I will admit that advocacy is where I will struggle most. I tend to be a little stubborn. My husband is much more diplomatic. I will have to put my listening ears on at our first meeting.
You may wish to share this discussion thread, and the links to resources, with your husband, so he may also read up on advocacy, acceleration, etc. It may be helpful for the pair of you to attend meetings together. This often helps ensure that the conversation stays focused on meeting the child's needs... while one spouse takes notes.
According to PA law - Chapter 16 defines gifted education as:
(vi) Individualized to meet the educational needs of the student.
(vii) Reasonably calculated to yield meaningful educational benefit and student progress.
And goes on to state that the education provided:
(2) … is based on the unique needs of the student, not solely on the student’s classification.
so they do have to prove that what they are offering is sufficient
You may find that the school only needs to prove to the state department of education that the child makes reasonable yearly progress.
For example, the school may not be required to prove to you that each planned differentiation activity has meaningful benefit.
You'll want to learn how things work... in your school... in your state.
If thinking about acceleration, as a starting point you may wish to read up on the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS), and old pros-and-cons discussion threads.
