First time poster,but I've read on and off for years.
I'm looking for some advice on my dd10, 5th grade. Am I over-reacting? Am I missing something? Is there something else I should be doing. Input welcome.
My dd was identified in K as gifted. Not really a surprise as she taught herself to read at 3 or 4 and has always been very clever. District recommended a transfer to a gifted classroom, which we did, and she did very well for several years. Always scored 95-99 Percentile rank on MAP math; and a 99 PR in reading.Beginning of 3rd grade her MAP dropped to 80-something, but I wasn't worried and she moved back to her usual place at the end of year.
Same drop in 4th grade (Note- nope, no math over the summer at our house, just lots of pool time and lots of reading, which she loves.) I figured it was summer slide and she would move back to her zone by the end of the year. A few weeks in however, her teacher advised us she was moving dd down a level in math, assuring us that it was the same material, only taught at a slower pace. After a week of duplicate material, she'll be back on track. The reason for the move... our dd wasn't paying attention in class and the teacher had to reteach her, taking up class time. I'm generally easy-going, so I was fine with this.Until the end of year MAP showed no progress at all for the year. oh-oh. DD never did homework at home, always on the bus, and did fine on tests. She's not a big fan of math- never has been. Mainly because it takes her away from doing something more fun (reading, legos, running around, friends, etc)
So, before 5th grade, I wanted to avoid the summer drop, so we did workbooks at home (5th through 7th grade seemed to match up with her). Beginning of year MAP showed no drop... same as where she was end of 3rd grade. I expressed my concern to her teacher about math and she assures me that there will be growth this year...that sometimes kids just drop off on percentile rank in late elementary school. A few months later I hear that they want to drop her another level- same reason as before. so now she's out of the gifted groups for maths and into grade level math. After a week she hates it and we discuss with teachers and they move her back up and her work is much improved (100% on next two tests). Fast forward a few months and they want to move her back down. The reason- she is going too fast, making careless errors and not showing her work and still not paying attention. And when she is stuck on something, she doesn't ask for help.
My question- doesn't this sound like a valid reason to move someone down? I disagreed with their logic and asked to have her move back. Nope, they said. What do you think? DD hates being in the lower group as her friends are in the upper levels. I know she is capable of the work, but she is really doubting herself now.
Now she rushes through everything, something that we work on.Teachers always complain about her reading too fast, but she never misses any comprehension. She did struggle remembering her math facts. I figure it was me not practicing much with her (most things she hears once or twice and gets, so I was taken aback that we had to do math facts more often.) We practiced and she got them. Another tidbit, her Cogat (taken several times) is an E profile. 140SAS on verbal and 110s on Q and NV. Not the highest on quantitative, but above average. I am sure on the low end for her gifted classroom where there are some math whizzes.
Now, she is a emotionally sensitive kid, and gets quite shaken when she makes a mistake... but I stress that mistakes are good and how we learn and she recovers. She's emotional over other things, too- she's always been sensitive. That may play into their decision. She wants to learn math on her own next year. She says her current class is too easy, but she is not good enough for the next level. Teacher says she should focus on her strengths. I say, try harder.
So I feel like pulling her from her k-8 gifted school as I feel they have low expectations for her for math. I want her to struggle a bit with it and put some extra work in. They seem content at putting her at a level where there isn't a challenge.
Your thoughts?
