Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Acceleration advocacy advice needed

DD6's test results are in and now we must persuade her school that skipping grade one is essential. There appears to have been a fair amount of the social-emotional kool-aid drunk by the powers that be, so it will not be easy. I have completed the IAS (72 points assuming zeros for school support), have a full report with WISC and WIAT scores, a generally good relationship with the school, and copies of A Nation Deceived to be distributed as needed. I likely have only one shot at this, so I need to be sure I'm not missing anything. I could also use tips on what I must do/say and what I should avoid at all costs!

Another good resource which provides point/counter-point for parents is Re-forming Gifted Education, [i] Matching the program to the child[/i], by Karen Rogers

Many parents find a degree of success by focusing on needs, including the need for learning at a challenging level (not the challenge of busy work, tutoring classmates, or practicing patience while waiting for others to catch up).

I'd suggest also bringing any examples you can that illustrate where she is performing academically now vs grade level curriculum for first ( and beyond) grade levels in math and reading/writing. the other thing I'd recommend is to think through every possible objection you can imagine the school staff putting forward as a reason not to skip and have an answer to that question already prepared.

This is totally just gut feeling on my part, but in my experience, teachers reacted more positively to actual examples showing where an individual child is at rather than research/opinions/etc from recognized experts in the field of giftedness. Having done the research will help you tremendously in forming your opinions and giving you solid background for making your request, but passing out copies of A Nation Deceived wouldn't help much (here) unles the staff was already firmly interested in providing a differentiated education. BUT... That again is just my experience where I live!

Good luck with your advocacy - let us know how it goes!

polarbear

I'd make sure you know your district's policies and see if your state board of education (or equivalent if you're outside the US) has a policy (even if the school is a private school because its administrators may not want the school to seem pedagogically inferior to public schools since the research is on your side).

In Ohio, our Department of Education has this webpage. It was helpful to know Ohio's policies and position to back up my argument for my DDs subject acceleration.

Have you looked around the Davidson database? I did a lot of reading there as I figured out what the best schooling option was for my son and then I focused on how to be the best advocate. Here's a link:

http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/browse_articles_165.aspx

I was successful advocating for a skip at two different schools (we didn't end up doing the skip the first time) and I think it was because I focused on his achievement scores and asked what he would be able to learn if he stayed in the same grade. In his elementary school, I showed them the IQ testing, as they needed it for the IAS, but it was the achievement data that made them realize they had to do something radically different. So they approved a skip, or outlined some specific ways they would differentiate his curriculum if he stayed. It was our decision after that.

In our latest skip approval in a new school district, the guidance counselor took a look at the scores (I had Explore and MAP scores but didn't include IQ data.) The counselor chatted with my son about his interests and then said he would approve the skip. We walked to the registrar, changed his grade level, said thanks and left!

I have had one negative experience in advocacy, though. It was with the principal at the school my son would have skipped into the first time. She was rabidly anti-skip even though she was at a gifted school. She proudly refused to read "Nation Decieved," or any other article, and said she made her decisions based on observations in the hallways, not research. She wouldn't have been able to stop the skip, but since she was such an idiot, we decided we didn't want our son to go there.

Good luck!

Have you read the Davidson guidebook, Advocating for Exceptionally Gifted Young People?

Have you read other threads on preparing for a meeting? Lots of good advice has been shared on other threads recently as it seems several families have scheduled meetings. Some of the tips were -

- Research state laws and the school or district policies and practices. This information is often found online. You may wish to print and put this in an advocacy ring binder to refer to over the years as the laws and policies/practices may change over time.
- Have any test results and other pertinent facts available to share (milestones, reading lists, other accomplishments/achievements)
- It is good to have them speak first. If asked to speak first, you may simply wish to thank everyone for attending and summarize that you are all here to share information and ideas about how to best meet your child's educational needs... and that you would like to hear from them.
- Agenda
- Know who is in the meeting, and their role(s)
- Stay calm
- Know what you are asking for
- Take notes so you can summarize in an e-mail afterward [Some families announce they plan to record the meeting and then do so, rather than taking notes.]
- Use active listening (rephrase what has been said, and put it in a question form) to clarify understanding
- Be open to receiving the school's data/observations.
- Listen to any proposals they may make, ask appropriate probing questions, such as how a proposal may work, how the proposal may help your child, the schedule/frequency of service delivery, etc
- Do not be forced to make a decision if you need time
- Summarize next steps & time frames, and/or need for a follow-up meeting
- Thank everyone for their time & interest
- After the meeting, write a summary (points of agreement, etc) and share it, possibly by e-mail

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I've been following similar threads over the last few months, anticipating this situation, and felt reasonably well-prepared until I saw DD's test scores. The reality of the situation is a bit unnerving.

