Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Help me write compelling points in letter....

Our superintendent of our local school district has agreed to consider early Kindergarten for our DS. He needs letters of recommendation and our official request letter.

Here is what I have so far and I feel like I am not making the real points. I have to write this so that if he agrees to take it to the school board, they see the points as valid. I'm explaining why early K is imperative to a group of people who will likely think I am just "pushing" an intelligent child into a developmentally innappropriate situation. What can I say other than this that makes our case stand out?

Here's what I have so far [edited for privacy]:

We want to thank you for meeting with us on_______ to discuss the educational needs of our son. The intent of this letter is to request consideration that he be admitted into kindergarten early, either in Transitional Kindergarten in Fall, 2015 or kindergarten in Spring, 2016.

Our primary concern is his social and emotional well being and our strong opinion is that he would be best served by attending kindergarten early. This year is the perfect window for him to begin school. If we wait, he will be so advanced that he will develop behaviors to cope with the lack of challenge. We see early entrance as a way to closer meet his cognitive needs thus allowing him to absorb the social benefits of kindergarten.

_________’s high cognitive ability and high academic achievement puts him at an academic level two to three years ahead of his same age peers. On the district administered standardized assessment, ______ scored in the 99.5 percentile in intelligence and over 99.9 percentile in visual-motor skills.

_____ has attended preschool since age two. He is highly social, has many friends, communicates very well, is extremely tall, and his fine motor skills are advanced. ________ taught himself to read and write. His handwriting is excellent he uses inventive spelling. He enjoys doing first grade math workbooks and discusses math throughout the day. He gravitates toward older kids on the playground, at camp and preschool and fits in well with them. He gets ready on his own and hops in the car early to go to his summer camp program. He loves school and daydreams of elementary school.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to aid in this process.

Sincerely,

____________

This is great news.

I tend to agree. The letter speaks well to individuals with a prior knowledge base about the development of gifted individuals, such as the audience on this forum, however the school board may have considerable expertise in other areas and be unfamiliar with gifted. You may wish to consider the information made available by the Acceleration Institute and make reference to the research in your letter.

Did you discuss the educational needs of your son? What were the specific needs discussed? Might it be more accurate to say that you met to discuss the possibility of early kindergarten? What do the laws say about early entrance to kindergarten in your State? Is it prohibited, allowed, or is the law silent on early entrance to kindergarten?
grammar

What makes you concerned for his social and emotional well being?
In what way(s) is early kindergarten the solution which address these concerns?

Schools do not often make decisions based on a parent's strong opinion.
What informs your strong opinion? Do you have any facts, research, statistics, anecdotes?

What makes this year perfect?

What suggests this to you?

grammar

What are the social benefits of kindergarten?
Does preschool not offer social benefits?

Will he be outperforming his classmates by 1 to 2 years?

Why remove him from his friends?

He will not be doing this in kindergarten. Do you anticipate further acceleration?

Lots of good points in Indigos post.

Do you have opinions from his preschool teachers? Educators like knowing that other educators concur with whatever they will be doing. So, if his preschool teachers strongly recommend he move into K and write a note to that effect it might help, too.

I'd start with the paragraph explaining that he has done three years of preschool and (if true) that he has always played and learned with the kids a year older? Stress his EF skills - compliance, frustration tolerance, works well in groups etc., - that would be a great thing for his current teachers to comment on in their note, as well. Don't make him sound too happy in preSchool - show that he needs more academic stimulation now. You write he has many friends, would most of those move onto K, now, too? (But don't make it sound you'd want to advance him only because of his friends). This is the place where a recommendation for his current teachers for acceleration might fit well. (You are not a pushy mom! You are listening to the experts!)

You sort of slide over his academic achievements, it is not very clear exactly what he is doing. You might want to go on then to describe a little but more about his current reading and writing, using grade levels for reference. I wouldn't be worried about mentioning first grade level - one year advanced beyond the grade you'd accelerate the kid into is commonly what educators like to see, and what, on the other hand, teachers, rightly or wrongly, think they can still differentiate in the classroom.

Stress a bit more that he is physically advanced as well, very tall for his age and hopefully as fast and coordinated as the other rising kindergarteners. Don't hide it in a list, make it an extra sentence or even paragraph. Again, something educators like to see. Stress his good graphomotor skills, mention what his teachers say about it in relation to the rising kindergarteners - don't just use extremely or excellent all the time, put it in perspective.

Then his ability testing, and what it means (ie he is not just a well trained hothoused kid of pushy parents, but his learning curve will remain steep).

