At the beginning of the year, the teacher set up an entirely separate curriculum for DS7 to keep him challenged. I appreciated it more than she will ever know, but it didn't work. The gifted program is a joke at this school - it's 30 minutes a week, and half the time the teacher doesn't even show up. Then his teacher found a math program where he could "test out" of certain subjects and keep going at his own pace. Still way too easy for him. Now they have him in a second grade class for math (he's actually in first). But he only ends up going 2-3 times a week, because he always has to go with his class to art, music, etc. (I'm all for the arts in school, but for it to override math? Really?) As if that isn't bad enough, missing half the classes is not affecting his grade - he is STILL getting straight 100's! Good grades are fantastic, but he's not getting a challenge at all, and I don't want him to develop a habit of being lazy in school. It's virtually impossible to get a kid skipped in this district, and now he's starting to get bored and not try as hard - his reading level actually DECREASED last grading period, and I know he hasn't lost the ability to read. So I don't see much chance of being able to convince the district to skip him. I'm completely frustrated and out of ideas. We do supplement at home, but that does nothing to relieve the seven hours of boredom while he's at school every day. Anyone have any ideas that I haven't already tried?

Keep asking for the skip, and as many of them as you need. Find the person who has the ability to make that happen. (harder to do than to write, way harder).
Right now we are doing online courses where the school has fallen down hard, but hoping for more (any) challenge at school sometime in next couple of years. I would lol, if it wasn't so sad.

I agree with Chris1234. We were in a school that NEVER skipped a child in the entire history of the school. We went in well prepared and stated our case and guess what.... they agreed! It went so beautifully and flawlessly, I bet they wouldn't second guess trying it again if the need presented itself. Now, don't get me wrong... this certainly wasn't a solve all. We are still not being challenged, but I look it at as a stepping stone and one step closer to where we need to go. DC is so much more happy in the new grade though!

Don't give up!

Our school had not skipped anyone before either, after testing that showed that he was ready for the 7th grade and long discussion they agreed to place him in the 4th grade. We even had to sign that we are doing this against their advice. All the possible social issues that they presented, have not been issues at all. Our DS fit right in, has made a lot of friends. He still is not challenged enough, so one grade skip may not be the solution to all your problems, but it is a good start.

Suggest that they look at the Iowa Acceleration Scale to see where your DS should be, and that you would be willing to do a trial period of 6-8 weeks and evaluate whether it's working. Good luck!

I am sorry you are going through this and I understand your frustration. What has the first grade teacher said to you? It must be clear to her that your son belongs at least in the 2nd grade. Can you ask her directly to recommend it?
We were lucky that our school skipped our kiddo after only the first two weeks of school (it was a private school), but it only took about 4 more months to realize that this would not be adequate.After one year of school I pulled him out and now homeschool. The school told me that he would plateau out- has not happened yet. Best wishes!

Dear Treecritter,

I am so sorry you have to deal with this, and having been there myself I really understand what you are dealing with.

Can you tell us what you have already done and who you have spoken to? Depending on the size of your district (in a huge district going to the board prob. won't work), I agree with bh14 that I wouldn't give up until I had gone all the way to the super. I def. would not give up if a Principal says no. There are so many reasons schools do not want to skip (or do subject acceleration) and most of them just are not valid.

Also, how is the social fit for your child in the current grade? I am dealing with almost an opposite issue, where they may want to full skip him (because easier for schedule) and I would prefer to stick with subject acceleration (although somewhat open to a one year skip). Part of this is because he has a huge group of friends in his grade that he really likes and enjoys, so we are lucky that we don't seem to see the social difficulties with same age peers that some gifted kids sometimes encounter (on the other hand, we have noticed increased frustration with some of his friends, so that may be an increasing issue).

If you can let us know what you have done, maybe we will have some ideas about what else you can try. I am actually in the middle of writing a paper for my masters program on the disconnect between the research and attitudes toward acceleration. I assume you have read Nation Deceived? I actually think a book by Southern and Jones called "The Academic Acceleration of Gifted Children" might be better for talking to skeptics. The reason I think this is because it is published by Teachers College, Columbia University, which is really well-known and respected in straight up education circles (as opposed to gifted education, and those two worlds do not always connect very well) and also the name "Nation Deceived" seems to make people uncomfortable and defensive. I used it at my school but had to preface my discussion to it (Nation Deceived) by saying how I was put off by the name myself and explaining how it wasn't directed at educators, but all of us, etc. etc. Finally, the Southern and Jones book really pulls apart the research, which I found very useful.

