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Posted By: sallymom Considering grade skip - 05/02/16 07:36 PM
I have a nine year old DYS DD. Her school is strongly encouraging a grade skip. We have been hesitant because of social skills ( she is mature but does not have any close friends in her grade) and I am beginning to question my decision. She would go from 3rd to 5th and honestly, fourth grade looks like a ton of repetition, I don't thing her social situation could really get any worse. This year she did become good friends with a girl in 5th grade that unfortunately had to move. So what experiences have you had with grade skips? The good and the bad? I am a little concerned that it puts her on the younger end so if she accelerates through high school she will be much younger going in to college. Thoughts??
Posted By: indigo Re: Considering grade skip - 05/02/16 07:49 PM
Grade skipping (also called whole-grade acceleration) is a frequent topic of discussion on the forums, as it is such an important decision. As this individual post is a bit large and unwieldy, created a new thread here (2021).

No doubt others will share their stories, but I'll begin by saying that because each child and learning environment is unique, every case is different. The Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS) is a tool made to help evaluate the appropriateness of full-grade acceleration in a given set of circumstances. As there is good and bad in everything, there are both pros and cons to acceleration. Many old threads discuss the ups and downs of acceleration. Here is a link to one thread which contains links to several other discussion threads on acceleration.

Here is a quick summary of those links, an acceleration roundup, in case it is more convenient to read them listed in one post:
- Grade skipping tradeoffs (2014) discusses possible drawbacks, downsides, and disadvantages to grade-skipping.
- Kindergarten, experiences with grade-skipping? (2008)
- Effects of Early Grade Acceleration (2015)
- Accelerated schooling - skipping a year (2013)
- Skip a grade? (2014)
- old post (2013) discussing acceleration (Tamara Fisher archives: Unwrapping the Gifted)

- More old threads on acceleration:
EG/PG and not accelerated? (2008),
The other side of the coin (redshirting) (2008),
skipping up a grade (2008),
Grade skipping - revisited (2009),
Possible Grade Skip for Child (2011),
Against Accelerating the Gifted Child (2012),
Grade skipping and STEM accomplishments (2012),
Skipping/Red-shirting (2013),
Help: Multi-grade skip possible...... need advice (2013),
Leveling Out (2013),
Plateauing (2013),
grade acceleration? (2014),
If you or your child skipped a grade (2014),
School Administrators as Politicians (2015),
What to say when students ask about a grade skip (2015).

- Newer discussion links on this topic include:
Anyone choose NOT to accelerate? Is that crazy? (2016),
Grade skipping resulting in early college (2016),
Adding a link to a thread on early college (2016),
article mentioning acceleration - SMPY study (2016):
Acceleration is common in SMPY's elite 1-in-10,000 cohort, whose intellectual diversity and rapid pace of learning make them among the most challenging to educate. Advancing these students costs little or nothing, and in some cases may save schools money, says Lubinski. “These kids often don't need anything innovative or novel,” he says, “they just need earlier access to what's already available to older kids.”
Thinking of skipping a grade? (2016),
options for 15 year old after high school (2016),
For BTDT: Anyone decide not to accelerate? (2017),
Transition Meeting/Grade Skipped/Advocacy Skills (2017),
Grade skip vs gifted program (2018),
Grade Skip - Yes or No? (2018),
Cold feet with upcoming grade skip (2018),
College at 16 (2018),
college at 15 before high school graduation (2018),
14yo going to college - advice and tips please (2019),
Full-Grade Acceleration to 1st Grade Issues (2019),
Child reluctant to grade skip (2019),
Expected grades after grade skips (2019),
Exceptionally gifted children by Miraca Gross (2020),
How bad is the social aspect of grade skipping? (2020),
The (Gifted) Kids Are All Right (2020).

- a few thoughts about gym class or physical education (PE):
Grade skipping tradeoffs - denying accelerated students their earned awards (2014),
Grade skipped and facing middle school (2015),
Grade skipping and sports (2015),
Subject Acceleration and Changing Buildings (2016).

