Indigo-
Something you said, really hit home with me: how if the school challenges only on achievement, an underachiever may be missed.

My ds hates simple math computation, and makes careless mistakes. Thus, on his achievement tests, his score is lower in this area. That means no math differentiation. Trying to get him to understand that is very hard. I had hoped the teacher would realize this, but she hasn't.

The more I think, the more I am coming to terms with our local public school is not going to work out for my ds.