I had to add on here because we went down a similar road with our DD, now 12. Elementary school was a nightmare with a principal who hated the whole concept of giftedness - we could get no acceleration, though DD6 tested in the 99.9 percentile, until we went behind the principal's back between 3rd and 4th grade and tested out of 4th grade math.
I taught for 13 years - high school mathematics - before I became a parent. What all parents here need to know is that the teachers and administrators are not required to take a class on giftedness in order to work in the schools. I never had a course - not even a lecture about it. When you have a degree in something, you assume that you've been taught all you need to know - that's where they are coming from - they think that if there was something important to know about giftedness, then they would have learned about it in college. When you have a meeting with school personnel, know that what they bring to the meeting is likely only what they think they know about giftedness - they don't know what they don't know. My dream, after those nightmare years of elementary school, is to start a requirement that all teachers and administrators get educated about giftedness - through teacher inservice for those already working - adding a required course for those who are working on degrees.
DD is now 12, skipped 6th grade last year, and will take 2 high school courses next year.
