Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment District has finally approved IAS testing...

I HAVE QUESTIONS AND NEED HELP, PLEASE!!

Hello all,

First, the back story: This is some of what I posted in the Parenting and Advocacy Board:

My dh and I have been advocating since the beginning of the year for grade acceleration for our dd6 (Dec. 1 b-day). She is currently in public school kindergarten. In early September we contacted the school inquiring about the necessary steps needed to put the action into motion. In October, they administered the district's assessments for end of year K and first grade. They would not test higher and do not outsource testing. She tested out of K and nearly out of the first grade assessments. After conferencing with her teachers, the school's principal, reading coach, and guidance counselor, it was unanimously decided that our daughter was a good candidate for grade acceleration. In early November, the principal drafted a detailed letter to the district advocating on our daughter's behalf. She was very confident that the switch would happen in the beginning of December. When we met with her before parent/teacher conferences in late November, she alerted us of the district's decision that the grade skip would not be happening as predicted. The district's excuse: lack of policy on grade acceleration. Upon our contacting them, they communicated to us that they would have to draft a policy to present to the Board for our request to be honored.


Fast forward to the present:

This past Wednesday we just received word from the Deputy Superintendent that the school district policy and guidelines for kindergarten acceleration have finally been completed. On Thursday we received the hard copy of the guidelines for our review. We were advised in writing that upon our approval(according to the guidelines), the IAS will be administered to determine dd's eligibility for grade acceleration or single subject acceleration, if whole grade acceleration is determined not possible. We did approve and testing is set to begin this week. They will be administering the WISC, ITBS, and WJ-ACH. The plan (as we understand it, the Principal is working on her responses to our questions regarding the Guidelines) is to administer these assessments in the space of this week. On Tuesday, February 9th, we are scheduled to meet with the Kindergarten Acceleration Evaluation Committee, comprised of the Principal, dd's current teachers (she has two), the future 1st grade teacher, the school's G&T specialist, and a school pshychologist or learning consultant with experience on gifted learners and the specific assessments mentioned above for about an hour and a half to discuss the results. Final decision on whether or not dd is a valid candidate for grade acceleration or subject acceleration will be made at this time.

Finally, questions:
For those of your with more experience than me with situations like this, what should we expect? What do these assessments entail? How long do they last? Is it reasonable to expect a 6 year old child to complete them in span of just one week? Is prior preparation needed?

I understand that due to the time sensitive nature of this situation, the process must now be expedited in order to secure dd's spot in a first grade classroom (provided that our request has indeed been approved) as soon as possible, but a part of me feels a little (no, a lot) resentful a the district for dragging it's heels and allowing so much time to be wasted.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you in advance and have a great day!

Sincerely,

Sleepless in New Jersey

Thank you, thank you, thank you Gifted Mom and Dottie for sharing your wealth of information!!! I'm a nervous wreck at the moment and knowing some of what to expect in the near future is very reassuring. We are sill waiting to hear from the Principal on their ETA's for the battery of assessments.

Thanks again for your replies. I will report back on our progress.

Wow Penkase!
You have done a great job of advocating for your dd! Congradulations.

don't worry about the testing all being done in 1 week - it won't be! LoL - that's just not how schools do things. It's good that they are 'aiming' for one week. And if they actually pull it off, I have no doubt that your daughter will show up just fine. Really, the IAS has lots of room for 'bad days' etc.

Do prepare her that the questions are made for all kinds of aged people, and that there are some that Adults would find tricky. I would say that it's more like a 'Urine test' she gets at the doctors to know more about her than a school test to see what she has learned, but that would frighten some kids. See if you can find some concrete examples of the two meaning of the word 'test.'

The only thing that I would check with the school would be specifically to see which grade level of ITBS they are going to use. Hopefully they understand the IAS, and the idea of above level tests, but it is kind of tricky. I hope they aren't planning to give her a Kindy level, then a 1st grade level, then a 2nd grade level, or Kindy only. Sometimes school get crazy about 'gaps!' and want to be sure that the child has 'every blessed thing' that a kindy child would learn. The gaps are what make a single skip workable!

Next step is the fine art of 'discipline of parental emotions.' Remember all that about living in the moment. and having the courage to change what you can and the serenity to accept what you can't and wisdom, etc? Your job over the next few weeks is to live in the moment, and let the future take care of itself. Sort of compare it to going through a long tunnel during a trip where you aren't sure of the directions. You're lost, you feel insecure, you are excited that about what is coming next, but for now, the only thing to do is keep driving safely at a steady pace. Try to allow yourself to have a few brief moments of excitement/nerves while you are posting here (and post every day if you need to) and then (try) to act as though nothing whatsoever unusual is going on during the rest of the day.

Try to 'fake it until you make it' an attitude of 'one way or another this issue will be fixed in plenty of time, so for now lets just have some fun and play in-the-car games.' One of the great things about being a parent is that we can do amazing things on behalf of our kids that we couldn't have done for ourselves, and what your DD needs right now is for you to act like this is all perfectly normal, and somewhat interesting, and that you are confident that she and all the grown ups will play their roles just right.

Weird, huh?

Grinity

Grinity,

Can you tell I'm glued to the computer???

Your post made me LOL!!! Hubby and I are believers of living in the moment. As such, we find ourselves in constant conflict with the right here, right now and having to look ahead and plan for the future. Balance is key!