Lastly, as indigo has already indicated, it's probably not a good idea to threaten "behaviours" if he isn't advanced. Stress that you are afraid he will be frustrated and unhappy, might lose his joy in school and learning.

Lastly, good luck! Our DS8 has done well with early entry, and he was by no means as socially advanced as your kid appears to be.

Linking to your related thread, Advice on Early K Entry Mtg. with Superintendent, as this may be helpful to future readers.

Good advice above!

I would, as Indigo suggests, look for any fact-based tidbits (ex. from the Nation Empowered reports) you can add in (with attribution, of course), supporting the benefits of this "early" entry. I would then, instead of using "our opinion," write something like "Based on extensive research into recommended educational environments for a child with this profile and discussions with Dr. X (child psychologist), we believe that..."

It means a lot that you all took the time to reply. This is the exact type of feedback we need. My husband and I are working on this in very limited time periods after the kids are in bed. I look forward to showing him these very thoughtful responses and continuing to work on our letter.
Much Appreciation!

You've received wonderful advice above, so I don't have much to add! One thing I'd keep in mind is to try to keep your letter brief. You'll have documents to back up your request - test results, letters from pre-school teachers, etc - you don't need to repeat what these tests and letters say in your letter (hope that makes sense!)


While I agree educators might be interested in seeing this, I see it more as an argumentative point which the school staff might throw back as a reason not to accelerate than a reason *to* accelerate. Your letter should be about the reasons your ds needs to be in early K, not an additional list of answers to anticipated reasons not to put him in (hope this makes sense!). If he's tall and physically advanced, that's great - but save your notes about that for the actual discussion rather than this letter.

As others have mentioned, I also wouldn't state that not accelerating would result in some negative outcome - unless you have tangible data/proof that it would. Instead, focus on the positives of why an acceleration is appropriate and why it will work.


I would include this info, although I would include it by including samples of his writing/drawings/etc. A teacher isn't going to necessarily be impressed by a parent saying her ds has excellent graphomotor skills, but they'll pay attention if they actually *see* it.

Best wishes,

polarbear

I understand and agree with polar bears concern re length of the letter, and agree, try to keep it brief, easy to read. I also agree with their recommendation to include letters of recommendation/test results/samples for them to check out for themselves, and showing/proving is always better than just sayin'.

But .....maybe it is the lawyer in me, and I am aware that you are not drafting a legal document, but I would NOT rely on the recipients to find/read/interpret the documents/samples/test results in the way you want them to. INCLUDE every argument in your letter, even if briefly - if necessary with an explanatory sentence, and a reference to the document/sample attached. Some interpretation might be needed for instance:
"his test results (see attachment three) show that he is..."
"His graphomotor skills are at x level according to his preschool teacher (see also sample included)."

I would also just mention that he is physically advanced and tall for his age. Agree that there is no need for this to take up so much room. But MENTION it, because it is so much more compelling if it comes up in a debate "but what if he can't keep up in sports, on the playground" to be able to say "as we have mentioned in paragraph three, he is very tall and physically advanced....".

It is THEM who will come across as grasping at straws. Whereas you have thought it all through. No it's not a court of law where an argument might be precluded simply for being brought up too late. But it does strengthen your position having all bases covered.

Keep us updated about the process!

Here's a new sample draft, incorporating many of the thoughts and ideas shared in this thread.


Thank you for meeting with us on_______ to discuss the possibility of early kindergarten entrance for our son.

In keeping with the "next steps" discussed at that meeting, we are presenting his test scores, letters of recommendation from his preschool teachers, and this official request letter showing that both parents are in agreement that early entrance to kindergarten is in our child's best interests.

It is our preference that he be admitted to Transitional Kindergarten in Fall 2015 (at age 4.xx) and Full-time Kindergarten in Spring, 2016 (at age 5.yy).

We understand that prior to making a decision on early entrance, the district will conduct further testing, and we look forward to having a copy of those test results and interpretations.

If further information is required for making this important decision, we'd like to suggest use of the Iowa Acceleration Scale. Additional information about acceleration is available from the Acceleration Institute, including Guidelines for Developing an Academic Acceleration Policy, Co-authored by the Acceleration Institute, the National Association for Gifted Children, & the Council of State Directors of Programs for the Gifted.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

____________

Notes:
The phrase "best interests of the child" was taken from the material linked as State policy on acceleration - CA.

I believe the Iowa Acceleration Scale covers other data points, therefore I did not mention them in this draft.

The overall idea here was to touch on law, policy, and established process so that you & your district may use those items as a guide for transparent decision making, in which all parties may have confidence going forward.

Indigo, I really like the overall tone of your letter, and I think you touched on the important points. I will cross my fingers that it has the desired result