Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Grade skip 1st or 2nd better?

Hi all!

My son just finished Kindergarten this year. This summer we had him tested for the gifted program, and his IQ on the SB-V is a 129, with a 138 fluid reasoning. His Quantitative Reasoning score was his lowest at 116, but the psychologist said it was mostly because he just hasn't been exposed to some of the higher level, multi-step math.... FYI - He missed the deadline for Kindergarten by 5 days.... so, he'll be 7 before he starts 1st grade.... and thus, has only been exposed to very simple math.

Anyway, academically, he is completely ready for 2nd grade, in my opinion... especially based on reading and math levels.

Physically, he is average to a bit above average height for his age.

Socially, he gravitates towards older kids and preferred to play with the girls in his class because the boys were too crazy.

So, I brought up the idea of grade acceleration to his new principal. She spoke with the old principal and they agreed that 1st grade is a hard grade to skip due to academic and social issues, but they would place him with a teacher that will challenge him and will monitor him for a grade skip next year.

Also, she said that since he'll begin the 1-day per week pull-out gifted program this Fall, that might make it better to wait to accelerate as well.

Which brings my long post down to my actual question....

Does anyone have any opinions about whether it's better to go from Kindergarten to 2nd grade (skipping 1st) or from 1st to 3rd grade (skipping 2nd)?

thanks!!
nicole

My DYS DS7 just finished first. He is not grade skipped and only recently turned 7. First grade was painfully easy and he kept telling me all year that he was not learning anything. His achievement scores are extremely high.

My DYS DD10 turned 7 just before she started 2nd grade. She was not grade skipped and she is also an extremely high achiever.

FWIW, we are in a high performing school system. Red-shirting is not unusual, but it is not epidemic either.

In-class differentiation, in our experience, has almost never worked.

In most cases (depending on the kid), I would want my already 7-year-old in 2nd grade - not first. Based on the fact that he is also gifted, I would definitely push to have him in second.

I am worried your DS would be bored to tears in 1st. I don't even know that you have to "sell" this one as a skip - more of a "placing him with the more appropriate grade" based on his calendar age and abilities. If you need to use the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS), though, it would help you advocate based on his age-for-grade. Best of luck!

In our school system JK/SK is play based, very active and has little to do with traditional academics. Then they go into grade 1 where they are expected to sit at a desk, work independently, do lots of reading and writing, etc. Many kids struggle with the transition and not because the curriculum is too advanced, it is all of the other changes. I suspect that is what is behind the easier to skip 2nd than to skip 1st view. Skipping into 2nd means that you are now in a class that has had a year to figure out the sitting, desk work type stuff. There isn't as big of a difference between 1 & 2, or 2 & 3 (at least in our system).

That being said, if he can sit still, focus on things, work independently, etc it wouldn't be enough for me to rule it out. I think it really depends on the kid (and in a way his peers that he will be compared to). If you are in high performing school with many red-shirted kids the "average" 2nd grader is going to look quite different than in some other schools.

A teacher that is willing and able to go above grade level AND compact AND add depth/breadth can be even better than one grade above at the pace of a normal class. Then again - many schools think their teachers differentiate and challenge far more than they actually do.... I'd want more info about what they mean when they say they will place him with a teacher that will challenge him. When I say info I mean very specific details, in writing. TBH - I'd ask for this even with a skip....

Great points. My son was in half-day K, but because they have more full-day students, the half day kids were expected to keep up with the full day curriculum. This meant scheduled recess only on Fridays, and that only actually happened about once a month due to assemblies and precipitation/cold weather.

They spent the day sitting and working at literacy and math centers, reading groups, writing in journals, doing math and more writing. A and C days had gym. B and D days were either art or music. Library time only came every other week at most.

My son actually said early on in the year that he liked kindergarten much better than preschool because in preschool you just played and in K you get to learn. He would get annoyed at the kids that talked over the teacher.

I don't think going to a full day where he'll get a recess or two every day will be a problem for him. And I don't know if the Full-day kids sat as much as they they did, but the idea of sitting and working won't be new to any of them.

While academics is important, the big reason I'm looking into this is because of the social aspect. Maybe the 1st graders will be less immature and less likely to be annoying than they were in Kindergarten, but I don't know.

I don't think the principals are trying to push me off the idea by suggesting a skip next year instead of this year. I just want to think it all through before I agree to waiting a year for a skip.

Hmm. He isn't really young for grade and he's academically ready for second grade already... and you say he does better with older children. Oh, and he also likes sitting at desks doing schoolwork? What social or academic issues is the principal concerned with, exactly? If they were looking at him as an end-of-year first grader (let's say they could forgot he has just completed K), would they question him going on to second grade?

I'm going to admit to a certain cynicism, but it is possible that they are indeed trying to push you off the idea.

What ConnectingDots and Portia said.

With that info I'd go for the skip now, you can always undo it if for some reason it isn't working.

After reading the wonderful and well-thought-out responses you've received, I noticed that on a previous post, the school's thoughts on his WASI testing indicated he did REALLY well in some areas and not as well in others, but the school didn't elaborate. Might they have concerns of a possible 2e?

To help get all the salient issues on the table, you may wish to consider using the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS)?

It sounds like your son is nearly in the exact same situation as mine... just finished half-day K and will be 7 when he starts 1st grade, completely ready for 2nd grade from the parent's perspective, similar size, prefers older children (particularly older girls), have the same resistance from the school admin to skip... Mine started off liking Kindergarten quite a bit but then about halfway through was clearly not learning anything academically. He's not to the point he's bored out of his tree, but if he were going to 1st grade next year at that school, I have little doubt that would have happened. Not only would he know most of the curriculum, he'd be at the school twice as long as next year (half-day to full-day). I can't imagine he'd cope with that well.

There have been numerous studies that indicate that grade acceleration does not have a detrimental effect on the social well being of the child. If anything, it seems like being too cautious about grade acceleration when the social aspect is the concern has a much greater potential to cause harm. A child should be adequately challenged in the classroom, period. If they are placed into a classroom where they aren't being challenged enough, they run the risk of becoming an underachiever, or possibly even someone who "checks out" from school. So from that perspective, I'd push for the skip to 2nd grade and not wait for the situation to worsen.

Don't count on the school to be proactive, by the way. They will likely be reactive and wait for the situation to get bad before response. And that response will probably not be, "Your kid is acting up... he must need a bigger challenge and grade acceleration." It will probably be, "Your kid is acting up... he must not be mature enough to accelerate a grade."

Thanks for all the encouragement and great responses. In regards to his testing, I didn't believe the scores from the school tester so I had him privately tested by a psychologist that specializes in gifted students back in early June. These results were in line with what I thought they would be and did not have any differences alluding to 2e.

I think I'll ask the principal if she has the IAS and go from there.

This is exactly what happened (in addition to many other things) to our DS in 1st grade. It took half a year to even get them to let him use the 2nd grade math workbook on his own, to basically teach himself. He's accelerated two full years in that subject now, btw.