Hi there everyone. I am frustrated beyond belief at the current situation right now and I don't know what to do. I hope someone may have some good advice. Here's the story, it's long:
I am mother to 3 children, 16 years old (boy), 6 (boy) and 5 (girl). I am married and a stay at home mom, my husband is a mailman. My oldest has a different father but the younger 2 are his. We are both "gifted". I was in gifted classes (the first ones in Ohio!) but my husband was not because he is a bit older than me so didn't get the chance.
My oldest son was identified as gifted in 3rd grade. I knew he was smart and had such a vocabulary.. so mature for his age, but I never pushed him. The school figured it out on their own.
My younger son (6 yrs old) is a whole other ballgame. He was crawling to me as a baby, bringing me blocks to tell him what the letters and numbers and shapes were on them. HE did it, HE brought them to me. He couldn't even talk but wanted to learn. I have never seen anything like it.
The younger son (6 yrs old) continued to amaze me as he grew, constantly asking me questions and wanting to learn. He knew how to read basic things at age 3. He knew some beginning math as well. I never pushed him one bit, it was all him wanting to learn.
We put him in preschool because he kept wanting to learn and I had a 2 yr old to deal with so I figured the preschool would be better able to teach him than me. They (there were 3 teachers there) didn't believe us when we told them he could read already... Until they had him class. Then they were calling him their "genius", I kid you not! They all loved him, he was so cute and they were amazed by him.
We moved from Ohio to Montana when he was 4. He wouldn't have been 5 until after the kindergarten cut-off date so I asked the school to please test him and explained how unique he was. They did test him, and he passed. They didn't want to put him in because his birthday was one month past the cut-off but I explained to the principal and showed her his preschool records and the kindergarten readiness test. She let him in, even though they *never* do that.
He excelled in kindergarten, amazing his teacher so much that she said he was indeed gifted, and suggested we go to an A.G.A.T.E. conference here in Montana. My husband and I did go and his teacher was there. It was interesting, they were talking about advancing gifted students a grade and whether it was a good idea or not. There was one gifted student there and the speaker asked her how she felt about being skipped a grade and she said it was tough but she wouldn't change it.
This is pertinent because my son was already finished with Kindergarten and he hadn't even started yet. His teacher was sending him up to do first grade work with another teacher and at the end of the school year he was reading at a 2nd grade level, almost 3rd.
They didn't want to advance him to 2nd grade, instead they put him in a Montessori-style classroom of combined 1st and 2nd grades. It seemed like a great solution and it was... Until he almost finished 2nd grade in the middle of the school year. At that point the teacher stopped teaching my son. Just stopped. She put him with the rest of the 1st graders and didn't pull him aside to work with him anymore.
I have proof, it's even in her own report card that he was doing 2nd grade work. Yet she stopped and reverted back to first grade, my guess is simply because she didn't want to advance him. My son was coming home unhappy and never brought any schoolwork with him anymore so I knew something was wrong. I asked him about it and he finally told me that she was teaching him first grade stuff again. He was appalled, basically, that she was teaching him "stuff like 1+9=10 that I learned in kindergarten!" according to him.
I tried talking to the principal about it, but the original principal was no longer there and this was a new one, who stood up for his teacher and basically laughed in my face. I was so upset that I tried calling the Superintendent and she never called me back! I tried 3 times over a couple weeks!
Finally I just withdrew him and started homeschooling him the rest of the school year at a second grade level, having him do ixl.com for math, workbooks for spelling and writing (2nd and 3rd) and he read some every day (3rd grade + level books), plus videos too, all at 2nd grade (or higher). At the end he was done with 2nd grade so I had to start a little of 3rd.
He passed 2nd grade in my opinion (and according to the state standards on IXL for math) and I reported this to the state of Montana.
Now I wanted to try to get him into the other school district nearby, since the school he was in before was not making "adequate yearly progress" we have the right to put him somewhere else. So we talked to the principal of another school, explained the situation, and he didn't believe me about my son's abilities.
I brought him proof, I brought the report card from the teacher showing his scores in 2nd grade work (in the first part of the year before she quit doing it), I explained he was already found to be "gifted" and asked for him to please test him for entrance to 3rd grade in the fall.
He agreed to test him, but he still didn't believe me. Now finally testing time comes for my daughter to get tested for entrance to kindergarten (she is 5.. she was ready for kindergarten at 4 too, though not as advanced as my son, but they wouldn't let her enter early) and the principal says to schedule my son right after her. I said sure, sounds good.
Turns out he set him up to test with the KINDERGARTEN TEACHER using some lame "gesell" test. Testing a kid that is supposed to enter 3rd grade with a test designed for kindergarten kids? Not to mention the fact that when I looked up online what it was, I found many bad reviews, including scientific reviews saying it's not a good tool for placing children. I let her test him with it, though, even though I thought it was very weird.
The teacher messed up the questions she asked him, she had to get extra tests that she did not use with my daughter and had to consult her booklet to ask him "properly". I asked her when was he going to get tested for 3rd grade and she got all flustered and defensive for some reason, and I believe this is the teacher who said it's "impossible" for an almost 7 year old kid to enter 3rd grade in a huffy tone while we were at a school function.
She showed me the "age" rating sheet she would be using and pointed between 6 and 7 and she didn't even score the dang thing. She had it in her head already that she would place him where his age was. I felt this was what she was going to do and I was right.
The principal called today and said she suggested FIRST GRADE for him. Knowing that he had already been in a combined 1st and 2nd grade class at another public school and that I had finished homeschooling him in 2nd. The principal was trying to say that it's showing his "social readiness" but that's hogwash! He's absolutely more mature than other kids his age, he watches shows on tv that no other 6-7 year old kids watch and reads things other 6-7 year old kids would not be interested in reading yet. I know my son.
I also looked up the Gesell tests, as I stated before, and there is more than one part to the test. They are supposed to use a "parent questionnaire" as part of it to get an idea of how the child behaves with the parent and they never gave us any such questionnaire.
It appears they just use this fake "test" as a way to pick and choose who goes to their school and when. I believe they push everyone back in order to get higher state test scores. It's absolutely disgusting. My husband says they just don't want to deal with a kid as advanced as he is because it's so much work. What's funny is they have to help the kids with learning disabilities, shouldn't they help kids with exceptional abilities as well?!
My husband and I talked to this principal for almost an hour and he insists that so many parents think their kids are exceptional and special and he hears it all the time... But I have PROOF! What the heck?? I am definitely not lying about his abilities! I asked him if he's ever had to put a kid in 3rd grade coming from homeschool and he said "Well, no..". He told us he would test our son for entrance to 3rd grade and instead gave him a Kindergarten test? At the end of the conversation he said he'd think about what to do about this and call back tomorrow. We'll see...
What can I do? I really wanted my kids to go to this school together. It seems like he just doesn't want my kids to go to the school, yet it IS a public school and they are completely entitled to go there due to the other school's failure to meet AYP.
Is anyone here from Montana and can help me? My husband suggested I contact someone from AGATE to see and I will do so, but I thought I could try here as well. I know that if these kids don't get challenged they will be bored and they will lose their love of learning. What is wrong with our country when we stop wanting to excel??
