I have been wanting to share my story because like many others we have had to work and fight so hard to get my son challenged. We started last September with a request to have him tested to understand exactly where he was at. Of course nobody really wanted to share or cooperate with this request even though I believe by the State of Ohio they must do this if requested. After much push we were able to have him tested. Of course the test results came back good but there was a high discrepancy between the sub categories on the IQ test which made the results less meaningful. The next step was requesting that he be accelerated by one grade level in Math. We decided to just do Math because we felt for the most part he could continue to be challenged independently in reading my increasing the book levels as we went along.
There was a committee formed and 3 meetings along with evaluations from his current teachers. We new we were up against something because as far as we know our school had not done this before or at least not since the current principle had been in the school. We don't think much has been done at the district level at the lower age groups at all. Of course the evaluation came back that he was a borderline case although they said many of the questions on the Iowa identification for acceleration were geared toward older children. They didn't want to do it. Never giving us a good reason except they didn't think it was good for children to be accelerated. The gap statement was mentioned. I had read the Nation Deceived so I was very prepared to speak to much of what they brought up. In the end the principle could tell we weren't going to back down and said we could do it. Although I am positive that she thought we would do for less then a month and move him back.
We are now more then 1/2 way through the first year of my second grader going to 3rd grade math and it has been a HUGE success. He hit the ground running day 1 of his class. He is now at the very top of his accelerated class. The teachers have been so supportive that they made this work. Everything they are telling the principle is positive so she can't back out. The teacher has told me multiple times that my son impresses her everyday. She is even giving him 3rd grade enrichment work. He is so engaged this year and LOVES school. He was so bored last year and it is so nice to see him excited about Math and learning again.
The kicker is then the principle implied that next year enrichment would be available and that should work for him. However the issue would be that that meant he would have to take 3rd grade math again which was absolutely ridiculous and total opposite of what he needed. Once again I was very clear how that didn't make sense and she has agreed that if he continues doing well like he is he can continue to 4th grade math next year. I believe she thought this would go away and when it didn't she was unsure how to get out of it.
That is my story. Just remember to keep after what you believe in. Once you see the results you will realize how worth it it was.
