Hi. I'm the OP. I just noticed the more recent responses, so I thought I'd update.
After many discussions with DD's 6th grade teacher and the 7-8th Grade Math Coordinator (who knows my daughter as her coach, but still, I don't believe, has seen her IQ scores), the only thing we were able to work out with them was for us to afterschool her with the Saxon Intro to Algebra coursework so that she can take Algebra I next year as a 7th grader.
Unfortunately, after DD took 3 placement tests last summer, a placement test in January (all of which she did "very well on"), and the standard 6th grade placement test for next year's math placement, the math coordinator, who knows she's working on the Intro book on her own at home, just recently said to me that she'd like to give DD the Intro to Algebra final in August before school starts just to make sure that she's ready for Algebra I. The math coordinator's big hang-up is that the lastest edition of the Saxon middle school curriculum (2007, but new to the school this past year) is much harder than the previous edition and she's seen students struggle. Personally, I just don't think she can wrap her mind around the idea that a 10 year old doesn't find it difficult.
So, DD has managed to get through lesson 40 in the Saxon Intro to Algebra book between March and now, despite having a very busy extracurricular schedule and still having to do the regular math at school. But, she has been finding it pretty easy and has needed very little instruction from us. There is (finally!) some new material, but you can tell she's rarely been challenged with math because she gets frustrated fairly easily on occasion. Once she's given a minute to relax, though, she fingures it out. Her strength, really, is thinking abstractly about math, but she just hasn't been given much opportunity over the years, so she's definitely not used to it. (BTW: Mathwonk, thanks for your thoughts. DD did Everyday Math for several years at a previous school. It's a more "creative" curriculum that encourages thinking about and understanding math, which I like a lot in theory, but since it was way too easy we never liked the curriculum. It required a lot of thinking about things that she instinctively already knew and she found that to be annoying.)
My DH and I plan to insist that she take Algebra I no matter what next year. I can think of nothing she'd hate more than having to repeat Intro to Algebra when she's already done all the work afterschool. I think us insisting and the teacher seeing she can handle it are the only ways the math coordinator/teacher will ever believe DD is truly capable.
