Quote 1 is regarding gifted Ed in general. Quote 2 is regarding her school board, and most of those in Canada.
One solution for that first grader is to stop teaching curricular math in November, and move on to special projects and math games instead. Several classes I had as a child did this sort of thing - finish the vocabulary book in the first month of school and spend the rest of the year just discussing literature, for instance.
that's how i interpreted those anecdotes, too. they're not from people i know personally, otherwise i would also know how their situations have played out, but i do know that's basically what happened with DD5 last year in Pre-K.
when i asked at a mid-year meeting why she was still testing at the same level in math they had quoted in September (ie. was she having a problem with specific material?) they essentially said, "well, as you no doubt recall, she tested 3 Grade levels ahead back then, so what's your hurry?" it turned out it was their policy to not teach any new material to kids that are outside of the year's scope.
(oh, how naive i was - but this totally shocked me!)
this policy would probably have been ok for DD if they'd been able to cope with finding her enough engaging stuff to mark the time, but they couldn't/wouldn't and DD got very, very depressed.
disheartening to think this problem might be pervasive in Canada...
