At DD's school, they have to be two full grade levels advanced in all subjects to be permitted testing for a grade skip, which could still be denied. We're trying to decide about this now, but suspect that, with such stringent criteria, this means that we'll be met with a lot of opposition. So, a rising 1st grader would have to be working on a grade 3 level to be considered for a skip to grade 2.
Other districts with these types of rules have been mentioned here before and, although it sounds like a high bar at face value, I actually think that this is very reasonable. Generally, I think that kids who are performing a year or even two years ahead of grade level in all or most subjects
can get their needs met in grade with accelerated/honors/GT classes. Kids who are performing beyond that level in all or most subjects may not be able to.
My skipped kiddo, for instance, was probably right at about two years ahead in her weakest subject pre-skip and many grades (4-8+) ahead in all others. We had her take an above level test that was +4 grades prior to the skip and she was at or well above the 75th percentile on all parts save for her weakest subject again. Immediately post skipping she was still in the 99th percentile on grade level achievement tests for reading, writing, and science (the non-weakest subjects
) and tested at or above the level of the average high school student in reading and writing on the SAT (at age 10/grade 6).
I still wouldn't have accelerated her more b/c the one year up in math has been the right fit for her and I never think that you should accelerate beyond the area that needs the least acceleration. We wanted to place dd where she would have to work in one subject, not none, and b/c she has speed issues, the quantity would have been too excessive with more acceleration.