There is also this bit of insight from an old post (2013):
Originally Posted by ZenScanner
they can accelerate as fast as they can, but school and online videos are rarely going to offer the direct metacognitive support for the secondary skills they did not give themselves time to develop (such as sanity checks and rereading problems).
Curriculum focused standardized tests are more often going to focus on the direct testing of specific element knowledge and application. They can become poor indicators of actual mastery that would include the full range of secondary skills.
Here is a link to a post (2016) which seems to understand very well why many students (and their parents) choose full-grade acceleration. In addition to expressing understanding, this post also mentions the research on acceleration:
Originally Posted by aeh
I have first- or second-hand knowledge of an unusually high number of acceleration stories, including many radical accelerants into early college, and it is clear to me that a significant number of those individuals would have suffered loss or injury to important aspects of themselves had they not been accelerated. The costs of acceleration were well worth it for them. Those observers who believe the costs -were- too high generally have not grasped the severity of pre-acceleration psychic pain they were experiencing. These are the kinds of data captured by the longitudinal research on radical acceleration.
Here is a link to a research paper, The Socioaffective Impact of Acceleration and Ability Grouping - Recommendations for Best Practice (2007), mentioned in a thread called Looking for information about social development.

Here is a link to a post which mentions potential costs of NOT accelerating (2016).

To help minimize the numbers of persons who suffer the lack of appropriate acceleration, the Acceleration Institute has conducted and presented research showing the generally positive results of a grade skip, especially when factors listed in the IAS are proactively considered/weighed in the decision-making. Two things may work against broader acceptance/adoption of acceleration:
1) Entrenched thinking of "peers" as being those of the same chronological age (rather than intellectual/academic peers)
2) Common Core has ushered in an era of extensive data collation enabling the evaluation/rating/ranking of schools and teachers based on achieving equal outcomes among their student populations. Closing achievement gaps to gain a positive evaluation/rating/ranking may often involve capping the growth of students at the top

Resources:
1. Studies conducted by the University of Iowa on the subject of acceleration,
2. Acceleration Institute,
3. A Nation Deceived (circa 2004),
4. The ten-year follow-up to A Nation Deceived: A Nation Empowered,
5. Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS). The Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS) is described on Hoagies Gifted Education Page here and the actual IAS, 3rd edition, is sold by Gifted Unlimited, here.
6. Gregory Park dissertation (2011)
7. Vanderbilt - When Less is More: Effects of Grade Skipping on Adult STEM Productivity Among Mathematically Precocious Adolescents (2013)
8. Presentation of Prof. Dr. Nicholas Colangelo at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Netherlands (youtube video, 41:05, published Nov 2013)
9. NAGC webinar - Acceleration: Making Informed Decisions, PowerPoint slides (2015)
10. Accelerate Illinois, report presented by Illinois Association for Gifted Children (IAGC), 2017
11. Article on Davidson Database (A10313), excerpt from A Nation Empowered, listing 20 types of acceleration
12. Article on Davidson Database (A10487) including international guidelines for acceleration.
13. NCGRE (UNCONN) Key Findings include findings on acceleration (unfortunately, the infrequent use of subject matter acceleration)
14. NOTE: If a link is broken or if the linked contents have changed (such as occurs with an update or a redesigned website), then try looking for the link in the "WayBack Machine," internet archive.

As this individual post is a bit large and unwieldy, created a new thread here (2021).
Posted By: Thomas Percy Re: Considering grade skip - 05/02/16 07:58 PM
It is actually possible that her social situation may actually get better if she is more mature than her age peers.
Posted By: longcut Re: Considering grade skip - 05/02/16 10:13 PM
Our DS skipped 4th this year midyear and it's gone well. He's still closer working on building friendships (he's pretty introverted), but he loves his class and his teacher, and he found a couple kids who seem to keep him challenged. I think what really worked for him in moving ahead was being more autonomous and in depth with projects -- the higher expectations of personal responsibility in class were really appreciated. He can take things to the next level. He's chomping at the bit for more, which makes middle school look appealing in the fall, but he did express dismay that the 6th graders don't have recess, which is a pitfall of losing a year of a younger grade. But they will at least have P.E. every other day. There's really a lot to weigh, and I'm not sure yet if DD will also do a grade skip or not. It's such an individual thing, as the others have said. DS was an easier decision, I think.
Posted By: aeh Re: Considering grade skip - 05/02/16 11:10 PM
It's handy that indigo quoted an earlier thread, so I don't have to repeat myself as much here. wink

I and one of our children each skipped fourth (I moved from third to fourth mid-year, and our child skipped into fifth on a school change). In both cases, the skip was into a multi-age classroom: I finished the year in a 4/5 combination, then went to a 5/6 combination the following year, and our child started the new school year in a 5/6/7 combination. The transition was successful, on balance, for each person, but I think whether yours will be as suitable depends greatly on the individual child, and the makeup of the receiving classroom and teacher. FWIW, I was quite shy as a child, while our child is pretty much the exact opposite.

