Wow, Dottie,
I always feel so sorry for the gifted kids in you school when I think about the way kids are distributed in the classrooms. Of course, I also feel bad about the kids who are "under the mark" on the FSIQ when they are over it by their GAI (Gifted Index - What does the A stand for?)

Cathy, I do have experience with a form of Clustering, at our old school, and it did help a bit socially at it was practiced. Interestingly, they reinvented the wheel, by putting the brightest Readers in one room, and the brightest Math-ers in another, by teacher report, and giving the groups to teachers who "liked Math" "liked reading" or "liked bright kids." When they finally explained what their plan had been to me, I said "Oh Clustering!" And they looked at me in puzzlement. They had never heard the word, when I gave them the classic article, they were amazed.

The model the was found to be effective through research, has the most unusual students grouped together, AND the teacher does differentiate the curriculum for this group, who will work together at their readiness level. Some kids are fine with working on an above level book in the back of the class, but that won't work for many others, so Clustering, if done well, can address this. The take home message here is that clustering works socially and academically IF the teacher creates a curriulum that is deeper or faster (or both) than what the average kid can handle.

Cathy A, you say that you haven't seen any differentiation in your daughter's reading program. This brings two questions to my mind.
1) Have you actually been in the room and seen what the other kids are doing? Perhaps you daughter is in the "top" reading group, but it's just so much less than what she is doing at home? Some schools cluster with more than one grade level for a particular subject. This doesn't cost a penny, but can be very effective. I particularly like the idea of all the kids walking around to get to their readiness groups, so that it isn't as it was for my son - a lone 4th grader heading to 5th grade Math Club as the herd of 5th graders pour through the hallways for recess. Way back when, by DH and a little group of 4 others always went up a grade when it was time for reading and math. He had a hard time "getting" what was the "big problem" with DS in school learning grade level material, because he had no first hand experience of how frustrating it is to always be given material below your readiness level all day long.

2) Has your daughter learned to "manage her image?" Some gifted kids who are more aware of social norms, and more able to modulate their behavior, often girls, but not always, are able to select from a series of personas in various situations. She may be "hiding" her reading talent in order to be "more like her friends." This is a mixed blessing, and will lead to the teacher underestimating what she needs. This is one of those key leadership roles for parents. If your daughter is playing Chameleon then it is up to you to make sure that she spends some of her time in an environment that allows each of her various "colors" to be shown.

A grade skip into next year's cluster is tempting possibility, because then she gets the social benifits of being with other smart kids, and the academic benifits of getting harder materials. There is a book that will lead you through figuring out if she is a good candidate for a grade skip, called the "Iowa Acceleration Scale Manual" - you will need individually administered IQ test, and a talent search's above level test to fill out the number in full.

There are lots of free or cheap ways to imporve the situation for gifted kids. In a way, you may be able to use the schools pilfering of the gifted budget to your advantage.
"Since I know that saving money is a big concern here, I would ask you to institute these cost-free ways to serve our gifted population."


Here's an article on talking to your teacher:
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10296.aspx

Here's an article on "outing" your Chameleon Kid to her teachers:
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10110.aspx