Cat

I've had numerous conferences with his teacher, who seems eager to help and has already put in tons of extra work for him. She was the one who suggested the subject acceleration for math, and while he's enjoying it, I'm getting very little feedback from the second grade teacher. DS says it's "mostly easy", though, and he's not the type to refrain from complaining if he is having to work too hard. I have spoken to the principal, and briefly mentioned the possibility of acceleration (among other options). He said grade skipping was something he had never seen done in the district, and left it at that. I've recently learned (I think) that this wasn't true - a little girl in my neighborhood says she skipped second grade. (She's now in fourth - so I can't guarantee that what she says is true, but she is small compared to her classmates). I feel like I'm constantly emailing, calling, or meeting with someone, and I don't want to be the parent that everyone ignores because I always have a complaint of some sort. (I used to be a teacher, and can tell you that in extreme cases, they just stop paying attention to the parents who constantly whine, so I'm trying to pick my battles and tread carefully).
For the record, I don't want to skip him right now. I would rather let him finish up the year, then start fresh in third grade next year. His birthday is in October, so he's not that much younger than his classmates - so I don't think his social life will suffer much, if at all.

Treecritter,

Well, if it was me, I would start with a two pronged attack.

1. Gather intelligence. Talk to the parents of the little girl, they may be able to give you a wealth of information. Check out your district's policy (you may have to do some digging). I was initially told subject acceleration "wasn't done" but it actually had been done in the past (full skips were done). The principal we dealt with def. wasn't completely forthcoming with information initially (I'd like to think we have now reformed her, we shall see).

2. If you are sure a full skip is what you want, start drafting a letter with that as a formal request. I wouldn't wait too long, as the school year is starting to wind down, but I would wait long enough to do some of the intelligence gathering in #1. When you send it, send it to your principal, but also to the superintendent and anyone else in the chain of command between the two, or who might need to give input.

If you want to look rational, you can refer to the IAS and not actually request the skip, but request evaluation by the district using the IAS to determine the appropriateness of the skip (of course, you will already know that he qualifies easily for the skip on the IAS I assume). Make sure you toss in things like "in order to insure that my child receives an appropriate education, I request that he be evaluated for promotion from first grade directly to third grade. I expect that you will use the Iowa Acceleration Scale, an instrument created by the University of Iowa and validated in several studies as an effective tool in determining whether a student should be full grade skipped. I look forward to hearing from the district within ten days as to when such an evaluation can take place. We look forward to working with you to make sure our child is placed in the classroom that will provide the best educational fit for his academic skills."

Quick story. A friend's daughter started K reading chapter books and definitely ready for 1st grade math. She asked the Principal repeatedly to move her to 1st grade, and the Principal kept putting up barriers. Finally, about 5 weeks into the school year, and very frustrated, she emailed the Super. and basically demanded the skip. Within 2 days her daughter was in the 1st grade (they claim they tested her, but we haven't quite figured out how or when, and her daughter says no one ever asked her any questions...). She is now a 3rd grader and doing very well.

Treecritter, I second the use of the IAS. It was very helpful even to the admin. as they were not aware of it's use and having never accelerating a child, it made them feel at ease with their answer to move forward.

Catalana, if it's any consolation, I wouldn't be fearful of not accelerating based on the basis of a large friend pool. My DC is one of the extremely outgoing gifties (I know many are introverted) and she left so many friends behind and we went ahead with the full grde skip and she has adjusted beautifully! In fact, she didn't adjust at all! She has made just as many friends in the new grade and you would never know that she wasn't with this kids from kindergarten! If your child makes friends that easily, he will be so well adjusted even with leaving the others behind. In fact, if nothing else, we have even more friends now because we have the friends we left behind and all of the new ones we made! It was a win win for all!

I agree with the others - fill out an IAS form. It really helped our local school overcome the fears of a grade skip by giving them an objective way to measure whether the student would be a good candidate for skipping.

Also, try to stay on the good side of the prinicipal, because you will want help selecting a teacher who wants your child and who is also good at differentiation (many kids who have gotten grade skips still need additional differentiation).

good luck!

Okay, I think I have a game plan. I haven't gotten IAS yet, but I will. In the meantime, I downloaded several placement tests for math and reading, around the 2nd or 3rd grade level. He's averaging about 85% on the second grade tests, and about 60% on the third grade tests. And, to be honest, I've never taught him most of the things on those tests, and I know he hasn't learned it in school. So I have no idea how he learned a lot of it. Anyway, I dusted off the psychology minor from college and found several articles and exerpts from books that show that if a child is not challenged, it's bad for them in about a dozen different ways. And I got together a folder of samples of the math that he does (and enjoys) at home, along with his journal, in which he writes stories that are ten times better than the ones he does at school. I have two main concerns. FIrst of all, the 85% on the tests. Is that good enough to skip? I want him to be challenged, but I don't want him to be totally overwhelmed, or for him to miss 15% of what he is supposed to learn in second grade. My second concern is that his work at home is SO much better than his work at school. He gets good grades, but he knows exactly what he has to do in order to get those good grades, and does no extra. That is not going to be good enough if he's in third grade next year instead of second, and I suspect that's the argument I'm going to get when I have this conference. Thoughts?