I am intending to email the key school people this week to request a meeting, which likely won't occur until sometime in July, and thought I should attach the report. Any thoughts on whether that's advisable at this stage? I don't see a downside to sending it now, but I'm very, very new to this particular advocacy topic.

In general, how a school or district may respond can depend upon outside factors such as the level of training they've received and the nature of that training. For example, training in teaching gifted children may range from "management techniques" such as mainstreaming gifted children, slowing them down while creating uniformity in the classroom, -vs- cluster grouping with intellectual peers and providing advanced instruction based on readiness and ability.

Previous experiences with other families may also make a school amenable or resistant to advocacy/acceleration, with the effect of negative experiences being like smacking the oobleck with a spoon, creating an unyielding solid which is less likely to be flexible.

Other experiences have shown that families may find schools which were participating in research studies may have made decisions influenced by their research study participation (ultimately influencing the research study results).

Regarding your concern over whether to send test results along with your meeting request, some may say lead with your strongest information. Possibly the strongest piece is your knowledge of the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS) and your family's willingness to use this proven and objective tool? Some may say that IQ scores and/or achievement scores could give indication that a child needs more without giving definition of what those academic needs may look like in the classroom.

Best wishes with this, and please keep us updated.

I expect about 5% of the children in the district achieved above the 95%. But if you have a test designed so the top 80% get 100% then your data can't really show that.

Twice I've held back results to hand them over the results in person. In both cases, I did it to gauge the response as they saw the scores. For a school system that constantly says "oh, we have many kids like yours," presenting the results to catch that look of shock as it crosses their faces for a moment betrays the truth.

It is certainly possible for quite a few kids in a school district to be at or above 95th percentile. Since educated professionals tend to live in communities of folks similar to them, you can get a number of 95th+ perentile kids. In my eldest's class, the average SAT score for her class was an 80th percentile score nationally.

Of course, you won't have lots of 99.9th percentile kids anywhere in a public school (or even a private one, but some have a number of HG kids - at least the ones near us).

Good luck, but don't get too worked up. My eldest knows a few PG kids that did not skip. While school wasn't ideal for them, they are all happy in college. The one that weathered the K-12 years the best was really involved in a lot of activities, as schoolwork didn't take much time for him - he was in band, an academic quiz team, in student government, played a varsity sport, and did research with a local college professor (among other things). And he looked forward to and enjoyed the normal HS rites of passage, such as the prom. Advocate for her, but don't get upset if things don't work right now as you had hoped - there are lots of things to explore, even if some are not academic.

MoN,

What is an 'equal opportunity' district? Sorry the term is alien to me having not grown up in this country. I ask because if it is actually what I think it is then ignoring IQ test results would violate the entire principle of it.

IQ tests, despite many decades and even more wasted government and private foundation research dollars spent desparately trying to prove otherwise are not culturally biased. IQ represents only potential whereas Achievement on the other hand is clearly very dependent on the home environment as it is limited by exposure to material and educational experiences.

Ignoring IQ just doesn't seem logical at all IFF the aim is to allow kids with potential to flourish despite factors like race and SES

I am going to insist on a meeting to share our recent test results just for this reason. I can't count the number of times the teachers have told me about the "other really smart kids" or "kids with a higher IQ than DS" when I tried to talk to them about DS (they ignore his GAI in favor of his FSIQ).

Well that didn't take long. The response to my meeting request was an unequivocal 'no' to a skip. Apparently DD6 is in exactly the right place in every way, including academically, and they've oodles of gifted kids for whom they differentiate brilliantly in the classroom. All that without having seen the test results they know I have. Glad I didn't send the report, because now I really do want to see their faces when they see her achievement scores. We will meet right before school starts (planning ahead is so passe). Plan B is to propose a gradual skip with grades 1 and 2 completed over the year in the grade 1 classroom. Any tips on either advocating for such a thing or managing it on the ground if they agree?

