After marshalling the evidence and following the wonderful advice I received from this forum, I met with DD6's school team two weeks ago to discuss acceleration/differentiation. They had already said no to acceleration, without having seen the testing results (about which they seemed curiously indifferent), so this meeting was really about how to manage this year in her current grade and putting acceleration next year on the table.
We had what appeared to be a moderately useful conversation, albeit punctuated with the standard 'we had lots of gifted children in that grade last year and are super great at programming for them' (Me: how many?; Them: one, but others were working at that child's level; Me: deep sigh). All sorts of promises were made about enrichment, extension, differentiation, challenge and so on. Sufficient for me to actually relax for a few nanoseconds and fantasize about life without endless school meetings.
It was a short-lived fantasy as, mere days into the school year, I'm already whacking my head against the math wall. DD6 has done EPGY and Singapore Math for her grade already, entirely on her own and at breakneck speed. She tested 1 to 2 years ahead on the WIAT, in spite of having had virtually no math instruction since preschool. So probably some extension would be appropriate, right? Like they promised? Well sure, they say, after she shows "mastery" of the concepts. How, one might ask, should she show mastery (for a fourth time)? Could she, perhaps, do the unit test at the start of each unit? Cue the bafflegab about assessment models and multiple ways of showing understanding.
Why must this be so hard?? Surely it can't be enjoyable for a teacher to be teaching a child concepts she has repeatedly demonstrated she already knows? Is there something wildly controversial about taking the unit test at the start of the unit? I would have thought they'd jump at the opportunity to show me the superiority of their teaching methods if she bombs any of the tests. I am just so heartily sick of having the same conversations, hearing the same platitudes and watching the same differentiation promises disappear in a sea of eduspeak. My poor child is beyond excited about another school year, utterly confident that the adults will behave rationally and teach to her ability. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep my game face on for her.
