Does anyone have any experience with successfully appealing placement into a gifted program. My dd10 was placed for Math, but not for ELA and I have a meeting Monday to discuss this further. My dd more than qualified in 2 of the 3 criteria on her terra nova and teacher recommendation. She missed the qualification on the STAR test by one point(they only took the spring score and her fall score would have qualified her). I understand that they have criteria in place for a reason, but I find it odd they only use those three measures and it is either yes or no based on the last score not the overall. My dd has been tested 16 times via STAR testing over the years since K and all but 4 had high qualifying scores. She is not only a straight A student, but gets almost 100% across the board in ELA and they don't take that into account at all. The director of the program agreed to meet with my husband and I she did say she felt like we had valid points with everything I said, but I feel like she may be placating me.

Some more information about my daughter:
She has been in a nationally recognized weekend gifted program since K
She participates in the EPGY math program
She is highly self motivated
She has been on a goal plan since K, but honestly it has been no help for her and this last year has been her most frustrating for her.
She spends her days in class reading b/c she is finished with work(can read 40-100 pages a day in class in addition to finishing her homework while in class).
She is very self motivated and loves to learn, but sadly is very frustrated in the school environment. Her 1st and 3rd grade teachers did great with her, but I feel this year has been the worst for her as far as being challenged.
While her last test score dipped for her star testing she was in the 98th percentile on Terra Nova In view and her state testing(they don't use this as a qualifier) was off the charts.

I feel that all other indicators show she belongs, but to block her because of one test and not take into consideration that she is not only getting A's, but 100% and the fact that she received the highest points for teacher recommendation is a disservice. Anyone have any success appealing a decision like this? I don't want to insult their selection process, but I feel like my daughter needs to be in a more challenging environment.

Thank you for reading this and any suggestions.