She also said that she would expect a child with his profile to be one of the academically strongest in his year and to be considered for a gifted and talented program.
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Giftedness does not necessarily equal high achievement in the classroom. If the work is too easy, the child may refuse to do it, somehow "lose" it, or overthink it (and therefore get a completely different answer, or fail to finish).
Giftedness can also mask learning disabilities. A gifted kid who is, say, dyslexic, may be able to keep up for awhile because he can figure out what is going on from classroom discussion, or synthesize answers on the fly without having read the text, but this gets more challenging with each year. He may never get tested for dyslexia because he manages to stay at grade level.
Yes, it is possible for a highly gifted child to not do well in school. The trick is figuring out why.