I had him look at this thread and all your wonderful responses He's amazed that a community like this exists for people like us who feel like dear stuck in the headlights.

Your car analogy is excellent by the way! I'll definitely keep your advice in mind as we sift through this minefield. It's good to know I can dump my feelings and fears here and then turn on a "brave" face. I just hope nobody notices that I've chewed my fingernails down to next to nothing!

I just wanted to re-highlight Dottie's point about the IAS. It is absolutely imperative that you be included in the filling out of this 'survey'! I do know people at schools who have presented them with a "your child passed the IAS" or "Your child failed the IAS". This is completely and utterly not what the IAS is intended for and cannot be taken as a measure of anything when done that way!

The school may do the testing then fill out only that portion before you arrive but you should have a running dialogue through the entire process. For example, one question is about whether or not your child has outside of school activities. How would they know that info?

Just wanted to point your energy at something you really should have influence over :-)

CAMom,

A "Kindergarten Acceleration Evaluation Commitee" will be composed of the professionals I mentioned in my OP. We, the parents, also make up part of this commetee. We will meet the week following the assessmenta (in our case Feb. 9th) to "determine the most appropriate available learning environment for the referred student." According to the Principal, "the Kindergarten Acceleration Evaluation Committee will meet to conduct and complete the assessment evaluation process. You, as parent, play a critical role in the evaluation process...We will meet at (said location) to begin the evaluation process and dialogue."

Is this what you mean?

Thanks!

Feb 9th - so check to see what level of ITBS, and then do the car in the tunnel thing until Feb 9th. Prepare yourself for the reality that the meeting will be postponed at least twice (this is normal)and dream up some great family de-stressors for the next few weeks! Maybe schedule yourself for a massage for Feb 10th so you have something to look forward to?

Right now, the ball is in their court. Vent here, but don't wear yourself out squinting over the early signs of what might be. You are powerless until March 1st, so go with it until then, ok?

No one will see your fingernails!

Sadly - I know from experience how hard this advice is to follow!

giggles,
Grinity
And yes, it is a miracle that this forum exists!

That's what I mean! I just didn't want you to get railroaded by a committee that has met before you even show up and determined the fate of your child. Sadly, this does happen, both with IAS committees and even IEP reviews. If the parents don't know better then they just start signing paperwork and it's not good for anyone!

Grinity-I will check on which level of the ITBS they are planning to administer. Do I need to check on the others as well? BTW-already figured things were not going to go according to the time schedule they provided. We still haven't heard from the Principal regarding our questions-guess she's waiting to hear from the District. I'm headed to the school this morning to ensure that testing will not begin until our questions have been answered and we have been made privy to some sort of testing schedule beforehand. Honestly, I'm a little worried about this dragging another month. March seems like a really bad time in the school year for dd to transfer into first grade, don't you think? It does concern me (what so far hasn't?) that the longer we wait to transition, the harder it will get on dd to transition.

Also, I'm thinking we've already begun in the hole this week since first, dd has come down with the sniffles (don't know what to do about that, what with the testing and all). Second, she and older sis (dd9) were playing "sharks in the water", dd9 kicks dd6 in the mouth (yes, unintentionally), and her two bottom front teeth get knocked loose (they were already slightly moving). Had to go into lecture mode..."see, this is what happens when you guys don't listen. I've said time and time again, THE HOUSE IS NOT A JUNGLE GYM! It's not that mommy doesn't want you to have fun..it's just that I can see these kinds of things coming and know what will happen next. I hope you have learned your lesson for next time." Dd6 asks, "when you were young and didn't listen to your mommy and daddy, did you get in trouble?" I said, "big time!"

She kinda freaked when I told her we would probably have go see the dentist later on today.

I'm calling the spa first thing tomorrow morning-wait it is tomorrow morning-I mean later today. I think I'm going to have to schedule a massage every day of this process just so I have something to look forward to other than eating my way out of house and home!

Kidding-but not really!


CAMom-I think one of the reasons the district hasn't tried to "railroad" us full steam ahead, and it has helped tremendously, is that due to the power of the internet, it becomes quite easy to gather needed information and appear all knowing when the time comes to meet face to face with school officials. You should have been there when I asked the Deputy Superintendent if they were going to use the IAS to determine dd's eligibility for grade acceleration. The look on her face was priceless! Another factor heavily at play is that dh is very fluent in Eduspeak. He has 12 years (and counting ) experience working for educational companies, on the administrative side of things. He currently holds a position in a non-profit organization. We always attend school meetings together, a tag team of sorts, and attack it (in a good way) head on, with our lifesavers...Luke, I am your father...sorry, it's really WAY to early for me to even be up right now.

You guys are wicked awesome!!! Thanks for all your advice and feedback.

I'm off to watch the Grammy's on the dvr. I actually did get some sleep earlier this evening.

Penkase -
march is a fine time for a skip, any time is really, as long as it's a needed skip, and you know it is. So relax a bit and let the school do their thing.

ITSB is the only test that has various alternatives, as far as I can see.

I wouldn't worry about the sniffles, but if DD is 'sick' -fever, limp, pale skin, not herself, then keep her home for the day. You don't have to do anything special. Don't worry 'oh is this a testing day' just keep your eyes on the road and you foot on the accelerator at a constant speed. ((Tunnel Analogy Again))

Love and more love,
Grinity