And yes, this did, in combination with a few other skips, result in my entering college on the young side. We have not yet decided whether our child will enter college early, although if it seems appropriate at the time, that will definitely be an option. If your child is not ready for college, as a complete package, after high school, you can always do a gap year, have her take a course or two while exploring any special non-academic interests she has, experience the world of minimum wage jobs (not a bad life lesson, there), volunteer, etc. A grade skip now does not commit you to early college later.
Posted By: AnnieQuill Re: Considering grade skip - 05/03/16 05:12 PM
I'm in Virginia, so I don't know how much applys, but I feel as if I should contribute to this. One thing, social skills are important, but those develope outside of school. Encouraging her to make friends in your neighborhood (bit of advice on that, I do not reccamend "Hi, my name is _____, can you be my friend?" It does not work all that well) is a good stratagy, and when I was her age, my best friend / mentor was a woman who was older than my mom. I learned a lot from her, and we still try to get together and eat once or twice a year. It may be that she just dosn�t get along well with her peers, and as long as she is getting some social interaction, she'll be fine. And if she knows enough to skip grades, let her. Yes, social skills can be an issue, but it is torture to be in a class below your mental level. If your kid is at a higher level knowledge wise, put her at that level, trust me you will spare her and yourself some unnecessary grief.

And consider that some people have gone to college at the age of 14 (that's the youngest I can remember, but I bet there was someone younger) I doubt that your daughter will have any issues. The main thing is that she needs your support, because with that she can go as far as she is able. If she needs friends, she will tell you, and even then, you only need a few good friends. A few months ago,my best friend moved away, and I found myself feeling trapped in the house because I had no friends to Hang out with and get out of the house for a bit. With in a few weeks I made four new friends, and I hang out with them quite a bit. If she feels lonely or trapped, she will let you know, and given the oprotunity, she'll make friends then. They might not be her age though, so be prepared for that.

Alright, I've gabbed enough, hopefully you got through that okay smile
Posted By: puffin Re: Considering grade skip - 02/24/17 08:03 PM
Originally Posted by longcut
Our DS skipped 4th this year midyear and it's gone well. He's still closer working on building friendships (he's pretty introverted), but he loves his class and his teacher, and he found a couple kids who seem to keep him challenged. I think what really worked for him in moving ahead was being more autonomous and in depth with projects -- the higher expectations of personal responsibility in class were really appreciated. He can take things to the next level. He's chomping at the bit for more, which makes middle school look appealing in the fall, but he did express dismay that the 6th graders don't have recess, which is a pitfall of losing a year of a younger grade. But they will at least have P.E. every other day. There's really a lot to weigh, and I'm not sure yet if DD will also do a grade skip or not. It's such an individual thing, as the others have said. DS was an
easier decision, I think.

Why do 6th graders not get recess? Here you get 20 to 30 mins mid morning and an hour for lunch then play all the way through school - i get 15 mins and 30-60 as an adult.
Posted By: indigo Re: Considering grade skip - 02/24/17 08:15 PM
Originally Posted by puffin
Why do 6th graders not get recess? Here you get 20 to 30 mins mid morning and an hour for lunch then play all the way through school
That is an excellent question, and one that I've heard answered as follows:
- Middle school students need the extra minutes for instructional time.
- The students get to walk between each class, so that is enough:
--- activity to keep them sharp,
--- "personal time" to see friends,
--- time to use the restroom facilities.
- Supervising students that age is difficult when there is not a specific planned activity.
- It's hard to get kids to settle down after a free period (recess).
Posted By: nicoledad Re: Considering grade skip - 02/24/17 08:58 PM
Don't kids get gym class?
Posted By: indigo Re: Considering grade skip - 02/24/17 10:16 PM
Originally Posted by nicoledad
Don't kids get gym class?
That's an excellent question, and the answer may differ among different school districts. I'm familiar with middle school students having gym class or Physical Education (PE) once or twice a week (not daily). Gym may rotate with "electives" in the student's class schedule.
Posted By: frannieandejsmom Re: Considering grade skip - 02/24/17 10:32 PM
Here, in elementary, PE is twice a week. Once in Jr. High (7th and 8th grade), its daily.
Posted By: Cranberry Re: Considering grade skip - 02/24/17 11:17 PM
My DD13 has it 2 days/week. My DD17, a Senior, takes cyber gym, as do many in her class. As she's in Marching Band, she's exempt from the cardio part, so she need to record and have confirmed 15 hours of strength training in the 1 semester of gym. Plus many hours of PC-based training/testing. Frankly, it's much more work than actually taking gym, but she wanted room for other classes.

