I'm sort of new to all of this. My oldest DS is in 1st grade. His school has a gifted program, where entire classrooms are gifted children. I use the term "gifted" loosely, because we live in a city where the gifted phenomenon has gotten out of control. It seems that every parent has their child tested for gifted during their pre-k year, and unfortunately, the psychologists in the area who do the testing seem to find so many of these children "gifted." I cannot tell you how many children are in these gifted programs at the local public elementary schools. Obviously most of these kids are just advanced, and it ruins it for the kids who actually need the gifted placement. So, this is where my problem lies. My DS6 is actually one of those kids who needs the gifted placement, and I feel that his classroom is not giving him what he needs. That would be fine if his teacher was able to individualize the material, but it seems that she doesnt do that. His Kindergarten teacher was amazing, and went far ahead of where she needed to go. My DS was challenged and loved school. My DS is strong in math. This year's math started with such easy work. I waited, assuming that it was just review. By the beginning of November (school starts end of august) when they were still working on simple addition, I spoke with his teacher. I assumed all the kids in this "gifted" classroom would be bored. She told me that my DS was much more advanced than the rest of the class in math. She assured me that he is being challenged in her classroom, though, and I should not assume that what I see coming home as homework is the same thing that they are doing in the classroom. She said that her lessons in the classroom are much more challenging (doesnt really make sense to me, but...ok). Well, fast forward now to the end of January. I see the tests that DS takes in the classroom. They are all based on the common core standards for first grade math. He gets 100% on almost every one, unless he makes a careless mistake for rushing through it. My DS tells me that all the children in the class learn the same thing for math. There is no differentiation. They all get the same worksheets, and she teaches to the class as a whole. So how, then, if my DS is more advanced then them is he being challenged? I'm not sure what to do? Some friends tell me to leave it alone because this way my DS can feel confident and gain self-esteem knowing that he's one of the smartest in the class and it's a good thing he's not struggling in school. I have not seen any negative consequences other than him saying it's boring, because his behavior has always been good in class. I just sort of feel like he has so much potential and it's being wasted. I want to talk with the teacher again, but I dont want to seem like "that parent" who keeps complaining and challenging the teacher. I wonder if I was just spoiled by the amazing kindergarten teacher, or if I should be expecting more. I also wonder if it's because of this new common core. Is she mandated to teach this stuff? I dont see any difference between what she's teaching in this gifted class and what the regular classes are learning. What should I do?
