I get why you are asking this question and kudos to parents who have continually track their children's progress relative to their understanding of their specific local curriculum.
I have never tried to do that. On the one hand, it is just too much effort and time to get an accurate analysis; on the other hand, I don't know what I would do with that particular information. In my limited experience, the acceleration that they "need" is not the same as the level just above their mastery, if that makes sense.
Having said all that, there are specific key points such as acquisition of abstract thinking, reading comprehension of popular/typical adult materials and ability to produce a research paper independently, etc, which signal a student's readiness for the next level.
Unfortunately, I don't think that you can predict your DS' trajectory based on their current position. In fact, I think that the more gifted the child, the more unpredictable the potential trajectory. For example, I don't think that my DS read when he entered K at age 5, but he was reading Harry Potter independently by age 6 and not long thereafter was reading typical adult materials. Of course, typical adult materials are more likely at the middle school levels (grade 6-8) and the depth of understanding can vary as well. There is also a big difference between the ability to comprehend non-fiction versus fiction with the latter generally substantially lagging the former. As another example, DS was applying multiplication/division by age 4 (perhaps earlier?) and intuitively able to solve multi-step algebraic equations by age 7 but I don't think that it would be accurate to say that DS was at our district's grade 3rd and grade 8th levels at age 4 and age 7 respectively. However, at age 7, DS was tested and did well on our district's benchmark type math assessments for grades 2nd through 5th and was formally accelerated to 3rd grade GT math which covers and enriches grade 4 math.
I interpreted the fact that DS was able to intuitively solve (without formal instructions) multi-step (only 2-3 steps) algebraic equations at age 7 as a signal that he has moved into the abstract thinking stage. This was useful in signaling his readiness to move beyond simple fact acquisition in the sciences/social studies.
Unlike another poster described, our district's elementary math curriculum contains far more than basic arithmetic. Elementary algebra, elementary geometry and elementary statistics (line plots, bar graphs, stem-leaf plots, etc.) easily constitute half of the elementary math curriculum and starts showing up by grade 2. However, it is true that due to spiraling, a gifted student may easily extrapolate higher grade level maths even in those subjects. In fact, this was partly what convinced the district to accelerate DS before all the red tape was satisfied because it was clear that he was not put through any outside math curriculum.
Particularly in areas of sciences/social sciences, I find it impossible to estimate a grade level. For example, curriculum and emphasis may change from year to year. For another, the students typically cover more than is in the published curriculum. There is also the issue that from grade 3 onward (if not earlier), it is not just an issue of input but output and the two can be closely intertwined. As an example, all 4th graders are required to produce a science project with all the written components (hypothesis, research, data tables/graphs, conclusions, etc.)
Finally, there is the issue of what grade level really means. For example, if you look to the MAP test, a 95th percentile 5th grader scores higher than a 50th percentile 10th grader in math while a 95th percentile 4th grader outscores a 50th percentile 10th grader in reading. However, I don't think that many parents would advocate their 5th or 4th grader be accelerated to 10th grade in those cases.
My post is all over the place but many prior posters have raised interesting but unrelated points.
Last edited by Quantum2003; 07/02/14 12:16 PM.
