Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Those pulled out pulled out for math..

Just when I gave up all hope a miracle came along, a teacher willing to "teach" my son. Long story short he is getting pulled out for 4th grade math ( he should be in 2nd grade and did do full grade skip to 3rd).

Can anyone who has been down this road send me some of their stories of how it went with their child?

Are they going to meet one on one, or is you ds going to participate in the 4th grade teacher's class?

DS, one overall grade ahead due to an early start (now 9th grade, newly 14), began attending math one grade up in 5th (although we had requested math acceleration from the beginning). This minor accommodation caused quite a lot of resentment by some teachers and some families, so it did come at a price. We even experienced an attempt to shut him out of pre-algebra, where the stronger math students go after 6th grade math, as the teacher tried to withhold the fact that he had done well on the algebra readiness assessment. He did get into a pre-algebra class for his 6th grade due to the good sense of the vice principle, but with 8th graders rather than more advanced 7th grade students. We were not guaranteed continued math acceleration for the next year (unless he accepted a full grade skip) ---geometry wasn�t offered at the K-8th school anyway.

His current middle/high school carefully evaluated ds and found that he met the threshold for math subject acceleration there. He is now in his third year of high school math (Alg2/trig) on their highest tier math track (intended for STEM prep). This is conservative acceleration by most standards and he likely could have gone further faster had he been given the opportunity. Yet, the dept chair, who taught him geometry last year and will teach him again for his sophomore, junior and senior years, presents and challenges well beyond what is typically expected given the common course title. His current math class doesn�t require much of his attention, but he is sufficiently challenged in a couple other courses this year.

THE BEST PART is that due to his success in above grade level math, he requested to skip 8th grade science and started with freshmen physics early. He is now in the honors level chemistry class, which he LOVES. By time he graduates high school (after four years), he will have taken seven honors or AP lab sciences. The bottom line is that we consider his science progression the greatest benefit resulting from his 5th grade math acceleration. He plans to be a scientist/engineer.

I cannot believe how closed minded some teachers are. What is it? Is it their egos? That is great your DS is taking honors science classes. I would think math acceleration would not go hand in hand with science acceleration. I hope we don't experience resentement from other families. What did they say exactly? If a parent complains I would say "if johnny can do 4th grade math then of course he should be allowed to be accelerated as well".
Last year the teacher was not open to accelerate saying " do you want your kid to be different" my husband said to me later "but he is different"
Boy rough road with these kids right?

DS had some terrific teachers at the school he attended from 1st to 6th too. If I were to guess, I would attribute the resistance towards acceleration to egalitarian bias.
Math and science acceleration do not necessarily go hand in hand, but a particular level math is always pre or concurrent requisite for honors and AP level science. Math acceleration has to at least match science acceleration.
As far as what other parents said (at previous school), it was usually simply stating that they didn�t believe in acceleration when speaking with me. However, ds encountered probing questions (sometimes math word problems-not joking) and thinly veiled demeaning statements by classmates� parents.
Paying for and driving to good fit private schools is rough. Otherwise, it is so much easier for us now and worth it!
I hope things go smoothly for your son with his math acceleration.

He goes to the 4th grade class.