Wow, I don't know if I'd be comfortable putting my dd in a spot where she'd be around the 70th-75th percentile. I was only comfortable with accelerating dd12 b/c she was going to easily be in the top 10% of the receiving grade and she actually wound up much higher than that once she got there. Math is the one area where I'd say she's right at that top 10% point or a bit below or a bit above at times post-skip. However, I wouldn't want her at that same spot in all subjects. I think it would make her feel pretty bad when she was used to being the top student in her grade in most subjects pre-skip. I guess that, if that "bottom part of the top third" was a very temporary thing, I might be okay with it.
With a kid going into high school, I guess that maintaining As is more important when she'll be looking at college applications and scholarships as well.
Do you realise how bizarre this sounds from outside the US? I realise you're talking about your DD's specific situation, Cricket, so don't take this too personally - it's more than I've been looking for an opportunity to attack the US teacher-given-grades-led system for a while... Following it to its logical conclusion, if only 10% of any class can count as high achieving, no wonder so many people see school as stressful and even counterproductive. And then the system is even reinforced with this valedictorian thing...
Our system is much less pernicious than this (details in a moment) and even so, the "I've always been at the top" phenomenon is a major problem for many students entering the much more selective environment of a (our) university department. One of my colleagues likes to address this with a large lecture class thus:
"How many of you were in the top 10% at school?" [Almost all the hands go up]
"How many of you expect to be in the top 10% here?" [Over half the hands stay up.]
"Look around." !!
The UK system(s, it's different in different parts of the UK, but it's similar enough for this purpose) has its own problems, but at least it is not set up so that you can only succeed if enough of your classmates fail. University entrance is done on the basis of national, externally marked exams (yes, I know about the SAT). [I'm calling them exams for short, but some involve extended pieces of work done under different conditions, e.g. an art portfolio.] Grades on those are overwhelmingly the most important element of getting into your university of choice, although there are some courses (medicine) and a few universities where you need top grades and then other things also matter. (Interview; the university's own supplementary exam; your personal statement; your grades at the earlier national externally-marked exams you took at 16; and, somewhere low down the list, teacher reference [IME, in a qualitative, "what is this student like as a learner" way].)
Crucial: all the things on the list put all the students in a school class, and their teacher, on the same side. They aren't competing with one another but with an external standard (of course ultimately there are only finitely many university places, but nothing stops your class getting disproportionately many of them). As well as there being no limit on how many students in a class can do well, we also have the other side, of course: everyone is aware that being the top student may not be enough.
Earlier in the school system, too, right down to preschool, when students are given number/letter grades [too often IMHO but that's another matter] these are defined nationally (in terms of e.g. what a student who is awarded a Level 3 in writing should be able to do) although they are generally assessed by the individual teacher. If the teacher has evidence that 80% of her class are working above nationally expected levels for their age, nothing stops her assigning levels that say that.
Isn't that better? Why don't you change it?
If I could choose a position for my DS in class, I'd say the 50th percentile would be nice. Ideally I'd like him to have no idea where he is in the class because it's never occurred to him to think about the class that way: I want him to compare his progress with his goals, not with other children who happen to sit in the same room. I know, dream on.
[And Dottie, so long and thanks for all the fish. Enjoy life!]
