Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments skipping 2 or 3 grades mid-year?

I know there is a great deal of wisdom and experience on these forums, so I wanted to ask for some insight. We had a meeting with our DS's first grade teacher, principal, resources teacher, 3rd grade math specialist and psychologist yesterday to address his math instruction. Long story short, they kept saying he is an "anomaly" and they were not sure exactly how to proceed, but agree he needs to move into a higher math class. He scored a 218 on the fall MAP-P and has successfully completed many of the tasks the 3rd graders are working on to qualify into an accelerated and compacted math program for 4th and 5th grade. We have basically been given the option on moving him into 3rd or 4th grade math starting in 2 weeks. While my instinct is 3rd grade, that class is already full (he would be student 31!) and it doesn't start until 30 minutes after his math block begins. The fourth grade on the other hand, meets at the same time and only has 21 students. We were able to get some of the assessments the 4th graders completed first semester to work on over the weekend (at my request) to see if he knows the material. What other factors should we be considering? I honestly was thinking they would suggest moving him to 2nd grade math, so I'm a bit shocked by their suggestions. I really appreciate any advice you can share!

I would proceed with caution. P-MAP is not MAP 2-5. It does not have as many tough questions available. DYS DS7 also scored high on P-MAP last year (higher than the average 8th grader!), but his score did dip when he took the 2-5. DS said it was harder than the test he took in 1st grade. His score is still quite high, but just be aware that the 2-5 test has a different question bank and although the RIT scores are supposed to be continuous, I would want him measured on the higher level test (which is probably what the students in the older grades take).

Still, your DS is likely advanced. Can the school give him the grade 2-5 exam to better assess where he is at in math?

Can he keep up with the amount of writing required of a 4th grader? DD's 4th grade math required a great deal of written explanation (sometimes, it looked more like a writing class).

It is GREAT that your school is so open minded about acceleration, though! DS's school was not.

We were in a similar situation and our son was accelerated several years. The problem we have found is that the schools he has attended do not have a class for him so he has worked independently for three of the last four years.

Look for a local math club.

Also consider using Beast Academy by Art of Problem Solving.

Have you heard of Math Kangaroo? Too late to sign up this year but try it next year.

Thank you Loy58, I agree we need to proceed with caution. Do you think the 2-5 MAP would give us a better picture of what grade-level instruction he should be receiving? I'm sort of hoping to document that the 4th grade assessments are too difficult and advocate for the 3rd grade placement. It's just more difficult, since the time does not match up as well.
ruazkaz- Thank you for your suggestions as well. We actually have Beast Academy 3A and were using that as an independent work option at school. The problem is, sometimes he would need help (which is great!) but wouldn't really have the teacher available to help him with it. I'll look into Math Kangaroo, I've never heard of it.

I think that he has a high P-MAP score. The students in grades 3-4, though probably took the other test version. They are not the same. Most of where he belongs really depends upon how students in HIS school score, as well as particular the demands of your DS's school curriculum.

How fluent is he in his addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts? How much writing and how much homework do the 3rd and 4th grade classes require? How comfortable is he with multi-step problems? These are just things I would consider.

thanks Loy58- You are correct that the students in 3rd and 4th grade took the other test, MAP-M. There was discussion at our meeting on if our DS should take it or not. I would say that his addition and subtraction facts are pretty solid, but not multiplication or division. For example, when calculating the area of a square, the length of each side was 7, so he said. "oh so that means 7x7... hmm... well I can do it this way, 21+21=42 and that's six 7s, so one more seven is 49." He has strong math reasoning skills, but I don't think that makes up for actually being instructed in the strategies he would need in 4th grade.
He enjoys multi-step problems, but the amount of writing and homework are also good considerations. He's about a year ahead in reading and writing, but there's a big difference between a 2nd grader and a 4th grader's writing. I'll bring up that concern to his teacher.

Does anyone have a suggestion on if we try the 3rd grade classroom, how to handle the first 30 minutes of math when he has to stay in his first grade homeroom? (The 3rd graders are at lunch). We are considering trying CTY online math, but are looking for options.

1. It looks like he scored at > +3 SD above the mean on the MAP-PG, which usually suggests that the standard error is quite large. I would concur that performance on the MAP 2-5 would be a better indicator of where he stands in comparison to the two potential receiving classrooms.

2. When we were children, my parents made decisions about grade advancements (SSA or whole-grade) holistically (not just on academics). In particular, they targeted academic placement about .5 to 1 grade level below the best estimate of the child's true instructional level, on the premise that the additional EF and social-emotional maturity demands of the higher grade placement would be enough of a draw on cognition and coping skills that a lower academic level would leave resources for managing the other aspects of a skip, while still performing near the top of the class (reducing grade penalties from acceleration). (And yes, they did have to manage enough skip decisions to have developed a protocol for them.)

3. While not perfect, your gut is often quite perceptive.

aeh said it much better than I ever could. Your school sounds like a great school and chances are that this might not be your only chance at acceleration, so your choice of taking up 3rd grade math option is a sound choice. As for how to spend the 30 minutes in 1st grade math, could you send in a work packet for him to work on during that time?

Thank you for this perspective. It helps us better understand the current SSAs for DS in a more holistic way.