Regarding skipping, I would also recommend the IAS. If nothing else, it provides a lot of things to think about and helps quantify at least some aspects of the decision.

From a personal perspective, I skipped and never had problems.
Posted By: Lovemydd Re: Considering grade skip - 02/25/17 03:37 AM
Sallymom, have you talked to your dd about the skip? My dd7 skipped K and is in 3rd grade now. She would have been young for her grade to begin with and now she is really young. But she manages wonderfully and is still bored with the pace at school. The only issue is that she doesn't have a single best friend. But she is an introvert and lives inside her head a lot. So I doubt if the grade skip played any role. She is happy and would gladly vote for one more skip😊 IMHO, you have to meet the needs you can and solve the problems as they happen. The fact that your dd's school is supportive of the skip and suggesting is a great sign that you are likely to get their support to solve any problems that might arise from the skip. All the best with your decision.
Posted By: indigo Re: Considering grade skip - 11/09/17 09:47 PM
Thought some of you might enjoy reading this student's account of radical acceleration, and reflections on the experience.

Speaking from experience: A radically accelerated gifted student
by Noel Jett
November 02, 2017
The High Flyer
Thomas B.Fordham Institute

I especially enjoyed the article's last sentence. smile
Posted By: Tigerle Re: Considering grade skip - 11/13/17 07:42 AM
I have 2 DS born just after the cutoff, one DD born just before the cutoff, so our choices have been old for grade/young for grade/young for grade + extra grade skip. Same schools, same family, but so far, three different choices for three different kids.

DS11 was entered early so youngest in grade, but within range as it were, and also tall for his age so it was never noticeable unless a birthday came round. Additional grade skip from 3rd into 5th (gifted track in middle school) was mooted. We ended up refusing, because it would have meant starting middle school across town at age 8, he had made friends in 3rd he didn’t want to leave, which was an accomplishment for this socially awkward little professor, he’d always disliked being the youngest and the school wasn’t exactly in favour either. Now he’s in 6th in the gifted track, smack bang in the middle of the age group because of the many skippers and negotiating the city buses like a pro. Still coasting, making As and Bs with minimal efforts but has friends and isn’t bored. On the current schedule, he will be 17 on finishing high school. I want him to consider a gap year abroad, either between 10th and 11th or after school.

DD7 was regular entry but young for grade. Her classroom was a 1st/2nd split and the teacher wanted her in 2nd by Christmas. For this year, the choice was go into 3rd with the other 2nd graders with one good friend (and looped teacher) or go into a newly made up 2nd grade class with another good friend with unknown teacher. Another year in 2nd really wasn’t an option and teacher was by now really pushing for skip. So we went ahead with it. Academically of course she’s fine, and she has made her first 3rd grade friend, but dislikes being even more of a standout - two years younger than some now and she is tiny to begin with. I confess I am still worried socially. She is so clearly NOT a 3rd grader yet. On the current schedule, she will be either 16 or 17 on finishing high school, depending on her choice for middle school. The gifted track across town, where she is likely to be with other grade skippers, goes up to 12th, the middle school next door to her elementary, where her father teaches, goes up to 13th (we live right on a state line). Again, I am planning on a gap year for her.

DS5 is severely physically disabled with a speech and graphomotor delay and has only just been mainstreamed in preschool. Cognitively, he should be in 1st next year, entered early and young for grade. Physically and sociology-emotionally is a different story. Having him old for grade (with regular entry) won’t make him less disabled, but his compensation skills may be more established. Again, it’s a dilemma. He will be 18 or 19 on finishing high school, and the choice will, again, be more determined by his physical needs rather than his cognitive needs. If he wants a gap year, it should probably be after high school.

There are no hard and fast answers.
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