Thanks, MoN. I'm told DD is a dream to have in the classroom, so I'll have to carefully approach explaining the poor fit, lest they blame her unhappiness as expressed at home on that environment and suggest we take notes from them!

I've learned, to my great surprise, that our provincial education authority fully supports acceleration for gifted students and says so on its website. A nearby district also has a well-developed gifted program, featuring curriculum compacting, but only starting in high school. We're at a private school which is more academically rigorous than the public system, and I expect they will use that as a reason to dismiss this information.

I've been going back through everyone's responses to prepare my pitch (thanks again) and realized I never did post the scores that led to my question. In case that affects anyone's advice, DD's FSIQ is 99.7; GAI 99.8 (VC 99.9 and PR 99.7). Her WIAT total achievement was SS 135/99%ile (oral 139; written 124; math 120).

I've decided to hold on to the results until our eventual meeting. DD6 has been prepared for the very real prospect of not skipping (she asked to change schools!), but assured that we will be vigilant about her needs being met, and that we will use this next year as the foundation for whatever she will need the following year. And now I have over a month to stew and plot...so much for summer vacation!

I have just read your post. One thing caught my attention: your DD is in a private school. Our DD12 (PG) is in one of those "academically advanced" private school, which never whole grade skipped one kid! So, when we were shopping around for our DS6 (DYS) a year ago, we specifically asked about the "possibility of skipping"... The answer wasn't "clear" as the school believes that "all of our kids are bright, some are more advanced in one area than others, but..." So we eventually put our DS in the public school K. The outcome is pretty amazing, the school offered early testings, pull out for one on one time with Math specialists and GT teacher, letting him "try out" in 1st grade, etc. The school actually recommended whole grade skipping plus Math one on one, etc. We, as parents, somehow believe that "private school" really cares about how long you would stay: whole grade skipping means the school won't get that extra $30,000! Have you talked to the public school officials? You might be surprised at their answers! We were totally amazed!

I am a little tore about this as well.

DS5 will be going to an "academically advanced" private school, which I don't believe they would skip.

However, the bigger class sizes in public school is having me worried. DS is extremely manipulative, and the smaller class sizes and the stricter atmosphere will give him some much needed boundaries.

Why did you send your DD to a private school?

We have a number of reasons for having chosen private school. The main two are: our public school system has chronic labour disputes with large class sizes; and, both DH and I had poor public school experiences followed by great private school ones, in this same jurisdiction. We've been at the school for a few years with DS8 and DD6, and both kids usually love it. Not sure how long that will last with DD!

And yes, I do wonder about the influence of that year's tuition, but I think it's more that they seem to equate an exceptional child needing a skip with abject failure on their part. I find that so bizarre. She is who she is and even I, as provider of half her DNA, don't consider her innate ability either my success or my failure. I am going to have to work really hard to not say something quite rude about that at our meeting.

Yes to this part - this is exactly the issue. If they are an academically rigorous school and your child's needs aren't being met then that "must" mean that they are failing at their mission. I too find it amazing that this is the attitude of some schools, but we have not only had schools give us this reaction, but individual teachers as well have tried to stop accelerations because it makes them look bad. It comes down to insecurities on their part. If you can find 1 person at the school who knows your kid and is willing to stand up for the idea of an acceleration you may have a better chance of getting it. The school is less likely to say no if one of their own teachers is supporting the acceleration. It sort of puts the school between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand they want to say no to you because that would mean that their fabulous teachers ( ) can't handle your kid in their rigorous class, but on the other hand, here is one of their fabulous teachers saying that your daughter needs more than what will be offered in the next grade level - if they disagree too much it will make it look like they don't trust their fabulous teacher's opinion. Does this make sense?

You could also ask for it on a trial basis - indicating that you would be willing to have her moved back down after the first marking period if things weren't working out. Chances are that by the time the first marking period is over she will be doing great in class and the teacher will not want to lose her. Administrators like to have a way out - even if you know there is a slim to none chance of them getting to use it.