So update on my end(I'm not the OP but also expressed kindergarten concerns on this thread):
As a recap, DD is in a public kindergarten that is very play-based, child-led (Reggio Emilia-based). She attended PreK there as well. I had her parent-teacher conference today and was pretty nervous about discussing math differentiation. I felt okay on reading/language arts because over the weeks of the classroom as a parent volunteer and realized the teacher is focusing mostly on phonemic awareness and writing, which are two of DD's weaknesses. DD is very good at sight words and has been reading them since 2.5, but never quite learned the other pillars of literacy. Unlike a lot of "academic" kindergartens, this school doesn't have the kids memorizing words or really forcing reading at all and instead works on sounds and the building blocks of literacy.
I know I was concerned about her choosing play-dough centers, etc, but indigo's response really calmed me down, and I also saw that the teacher was indeed asking the kids to do more writing the weeks went on.
DD's MAP scores had her at 158 for reading, which puts her at a 91st percentile for an incoming kindergartner. The teacher's goals for her are to have her writing paragraphs and really mastering phonics by the end of the year. I'm glad for the "paragraphs" goal because it really seems she's wanting to challenge my daughter, in a class where the other kids might not even know how to write their letters correctly.
Math MAP scores had her at 174, which is 99th percentile, (and would be about a 84th percentile for an incoming 1st grader). Her teacher's goals were having her able to count by 2s, 5s, and 10s...which she can already do! She was surprised to hear that and surprised to hear that since her test, which was taken about a month ago, she's been moving on toward 2 digit addition and subtraction with regrouping. So I think that kind of opened her eyes to the fact that DD will need some extra differentiation in the future.
I was very clear that DD loves kindergarten so I don't want to mess with what she's already doing, even if she's not really learning that much. I did ask that her math centers have options to work on number sense and problem solving, as DD isn't a very abstract math thinker and those are the skills she needs work on. It seems her math centers (which I haven't observed) do have those as skills to learn so that's good to hear.
Also, I told the teacher my main concern was 1st grade in beyond. I didn't want DD sitting in a class next year learning how to add and subtract over the course of 6 months when she mastered that long ago. It seems the Reggio Emilia/play based ed continues up to third grade (when public school testing starts to ruin everything), so I won't have much to worry about. In addition, she said she will make sure she's placed in a specific first grade class next year where the teacher would have no problem moving her into 2nd grade math. And she'll have me meet with that teacher this year so we can figure out what the 1st grade expectations are, so we can make sure DD checks all those boxes and can easily move a grade up in math (ex: I only now just taught her about "fact families", because we just learned that was a thing that 1st graders need to know).
Sorry about the novel, but I'm just glad we're all on the same page. If she hadn't offered a meeting with the first grade teacher, I might have still been frustrated about math (given the easy goals given for her by the teacher), but that offer gives me a lot of peace of mind.
I think this school would still have no idea how to deal with an HG+ kid, but it seems to be a pretty good deal for a G/MG type kid (if she's even gifted). So glad it's the free neighborhood school and not the wonderful but expensive Reggio Emilia school 20 minutes away (that my husband went to and loved).
