Hi,

I am not be in possession of all the details but I don't get the vibe that it's a attempt to keep him from being accelerated. (Perhaps knowing them better you are able to see past face value though). If the MAP is their favorite way of assessing 1st and 2nd graders, perhaps they are thinking that he's kind of like a 1st grader rather than a kindergartener and just wanting to use their own favorite test.

To be totally blunt, your letter seems kind of defensive and long winded (though the actual concerns are valid). Perhaps others on here will feel entirely different but that's my gut response. If I was the guidance counselor I might almost think, "wow, what are they trying to hide, did they prep him and now they want to prep him for the MAP too?".

I do think your concerns are reasonable and in general the idea of responding to the guidance counselor is good -- I might say something like, "Thank you for trying to reach us today and for taking an interest in DSs situation. We are interested in talking with you further about the idea of MAP testing. Specifically what MAP testing entails and how the results would be integrated with the other testing he has had already. He's had an awful lot of testing already and we had actually told him he was done with testing. We do want to make sure though that the school has enough information about his abilities and needs - perhaps there are some holes? When would be a good time to meet with you?"

In your response I would just ignore their comment about wanting to test in the next couple of days. Tomorrow's Tuesday, it's a beaurocracy, by the time you've talked about it with the guidance counselor say the earliest you can meet being Thursday, then there's unlikely to be time for anyone to actually test him this week.

When you do talk with them if you are against further testing you may want to be very well informed about how the achievement testing he's already had obviates the need for the MAP. "So we did some reading on what the MAP is and we're really not seeing...."

Polly