(Thanks very much, La Texican, flower, Grinity. We are barely scraping by right now and can't afford to go to BIQ, but definitely are planning on it next year. The puppy option has been converted to two kittens. Hopefully we can find free ones.)
Today's TAT meeting went pretty well. This time, there were nine or ten people in the room besides the wife and me, including (off the top of my head) the principal, vice principal, school psychologist, reading specialist, special ed. director, both school guidance counselors (the second one was new to the proceedings, but used to do GT coordination in the next town over), first-grade teacher, and K teacher.
The MAP results came back pretty decently, though based on the time taken he seems to have sped through both days of testing. I guess he satisfactorily finished the end of the second grade reading/writing curriculum and near the end of their third-grade math curriculum, according to their tests. Not a barn-burner, but good enough to nullify arguments that he's not ready for any acceleration, I suppose.
The plan they had come up with was:
1. For the next three weeks, do a trial period of afternoon first grade after his morning kindergarten class ends. This period will just be to make sure that he can adapt socially and emotionally to the skip, and let him start making new friends. The school will start by having him with a cluster group of what sounded like what they suspect may possibly be MG first graders (which is why they picked that particular classroom, to make that possible). This same cluster of first graders will eat lunches with him outside the cafeteria for the first week, then sit with him in the cafeteria after the first week. This same group will also do first-grade work with him, I guess.
2. Inside the first-grade classroom, they will work on lining up enrichment activities for him.
3. There will be a follow-up meeting at the end of the trial period to discuss how it went and make further recommendations.
4. If everything goes well, the principal will (I guess, since it's required by local school district rules) get permission from the superintendent for a skip to second grade at the end of this year.
5. There will be another meeting at the end of the school year to address any further issues or concerns, and finalize plans.
6. Next year, they will work to add in-class enrichment for him so he's not bored by the reading, math, science etc. available normally. His team of other gifties/high achievers will do projects with him, etc. to delve deeper into subjects; he may do book reports and the like; etc. They also mentioned more problem-solving for math.
We have some obvious questions (e.g. about whether he will be allowed to learn new math topics past the second-grade curriculum, how his need for a faster pace will be addressed, etc.). It was just so nice to hear the school acknowledge finally that he has special needs, especially keeping in mind that this is just the first step, that we didn't want to argue against their ideas, and actually went in with the idea of just being receptive if they offered a beginning along these lines (Grin, sorry, I know it's not so Machiavellian). They are doing their best, this is just the first rough draft, and they seem very open to change and discussion. We are also sending in our DYS application in the morning, and hopefully will be accepted before the next meeting after the trial period, thus might have extra expertise available to help.
One thing the principal said was startling. He said that he had the feeling that, similarly to their policy in the district against double retention, there would be no further possible skip until our son leaves the school (which goes up to 5th). He also said he had concerns about the school's ability to provide advanced enough materials in the last year or so (I didn't mention that that might be a good time to leave for the middle school, which seems like it might get around the no-double-skip rule). I'm unconcerned about such things right now; I just want to improve his school experience next year as much as possible, we can push for further changes as necessary, and we have established a beachhead.
I think that a lot of the school teachers and administrators here are coming from an egalitarian mode of thought about education, which I can appreciate for its basic good-heartedness while not agreeing totally on every point. I do cringe at the idea of other kids' lives being rearranged to help my kid, although I understand the reason for it and am highly grateful that the school cares enough to make such recommendations. I am hoping that out of all of this comes a greater awareness of the differences of gifted kids in my school, and I also hope that this may be the start of gifted services in my town. All of the people at the meeting, especially the person with GT experience who seems really on the ball and very passionate, seem to be focused on doing the right thing.
We're feeling really grateful to the school and everyone here (thank you!). We don't expect everything to go perfectly right away, but we finally feel like there's real hope.
