My daughter's current teacher is a "Gifted Denier."

DD6 has been in a private school for a year and a half. First year the teacher was like "your kid is spacey", I think they're LD. I'm like, mmmhmmm, I mean the parent knows when their kid is gifted, but anyway we had her tested and she maxed out the WJ (-III?) test. So they said, ok she's GT and we're setting up some programs for that. I still need to follow up on that.

Anyway this year she's in 1st grade and they're doing differentiation they say. But somehow she's like 30th percentile on their color coded book levels, and in math section 3 of 4, not 1 or 2. I mean you don't find this out until 3 months into the year, and I was trying to hang back and not be "one of those parents". Well I got her bumped up to math section 2 and to maybe 50th percentile reading. Though really she is reading several years ahead, but it ain't no thing, they can't stop her from reading ahead at home.

Still, she is very slow on writing in the classroom. I'll get private family counseling for her and the family, but it seems to me she is what you call Underachieving Gifted, as described in Module Four of this excellent package http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/scho...ion_professional_development_package.htm

What set me off is when I emailed that to her teacher, he is like, "I can assure you I will never click that link or read it. I have 20 other students and I'm very busy." This, at a private school, and he has an assistant. He is like "IQ doesn't matter". And "Kids just have to do what I put in front of them. If they do that, they get the next task." Its not wrong, but its not right. Its turning into a bad mushroom trip. This teacher is what I call a "Gifted Denier". Frustrating. Maybe I can tell all the researchers that their studies over the last 50 years can be thrown out because this teacher knows better.

You will find plenty of company out here of parents who have met those "Gifted Denier" teachers and administrators! One thing you might consider, though, is whether your D might be 2E. My D has a very high IQ and also a non-verbal learning disability. Slow writing was one of her issues, too. Definitely not saying that this is the case for sure, but just something for you to consider.

I have to tell you... you probably will have to be THAT PARENT to get what your D needs. There are other parents who have had some luck getting acceleration from their schools -- I think they often go in to meet with the teacher, taking test scores and examples of what their child is doing at home. Also, if you can scope out the teachers for the next grade level and make a request for the one who seems most likely to accomodate your D, that has been a good move for us in the past.

One more thing to consider, our experience has been that small/private does not always translate into the right environment for a gifted kid. We are wishing mightily this year that we had moved our D to a different high school (private K-12, we have had at least one kid there for 17 years) back in 9th grade or earlier (she is a junior now). This year it has become abundantly clear that they have neither the ability nor the interest to meet her acceration needs.

"This year it has become abundantly clear that they have neither the ability nor the interest to meet her acceleration needs." I will meet with them, about this year, and next year (if there is one) but yeah, you may well have said it. I'll just ask them if there are any teachers for next year who are not Gifted Deniers. Appreciate your thoughts and will consider. I like to think her writing is not disobedience or self esteem or 2E issue, but more perfectionism and/or sticking to her guns for being more creative or more literal. But we'll put a shrink on it just in case.

Did she take the WJ cognitive, which is an IQ test, or the WJ achievement test? If it was achievement, I'd think that most schools are willing to place based on achievement moreso than IQ and his comment about IQ not mattering is moot. I do believe from what I've heard that the grade equivalents on the WJ achievement test can be a little misleading especially in younger kids. My oldest, for instance, got some grade 18+ scores on the WJ-III (achievement) when she was a younger 7 y/o. She was definitely very advanced in those areas, but not that advanced. None the less, I would have been very unhappy had she not at least been offered the most accelerated grouping they had for those very advanced areas and putting a child in a below average grouping when achievement is clearly well above average makes no sense.

It almost sounds to me like you are in a power struggle with this teacher where he is determined to prove you wrong or do the opposite of what you want to prove a point of some sort. Is a classroom change an option?

Both dd and ds had a teacher who is a gifted blocker. She wasn't as bad with dd (and dd was our first child so we still didn't know better) but by the time ds came around we had a huge problem. He and his TAG peers languished for a year, while she 'got the rest of the class to catch up'. It was a tremendously stressful year for the kids and the parents. Thankfully, this wasted year was (mostly) made up for it the following year, when they had an amazing TAG teacher.

This experience has turned me into "that parent." Ultimately, it's up to you and your spouse/partner to ensure your child has the education they deserve.

ETA: I don't mean to say you are not doing your best. Just know that sometimes you have to take these issues to the person up the chain of command. We ultimately filed a complaint with the state. It didn't change what happened - or rather didn't happen that year, but it's paved the way for us to get ds the accommodations he needs.