First off...OH NO on the opposition!! It didn't occur to me
We have tried to get them to do trials this year with her on subject/grade acceleration and they will not. I have spoken to the superintendant and my dh has as well. This is their method and they want us to hear them out at this meeting. If not satisfied after it we will have to go in front of the board and then if it is denied they told us we are free to take it to the state level if we would like....not even sure what that would entail, but am thinking they more said it as a threat to show us the road that would be ahead of us if we don't play by their rules.
We have no problem going in front of the board, but since the super is against I feel it will be denied by them as well. I just want to go into this meeting telling them how the differentiation will be done and have them agree that if in the first month it isn't we will get the subject acceleration without any issue. A year has already been wasted and I have already told the GT coordinator I will not allow it to go more than that as a trial period. The problem we now have is her score in the map test stayed the same in math now as it was in Nov. so they feel her strong subject is reading and will probably tell us subject acceleration in math is out.
Things I plan to ask about are how they test first graders at the end of the year besides the map ie...math end of book test and see if dd can take it at the begining to see how she scores. Their big push is "higher level thinking activities"( I will throw myself off of a bridge if I hear them say that and gaps in learning one more time!!!) Not the next years curriculum at first to see how that works with her.
I agree that differentiation is extremely time consuming for the teacher. I already told them that I felt to really be done right it needs to be run the way an IEP is run. If not, we will end up with more of the same. Again, they want us to hear them out.
As far as the other map scores, they will show them to me. I told them I wanted to see it. She said I can't keep it, but will be able to look at it to see where dd compares. They still do not know how many of the kids will be at her school with her next year who scored higher. It will be something we are told at the meeting. Hopefully at least 3.
Thank you for the advice about not signing anything. I will not. It is going to go in writing and be a "goal plan" since there is no state legislation about gifted in our state.
I wish we could travel to Boston. My dd is in soccer and my husband is the coach so she can't miss the opening weekend. Is that something they do more than once a year? We may have to look into that as something to do with her in the future. If it is always in Boston I will have no problems convincing my husband to go...as he is a die hard Red Sox fan LOL
