Well, I went to curriculum night. (DS7 had been complaining that the class was focused on learning multiples of two and he was bored. I told him to sit tight while we determined what the plan would be.) It turns out that the fourth grade class will be focusing on "basic fractions", which the teacher explained as halves, fourths, fifths, and tenths-- "You know, the ones that can be divided by 100"; beginning decimals (tenths followed by hundredths later); odds and ends related to figures, solids and charting; and converting back and forth between fractions and decimals for tenths... coupled with lots of drill on basic multiplication and addition. She spoke of these things during an overhead slide presentation, and mentioned the four math learning strands but failed to mention a single item that would solidly fall under the "functions and algebra" strand.
Yes, this is fourth grade in our local math Title 1 school district, afflicted with Everyday Math as well as a PhD-holding math specialist whose idea of an effective remedy is for all to spend months on drill, decreasing the time spent on new concepts and problem solving.
The educational consultant for DS7, promised to be paid by the school system and selected by my wife (a co-professor at her college) then approved by the TAT team, didn't get funded by the district. However the principal, who really seems to want to do the right thing, has promised to pay for the consultant out of his own budget.
One bright moment happened this weekend, when DS7 mentioned that his new guidance counselor, who is apparently the only person in the school with past gifted program experience, will be meeting with him one-on-one on Wednesdays to explore math in new ways. I don't know the specifics yet.
The wife and I are currently forming a plan of attack for advocacy for this year, because it doesn't seem like at least the in-class math plan will work at all. The principal did promise at the end of last year that DS could be subject-accelerated further if need be, and need seemingly be-- there's just no point in enriching him in such a classroom that's so far below his level and pace. Still, we will probably start with a request for a private meeting with the math teacher, as well as getting the consultant to sit in on a class or two to get a factual basis for helpful recommendations.
