Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Best option?

Son, in 5th grade gifted class, is not complaining school is boring, in fact he enjoys his high A�s 97-100 on his report card and all the end of quarter and end of year benefits and accolades they get him. But he does very little to achieve those grades and we are afraid he is starting to equate his easily obtained grades with �who he is.� When work gets harder in high school AP/Honors and University level, he will lose that sense of identity and give up on the hard stuff (like Mom and Dad did.)
Only testing done were the InView achievement test in 3rd grade, he scored 98%tile. And CogAt in 2nd grade with 99%tile. We did not know they were being given, and he traditionally �questions the questions� which we have to caution him about before big tests. He�s always had advanced abilities, both in math and reading, but then so have many in family, so it�s not made a big deal.
School says they cannot offer anything but current gifted class which still has to follow state curriculum for end of grade testing. He is consistently the top of this class, again with very little effort. EOGs always come back at 99th %tile for the state. Except writing, where he has slow fine motor skills and trouble conforming to the formulaic style required for the standardized test. His teachers are very receptive to grade-skipping, administration not so much, due to all the normally quoted reasons.
Teachers would be same if he skipped, they switch back and forth with the gifted 5th and 6th graders.
He has personal goal of going to a high level Tech University and then researching for NASA but we know that won�t happen without a good work ethic as well as his abilities.

Do we skip him ahead to keep him challenged, or have him stay where he is with high grades that may get him into his preferred universities, and career opportunities? Or something else altogether? We are really struggling to come up with a solution that won�t hurt him in the long run.
Thanks for any advise or other considerations you could give.

Hi Thebees!

Next year in 6th grade may seem an excruciating repetition of this year to your son. I am assuming there will not be a great raise to the bar between 5th and 6th given the fact the grades share the same teachers and possibly the same classroom. Do you anticipate higher organizational requirements from the same teachers in 6th grade? I WOULD CONSIDER THIS THE LAST �EASY� OPPORTUNITY TO PURSUE A SKIP AND CONSIDER IT STRONGLY!

We turned down the opportunity to skip 6th grade this year due to our similar concerns for lack of effort needed previously for strong grades and high achievement results. Our decision was based on the fact that the 6th grade (for our school) is the year that many kids who had previously coasted are finally challenged by the expectations and requirements of the two 6th grade teachers. In addition to the teachers being true subject matter experts and providing fascinating lectures, this is the �fire hose� year which got my daughter frighteningly organized and prepared for the continued rigor and demands of 7th and 8th grade at this school.

Does your school continue past 6th grade?

BTW, what is your son�s age?

Thanks for the fast replies.
He will be 11 in December. The 5th and 6th grades do not share a room, they are adjacent and the kids go back and forth. One teacher for Math and Social Studies, both grades, and the other for LA and Science. The math teacher is the same he had last year for his math/reading gifted pullout program. They just started the full day program this year (but cannot do any real acceleration within the class due to state standards.) They do have the Accelerated Math software program and she said he was welcome to do the 6th grade portion this year as well as the rest of the 5th, if we choose not to whole-grade accelerate. But they do not have, nor will get, the 7th grade program this year or next. And he has to do this after he finishes his normal work. This school is grades 3-6. 7-8 move up to the middle school.
Organizational skills did ramp up this year for both the 5th and 6th graders in this program. They don't appear much different for the two grades. Son's best friend and next door neighbor is in the 6th grade gifted class, he has similar organizational expectations, but neither are having too much trouble adapting.
One concern about skipping is that in our state there are a few programs the kids can qualify for in high school (a highly competitive tuition-free math and science boarding school in 11-12th grade) and scholastic summer camps, that require them to take the SAT in 7th or 10th grade, admission is based on those scores. So having the extra year to prepare would benefit...but only if he is actually preparing, not coasting.
He has expressed an interest in skipping, we told him we were considering it.
His math teacher gave us the websites, Hoagies, Duke TIP program(which he was accepted to last year)I suppose to prepare us for the fight we will have with the administration, if decide to pursue this. She has a child in our High School now, who skipped an early grade.
I have ordered the Iowa Acceleration Manual, should be here Wednesday. We don't want to wait to long to do this if we decide to, school has been in session for about a month, they are just finishing "review."

Talent searches do seem skewed against grade-skipped children because they rank participants based solely on grade without consideration of age. Even so, I think you may be surprised how well your son does in comparison to other talent search participants in the same grade right from the start. By time he is competing for the math and science academy (or college), any disadvantage of being one year younger than average should dissipate. I think some challenge will give him more of an advantage than coasting in the long run!

My son is almost 11 and in 6th grade with (mostly) smart kids. I can�t even imagine if he were beginning 5th this year, which of course, we are familiar with. I actually shutter at the thought!

The fact that your son�s best friend is already in 6th grade and your son has expressed interest in a grade advance really seem like compelling reasons to skip him up before the end of the year!