If you son had been in 2nd grade and scored 85% on his 'final exams' would you consider having him repeat 2nd grade? Probably not. If the IQ scores support that the child is gifted, or unusually gifted, then 85% -without a drop of effort or teaching or exposure - is probably just right. You want to put him where he would be able to get As with some effort.

As for the bad attitude at school - that may well clear up if they start giving him some work in his readiness zone. Of if not, you still have plenty of time before grades count in High School to figure it out.

Smiles,
Grinity

Wow, Grinity - every time I read one of your posts, I think, "Geez, that's pretty obvious - why didn't I think of it?!?" You're absolutely right. I think I'm just overthinking this because I'm not looking forward to the huge fight that is no doubt coming, and because I've heard so many arguments AGAINST skipping a grade (very few of which I think have much merit). Thanks again!

A few thoughts of mine.... Sometimes when I hear myself "gearing" up for the big fight or whatever, I realize that my own stuff has been triggered. When my own stuff is triggered, like the lack of recognition that I got through school, or swallowing the bitter taste of boredom for years at a time, I have to find a quiet way to nurture myself and then face the others. I am not sure what people notice or if its even true, but it seems when I have my stuff in order advocating for my kiddo is smoother with the school personnel. This board has helped me tons with getting to that place.

When my kiddo was in fourth grade they gave her the year end math test for fourth grade and she scored 84% on it..... I could not believe they were going to make her do a whole year worth of stuff to get 15% of material that she needed.... Through a school switch mid-year the new school took her from fourth and put her in sixth grade math with three months of the school year left. My daughter had quite a few gaps. Enough that I actually attended class with her for the first three days to show how to do some of the basic stuff that she missed so she could focus on the more advanced stuff. Those three months were I think some of my daughters favorite months in math. She shone and loved the challenge. She ended as the top student in the class. I think she was missing more than the 15% at the beginning but not having to learn all the basics with tons of repetition made her really happy. We asked for a grade skip at that point, but they scared us off with the whole older dating friends and driving deal even admitting that academically she could handle it. Now as we are in middle school I wish I had pushed for the grade skip because we are still waiting for the chance to get to the more challenging classes,high school and dual enrollment....

I love how you put this flower. TreeCrit - bring us with you in your mind to this meeting! Draw a smile face on your hand and know it's me! One step at a time...
Grinity

Treecritter, I did exactly what you did. I DL'd past state tests and gave them to DC. I also put together a portfolio and printed all sorts of info (the acceleration institute has wonderful info. you might find useful) and used the IAS which also has tons of research based info. you can use in addition to the assesment portion of the manual. Sounds like you are on the right track.

DL'd?

downloaded.

Thanks Mum3 -
Wow - nice state to post their previous years test! Nice work finding them!
Grinity

Okay, but he's getting 85% with essentially no prior exposure to the material? So much of elementary curriculum is repetitive, and the first few months of school are actually review, I'm betting he could learn that 15% very quickly in third grade. Also, look at the type of questions he's missing and see if there's a pattern. It could just be due to a lack of vocabulary or exposure to a topic. When the GT coordinator gave assessments to my DS, he would miss things like questions that wanted him to use "tally marks". He didn't know what that meant. When the teacher showed him, then he got all the questions correct. He had a similar issue on the reading test because I've never taught him any "reading skills" (LOL) and he didn't know what a prefix or root word was. Lots of "circle the root word" questions, and he got some of them right, but not the ones that were purposely tricky. So you might just have some gaps to address. And what I've been told is not to worry about the gaps when you're talking about a kid who needs to be exposed to something once to learn it. They'll fill in the gaps quite easily. Just make sure you help them find them and remind them to ask when they don't know something.

I would not worry about minor gaps (like 15%) at any point, but in particular at the lower grades. As radwild says, the material is incredibly repetitive.

Yah! My kids don't take those tests because they go to private school but even better because they haven't ever seen it. We take the CogAT and the ITBS, but not the state mandated tests the public school takes. You'd be surprised, I bet many states have past tests on there. There all about NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND so any way they can offer practice, they will. I think I found it on the state board website. Had to do some digging but it was there. I think it may even be in with where you'd find what the state standards per grade are or something. Worth investigating!

In fact, I just googled state proficiency practice tests and a wealth of information with past tests that were released showed up for many states!