Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy advocating for Math acceleration for 4th grader

My DS will be going into 4th grade next fall. He has been identified for GT program since 2nd grade but it starts in earnest next year so that's something, but we feel like a subject acceleration in math would be very beneficial. He is already working on pre-algebra with ease (we have AoPS textbook at home). His teacher this year has been struggling to find enrichment activities to keep him engaged.

His GT teacher seemed open to the idea of subject acceleration so I thought we had this battle won (although he did mention it could be very hard scheduling between 4th and 5th-grade classes)... But I just received the following from his GT teacher.

"We want to ensure DS is receiving all the necessary foundational skills needed to be successful his math classes in the future. It was concluded by his teachers, Principal and myself that DS would need to score ≥95% on the 4th-grade year-end assessment to be considered for single subject acceleration. We appreciate your concern for DS's academic and social needs."

Doesn't ≥95% seem like a very high mark in order to show proficiency? Does anybody else have experience with this and what proficiency was their benchmark?

I am also a bit nervous because they keep including the word "social" in all of their correspondence. I am afraid this will be another tool they will use to resist subject acceleration.

Any insight or approaches we might take with the school would be greatly appreciated. I can't imagine DS having to sit through all of 4th grade math.

Does your school or school district have published criteria for single subject acceleration? Ours does, and ds had to clear five different hurdles, but at least the process was clear to all in advance.

Hmmmm.... What is the average score for their 4th graders at end of year on that test?

95% seems on the high side but at the same time I would think that if he is doing the AoPS pre-Algebra he should be able to do that without too many problems. The issue might be if he gets a 92%.

I would then respond that I can see that he might have a small gap, but I could not imagine him sitting through an entire year to fill it and instead try to see what he missed to sort if it were careless or a true gap.

We went through a similar exercise with DS and ultimately he ended up doing independent sturdy during his math period and used AoPS. Good Luck!!

Yes, I think an 85% or better is a more reasonable mark to shoot for. I echo sanne's question about the grades that the 4th graders are getting for the same test.

A 95% on a fourth-grade year-end assessment does not seem high for a subject acceleration request. Grade-level year-end assessments tend to be pretty easy. In fact, scoring in the 95th percentile or above of all test-takers would be a fairly typical screening cut-off. A 95% would be high on an above-grade level test which would indicate further acceleration might be necessary.

I think the OP may be referring to 95%, vs 95th %ile.

It does depend on the test. I always assume that at most one person will get 100% and maybe a a few more in the 90s because that is my experience of tests. If it is set in such a way that most kids get 80% plus then 95% is fine but if most kids get 60% then 95% means the kid is accelerating into a class where most kids are still working below them.

Just to be clear. DS is currently in 3rd grade. 95% is referring to what he needs to score on the above grade level end of year 4th-grade math test he will be taking, not the screening tests for admission into the GT program. Those required >97 percentile on TOMAGS - Primary, Slosson, and SAGES - 2 K-5.

I did just get a copy of the district's acceleration policy and the only thing I see that would shed any light on this says.

"Academically the child should demonstrate skill levels consistent

with the average performance level of the students in the grade

desired."

There is no mention of >95%

This echoes sanne's question upthread, as to the average performance on the end-of-4th-grade math assessment.

Unfortunately, as mentioned in this old post, it is not unheard of for schools to create more stringent criteria for students accelerating into a grade, than for students passing into a grade. This could be challenged when advocating for your child. Did you see this post? Possibly with a bit of research, you may locate the source information in Susan Assouline's work and be able to utilize it to advocate for a cut score at 80% rather than 95%.

While I tend to agree with ruazkaz upthread, in saying that a child who has done well studying AoPS ought to do quite well on an end-of-4th-grade math assessment, I would also add that it depends on the quality of the assessment itself. For example, does the assessment check for concepts, strategies, and execution... or might it test for some esoteric knowledge that only a child who has studied a particular curriculum would tend to know?