talking to people who educate and work with children every day and having to tell them that their reservations need to be removed despite the fact that I'm only an expert on one single child.

    Has anyone else felt this way? How do you handle advocating for your child?

    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 5,244
    Likes: 1
    I
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    I
    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 5,244
    Likes: 1
    Quote
    ... reading... books & ...studies... does not make me an expert in gifted education.
    I'm only an expert on one single child.
    When you are advocating for your particular child, you are the expert on the subject at hand (your child).

    IQ and achievement test results can be helpful for showing your child's departure from the norm. Portfolios or samples of work which are not age-typical are often helpful for purposes of illustrating your child's unique approach and interests as compared with age-mates. These things can help powers-that-be at a school or district to see the same advanced abilities which you observe in your child, and therefore help them better gauge an academic and curricular fit.

    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 249
    P
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    P
    Joined: Dec 2010
    Posts: 249
    Not really.

    The administrators and teachers may be expert in educating kids in general but we, the parents are expert in our own kids. As long as scores, results, benchmarks to back you up, and the kid has not been challenged and bored, I would do it all over again.

    It seems like you were successful and the teacher might have agreed that your DD does not need repeating. Kudos to you and the teacher!

    I would send a nice thank you e-mail/ letter to the administrator/ teacher. Everybody loves to be appreciated.

    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 32
    K
    KellyA Offline OP
    Junior Member
    OP Offline
    Junior Member
    K
    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 32
    It's just hard to wrap my head around sometimes. It's just frustrating that due to her age they determined that she should have to redo pre-K but be taken out to do enrichment work for Math & English and Spanish at the K or 1 level.

    It just made no sense to me that a child who is already well integrated into a pre-K classroom with children a year plus older should have to be housed in pre-K solely because of her age (she'll be 4.5 years at school start).

    I definitely would like to thank her for her work, but I don't want her to think that I'm trying to suck up to get a favorable outcome. This has been so stressful!

    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 32
    K
    KellyA Offline OP
    Junior Member
    OP Offline
    Junior Member
    K
    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 32
    The school emailed today and said that their administrator is going to do a visitation/observation during the school day at DD's Pre-K on Tuesday.

    So, we'll see how that goes!

    Joined: Jan 2012
    Posts: 47
    S
    Junior Member
    Offline
    Junior Member
    S
    Joined: Jan 2012
    Posts: 47
    Yeah, I am going to be there someday soon. So, I understand your predicament (I will face this issue next year if my oldest goes to public school out of completing a K year in a private environment)... best of luck & keep us posted.

    Joined: Aug 2012
    Posts: 52
    B
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    B
    Joined: Aug 2012
    Posts: 52
    It's good to read other's stories about this. My daughter is three but on a Kindergarten level (or above) in most basics already. I have no idea where she'll be by the time she's actually Kindergarten age so I already feel lost as what to do about getting her into schooling.


    Z - 01/23/11 and O - 05/12/13
    Joined: Mar 2014
    Posts: 96
    B
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    B
    Joined: Mar 2014
    Posts: 96
    You might find preparation by looking at their side of it useful.

    This is from our district:



    She answers parent questions at the end. Some of the material is district-specific but you will get a good idea of what to expect in terms of responses.

    Also keep in mind their perspective. They are dealing with a couple of hundred children, and don't want four and six year olds in the same class. Letting them know that you're aware of these issues (as well as restrictions on child-care limits with younger children, for example) would be helpful.

    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 32
    K
    KellyA Offline OP
    Junior Member
    OP Offline
    Junior Member
    K
    Joined: Apr 2013
    Posts: 32
    They've settled on Pre-K admission with pull out for K/1 level academics (The entire school has a set schedule for Math/Reading/Science that they all switch class rooms for simultaneously - like a mini high-school). They've decided to continue the evaluation in classroom because they are concerned that despite her academic, social and emotional skills being impressive they feel that most children don't do well outside of their age group.

    Apparently in our state (and our district especially) it's almost unheard of to place a child above grade level no matter the aptitude. It's unfortunate, but we are out of options and this seems to be our best choice. We talked to DD about it and she understood that she'd get to learn K level things but play with kids her own age & she seemed pretty happy about that...

    We'll evaluate again in like November when we have seen how the coursework is going!

    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 2,035
    P
    Member
    Offline
    Member
    P
    Joined: Dec 2012
    Posts: 2,035
    Keep us posted. I don't think it is a very sensible decision on their part.

    Page 1 of 2 1 2

    Moderated by  M-Moderator 

    Link Copied to Clipboard
    Recent Posts
    Testing with accommodations
    by aeh - 03/27/24 01:58 PM
    Quotations that resonate with gifted people
    by indigo - 03/27/24 12:38 PM
    For those interested in astronomy, eclipses...
    by indigo - 03/23/24 06:11 PM
    California Tries to Close the Gap in Math
    by thx1138 - 03/22/24 03:43 AM
    Gifted kids in Illinois. Recommendations?
    by indigo - 03/20/24 05:41 AM
    Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5