Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Age vs. grade

I'm a total newbie so if my questions are stupid I ask your forgiveness..........

My 5 yo son recently tested extremely high (sorry, I don't know the correct term). We live in a state that has no services for him. My son is 5 yo and working his way through 5th grade. If a school in another state identifies itself as a gifted school that services K-5, where does my son fall? Is he a Kindergartener at a gifted school or a 5th grader? If I can't move for another year, is he going to be expected to move to middle school for 6th grade?
Help!

Hi BWBShari - don't worry, you are in the right place! Your questions are not stupid.

My DS4 is not yet in school, so i don't have great school-related answers for you, but I would guess that your son would be whatever grade you enroll him in or whatever grade they want him to take standardized tests in. I'm not exactly sure from your descriptions, but he could be a Kindergartner with accelerations (is he based in K, and taking some classes in higher grades?) Are you having problems with the current school? A school willing to do such accelerations to meet the child's educational needs is quite rare (and good in my opinion, if it's working for you). There are others here who have kids with radical accelerations (more than one grade in one or more subjects), and hopefully they will give you some more useful advice. But if you're thinking of moving to a school just because it's called "gifted," you still have to do a lot of research to find out if they would really be able to accommodate your child. Many gifted schools are great for moderately gifted (MG) kids, but don't serve all HG kids well. Some people have found success in a regular public school that is willing to work with you.

Here is a link to the section hoagie's gifted that discusses levels of giftedness:

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_profoundly.htm

Many of us here just use HG+ to encompass those HG (highly gifted)/EG(exceptionally gifted)/PG (profoundly gifted) kids (although this forum is not just limited to HG kids - all flavors welcome here!)

There is loads of info on hoagiesgifted.org. Excellent starting place and always resource.

Some books I found useful: Miraca Gross's Exceptionally Gifted Children (the latest edition has updates on the education of all the kids studied); Deborah Ruf's Losing Our Minds: Gifted Children Left Behind - discusses different levels of giftedness.

Hi Shari and welcome to the board!
I have a similar situation with a 7 y/o who should be in second grade, has been whole grade skipped so he's in third, is being privately tutored for math and working in the 5th grade book, goes to a pull out program for 3rd to 5th graders, sits in on the 8th grade math class and now they are considering putting him with 4th graders for science! But his technical enrollment in school is considered 3rd grade. So if we move for next school year we would technically enroll him as a fourth grader whether at a private or public school.

The actual placement for your son might vary depending on the policies and philosophy of the specific school. For example, a private, highly selective school for gifted kids might want to put him in the grade level he is by age. But that might not mean anything if they differentiate and/or advance curriculum anyway. KWIM? He could be called a first grader but doing 8th grade math. Enrollment grade is really just sort of a technical detail. The really important part is what curriculum is he doing or what programming is he getting? That's the part you need to be at his level.

So very true, Dottie! It's never perfect, is it??

MrWiggly is going to take the EXPLORE test as a third grader this year. But my husband pointed out that he'd do even better if we waited until the following test and called him a third grader then, since he'll be competing against some kids who aren't grade accelerated. DH has a point. But since he's enrolled in school in 3rd grade, that's where we have to test him. But he'll be among the "young 3rd graders" who have been accelerated. They say a lot of kids taking the test have been accelerated.

Seems to all get more complicated as the exponential learning curve progresses. Hopefully to quiet down when they are finished with college!!!

Hi Shari,
Welcome!
It's wondeful that your son is doing 5th grade work. I'm hoping that it's making him happy! Is this at home, or though his school? If it's in the school, that just goes to show how a school doens't need a 'gifted program' to met the needs of at least some gifted kids.

Are you moving for the school or for your family's needs?

The thing to keep in mind is that there is NO standard definition of gifted. NONE. and no agreement about how best to accomidate gifted learners. Things vary between states, between districts and within districts. Whatever you agree to, spend time observing how the actual teachers interact with the actual students and look at their learning materials. It stands to reason that you want to find a classroom where there the other kids are as similar in their readiness level to your child as possible - less work for the teacher. Also - an understanding teacher is worth their weight in gold.

Age and grade are a little bit like shoe size, they are numbers that mean something, but don't tell the full answer - you have to try things on to know if they really fit, yes?

Smiles and Welcomes,
Grinity

My son started school just a couple of weeks ago. The school appoached me about the possiblility of enrolling him. They knew he existed because as a foster parent I've had many children in their school. They told me that they had been discussing the idea of making some sort of fully differentiated program in the district for quite some time and wondered if I would be willing to work with them to see if they could come up with a plan for my son. That's actually how his testing came about.

He is currently in several different classes, Kindergarten, 3rd for Art, Library, Computer and Language Art. 4th for gifted Math and he spends an hour each day with the gifted teacher for reading. They have the teachers within the classes differentiating further still. The school gave him the NWEA the second day and he tested into 5th, but I don't want him with kids that are that much older. They are trying really hard to make this work.

The problem comes with the knowledge that by the end of this year, he will have completed his elementary school work. At 5, I can't reasonably expect him to go to middle school. We have been talking about the possibility of moving to a different state that offers more opportunity for him. This is all very new and I've only begun to explore the possibility of moving. It may be that the best choice is to homeschool with the help of tutors etc. At this point I don't really know. But I feel like he will be able to complete this school year where he's at, so I want to use this time to figure out what comes next.

About the only thing i've managed to figure out so far, is that everyone agrees that these decisions have to be individualized to the specific child. That means getting myself educated, so that I can make the best choices for him.