Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy done with 1st, can't move to 2nd?

Hi all,

DS6 was unable to get into a gifted magnate for next year 1st grade, because his independent study teacher (thru public school) refused to sign the gifted verification form--I will not even get into all that!!

So, because of too many issues with this teacher, I moved DS to a different school location, his new teacher has been like a breath of fresh air!!

Even though it was too late to affect Gifted Magnate placement, the new and current teacher did sign the Gifted Verification form so I could apply for SAS programs that offer clustering and differentiation, sadly same as last year, he did not win the lottery for placement.

His current teacher has also let me know that she is referring DS to be tested for Giftedness, as she believes he is and may need to be placed in a higher grade next year. I have been told though that it is too late to test this year, and he will have to wait until next fall for testing… ok, but that is well after school will have already started (in Aug).

In meantime- she has been giving DS all of the “end of the year 1st grade” tests, and he has scored 100% on all of them!!
It has been awesome.

Ironically,
Because of his AGE he must do 1st grade again!!! Even though he has completed the entire 1st grade curriculum that the district follows/uses etc, and has scored Perfect Test Scores showing he does indeed know the 1st grade curric, he cannot be advanced to 2nd grade!!! He misses the age cut-off by 12 days!

How does that even make any sense???
Make him repeat 1st grade with 100% subject test scores?

The teacher suggested she would just have him do the older 1st grade curriculum that they no longer use in the district! I was like “whaaaaa” with my mouth gaping open! Umm. No. Way! I told her he is not continuing to do 1st grade anything. I was dumbfounded that she would even suggest it after stating the whole giftedness thingy…

Just to spice it up, he did get accepted into a highly sought after Science Magnate, but he got accepted into 1st grade, and even if they could just bump up to 2nd, they have no room in the 2nd grade! So that is not happening.

*I believe I am resigned to “home school” again thru the districts independent study program, on the bright side, this way he can continue his ST thru the district, with the most amazing SLP ever. It also helps that DS would like to continue learning at home, it really does open the day up for all sorts of activities & opportunities-both learning & social, that he wouldn’t otherwise have…

One final thought, today @ my fave local restaurant, sitting across was a couple, one thing led to another- turns out he started off as a teacher, then worked 12 years in administration before moving downtown to district headquarters, GET THIS- he is in midst of trying to change the way the district teaches kids!! He wants every child to have access to an IPAD! He wants each child to be able to learn at their OWN PACE and in their own way! He said he is following the model of Sugata Mitra's Cloud in the Sky model!
I listened in awe to what he said, then wished him best of luck, thinking to myself he has a huge uphill battle! (((which he did acknowledge, stating he had another 5years before he was out- but would pass the torch on.... Here's Hoping!!

Ugh, sorry.

In our district a student needs to show he is two years ahead academically in order to be accelerated one year (and no, don't get me started on how inane this is!) There are other criteria, but that's the main one as far as I can tell. Do you know what the requirements are in your district? If they're similar, could you have your son's teacher give him the 2nd grade end-of-year tests?

Hi,

Is the science magnate hard to get into such that not attending this year would make it hard to get in next year? In other respects such as extracurriculars and peer group would it be desirable? Perhaps it could be worth it to settle for it this year if the positives of the school and future potential are good enough. Are you okay with homeschooling for years, or just trying to get through this coming year? Might a spot in 2nd open up down the road, if he's there already he'd have a shot at a skip? Have you been able to talk with the 1st and 2nd teachers there and the principal about differentiation options?

In our area we have 3 public school options and while they nominally follow the same curriculum the level of instruction is vastly different, and none of them are charters or lottery type schools. The socio-economic level is grossly the same across the three. It's just that one of the three somehow informally holds kids back in K if their end of year performance is not indicating they can competently do 1st material (in our rural area parents never seem to argue if a principal makes a verbal recommendation to hold a child back). By 1st the school is teaching to a higher percentile level. If one sits in on a class they are not teaching 1st grade math in 1st, they are reviewing first grade math and offering differentiated math to the majority of the class that can handle it. (That said it's still isn't ideal because that's as far as they go, if a 1st grader is capable of 3rd or 4th grade material they are not likely to provide it.) Still, it's a closer fit than the other two area schools academically and one would have no idea without an extended visit and talking to parents who send their kids there. And then since this is a known aspect to this school it is by word of mouth where the brightest kids end up: the recess play themes and the extracurricular clubs reflect the student population.

I just wonder if that may be the case for the science magnate in your area, enough bright kids that they are used to and comfortable with accomodation.

knitting~ EXCELLENT idea re have DS do end of year 2nd gr testing. I will suggest this to the teacher I think I will go with "just out of curiosity, let's see where he places with 2nd grade tests?"

also, just so I am clear in above- he started Fall 2012 in kinder, was bored, winter of '12 moved to independent study setting, so he is still considered to be in district, and utilizing district curric/teachers- teacher assessed him and began 1st grade curriculum-which he completed, and then has since aced all end of year tests. His grade remained listed as Kindergarten though.

I was hoping he would start 1st grade 2013/14 in a gifted magnate- this way he is with same age/academic peers.

Polly~ had he gotten into the magnate- it is like what you described, they are reviewing 1st grade and moving on to 2nd-- so that would have been so perfect for DS.

I am planning to go and speak to the science magnate principal to discuss DS entering 1st- and figuring out what type of curriculum or differentiation they might be able to provide for him. They do unfortunately follow along the district 1st gr core standards/curric- which DS has completed--- and NOOOOO it would be a disaster to have DS sit thru it again. He has been ready for 2nd for 2mos. ((I have been supplementing but worried he is just getting further ahead))

DS is very vocal about being bored and wanting to learn more and not just sit around wasting his time, when he could be doing something else... last fall, he was becoming so affected that he didn't even want to play at recess with his friends.

I am ok with homeschooling for now. I suppose...

While the higher than first grade maths in first grade sounds good I don't see much logic in holding back some of the kids who are probably ready to do first grade with help so you can teach second grade stuff to the first graders you didn't hold back. Or did I get that completely wrong?

A few years ago I was forced to sit through several courses about a university degrees worth below my instructional level - it was torturous.