Oh, and wanted to add that I think this principal thinks that I'm just destined to be an unsatisfied parent. Between one dd needing more help which I can't get her... and the other dd who needs more advancement; which sounds like they either a.) don't believe me or b.) are unwilling to provide, I'm believing more and more each day that our school (a magnet) doesn't have their students' best interests at heart and teaches to the middle.
I think the reality is - you aren't satisfied, right? It's ok to let the school know it
I think to put it in perspective re administrators sometimes it helps to realize you're not the only unsatisfied customer they have. It's not terribly unusual to find that schools tend to teach "to the middle" simply because that's where the great majority of their customers are, so that's where they keep the highest percentage of people possible satisfied - it doesn't necessarily mean they don't care, but it probably means they don't have the energy or staff or resources to do everything for everyone. (And it could mean they don't care too - but I think most of the time most teachers/principals/etc really do care... just with a different perspective than we have because they are overseeing a large number of kids and we're trying to optimize school for only our kids.
I think the key thing you need to do is to decide what you want for your dd this year, advocate for it if you need to, then get through to the other side (i.e., find out once and for all - for this year - will you get what she needs from this school?). We had our kids in a magnet school and ultimately switched schools because we were very caught up in a teach-to-the-middle situation even though in theory the school was supposed to be supportive of kids working ahead as well as students who were struggling (which my ds fit into both categories!)... anyway, jmo but I think the culture of a school depends a lot on the leadership, and if you've got a principal who doesn't support working outside of the box and isn't gung-ho about either gifted or special needs kids, you may find the school is never going to be a very good fit.
What to do now? Personally I wouldn't seek out a WJ-III achievement test simply because it is a series of very short tests that test a wide variety of very specific skills. It doesn't show whether or not a child will really be successful at a higher grade level or whether or not they would benefit from going deeper in any area. OTOH, I wouldn't *worry* about having your dd take the WJ-III - it is not going to find a disability where one doesn't exist, and the scoring is normed against age/grade level peers, so she's not going to be disadvantaged or not "look" gifted simply because she hasn't taken above-grade-level math etc. If she's a high achiever in math in first grade, she'll look like a high achiever on the WJ-III in math (unless of course Everday Math has totally warped her brain... sorry... I just had to say that lol!)....
If you decide you want to continue to advocate for a grade skip or subject acceleration, you need to gather samples of work and tests that the teachers are familiar with and *trust* - something they know.
I also wouldn't panic if you can't get her accelerated right now. There are things you *can* do - for instance, you can let her teacher know there are specific times that she finds class slow or boring, and you can either ask the teacher to give her more challenging worksheets or problems or whatever during that time. If the teacher doesn't know what to give her or balks at the idea of having to take time to think something up, you can make suggestions or provide the work. If the teacher says she has x number of students just like dd who could benefit from learning math faster but no time to work with them, if you have time you could offer to volunteer to come in and lead a small group ahead in math once a week during math time. You can also look at it as, this is school - let school be what it is for now, and continue to encourage and support her eager mind outside of school. When/if she has work or a project sent home, have her dig deeper or give a little extra in terms of work so the teacher can see where she's really at.
Hang in there!
polarbear
