CFK's post on that last page was right on target in our experience. Redshirting is also very common where we are and both of our children have fall bds, making them very young for grade already b/c we didn't wait to start them in school. Our oldest is just finishing up 6th grade having skipped 5th this year. She started middle school this year shortly before her 10th bd making her as much as two years younger than some of the kids in her grade. She has had a 4.0 all year in the accelerated classes and still tests in the 99th percentile for the grade she is in on the few nationally normed tests she has been given. CFK's comment about wanting the child still to be near the top of the class really resonates with me.
Our district will skip children using the Iowa Acceleration Scale as a guide, but without IQ scores, which I find disconcerting. In our instance, we did have the IQ scores, but the GT coordinator said that they usually don't and they just edit that part out of the IAS and figure an adjusted total w/out the possible points for IQ.
Assuming that your district isn't doing anything screwy like that, I did find that the IAS was a useful tool. Socially, this has actually been a really good year for dd as well. I don't know long-term how that will play out, but the advice I was given last year by her GT teacher was to make decisions based on what is right for her right now and not what I think will be right for her in five years.
