Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Accomodations and Subject Acceleration

Hi All,
Well, we are having a meeting with the Principal, the VP, the Accelerated Content teacher, and the gifted coordinator on Tuesday. We had a meeting with this same group right before Christmas break regarding DS9(3rd grade) placement. At that time we had just received his Wisc and Wiat scores, but did not have the full written report(which we now have). At that time we were able to get him moved into a gifted cluster class and admitted into the FOCUS class on Friday's.

Fast forward 3 months and we are preparing for another meeting due to DS's extreme boredom and dread of the school day. The school just tested him on the end of year 4th grade math and reading curriculum and he will be enrolled in the Accelerated Math and Reading pull-outs, which are for 50 minutes in each subject daily. We are pleased about this, but are concerned that instead of learning at an accelerated rate he will just be learning in greater detail the same 4th grade curriculum he has already mastered. I mean he is already reading at a 9th grade level!

DH and I are leaning towards letting him start 4th grade and see how it goes for a few weeks with the AC Math/Reading, FOCUS, and gifted cluster class. We would also like to ask for some other accomodations to help him get through the rest of the day at school.

The team seems resistant to whole grade acceleration(although they have IAS in place and it has been done in our district), but I know DS needs more than what he's getting right now. I want to be able to go to the meeting and have a list of things we want to have in place for next year. I feel like we need to give their programs a shot before really pushing for the grade skip.

Someone on this forum said their DC had different spelling words, which sounds wonderful. Does anyone have any other ideas for differentiation or accomodations that have worked in public schools?

Thanks for any ideas and advice. I always get nervous before these meetings...they look at me like I'm crazy!

Well, clearly, you must be crazy for daring to question their superior judgment.

If you are just now getting a follow-up to your PRE-Christmas meeting (counting months on my fingers...) I'm betting your son will be knee-deep in 4th grade next year before they take the next step... which might be only to say, "We're awfully close to the end of the year, let's just wait until next Fall."

If his scores suggest he should be skipped, and you think he should be skipped, and the IAS recommends exploring the skip... and he wants to skip... then making your poor kid muddle through 4th grade math with even more glorious detail probably won't go over too well with him.

As for changing up the spelling words, BAH! If he's anything like most of the kids I hear about 'round here, that'll only cover about ten minutes a week. And I bet he'll still have to do all the related class work. (And you just know the teacher will love having to give a separate spelling test each week.)

I'm sorry if I sound a bit cynical. But it's just been one of those days/weeks/months/years.

If the school can't offer a full-time GT program within the sacred "age-based" level to challenge your fella all day, then I vote a serious exploration of a grade-skip.

Well, it's good to know I don't seem crazy to people on this board!

All the delay tactics you both mentioned sound very familiar. At the pre-Christmas meeting they said "lets move him into the gifted cluster and FOCUS and that should do the trick. We'll meet again to follow up later, but he shouldn't need anything else." To quote Dandy "BAH"!

Yes, the spelling lists would cover about 10 minutes. I like the Sripps idea because DS can spell virtually any word, but I'd like his vocab to broaden as well. I just wondered about accomodations, differentiation, and subject acceleration because those are some other ways our district has approved of working with GT kids. I like the idea of asking them to excuse him from work he's already mastered because I do think they are planning on having him do the work and then give him extra.

I did purchase the IAS Manual 3rd, and I scored him on my own(very conservatively). Even without the above level testing (I gave him a zero) he still falls into the excellent candidate range. He wants the skip too. The school makes it sound like 4th grade is the worst year to skip because they have so much curriculum to cover and even though he's "bright" they have their doubts. I have my doubts that they can sufficiently educate him, and I'm so tired of convincing him every morning that it is important to go to school because he MAY learn something!

After re-reading all this I probably should have posted under the advocacy tab, but oh well I'm here now!