I just had a few thoughts and wanted to get them out. Bare with me. We have been heavily advocating at our DS6 school since we had him privately tested in February. The school does pay attention to the testing, but it hasn't gotten my kid a whole lot in K. The school is super focused on their in district testing. They had no idea where my kid was at or what to do with him. From what I've been reading on a lot of other parent's posts and surfing online public school is only looking at current achievement in a specific setting. I think of all of the time I spent on the questions for the DYS application and how my son's school asked none of those questions. DYS knows more about my son and how his brain works and what his potential is than a teacher he has spent the entire school year with.

What if public schools asked those kinds of questions at the beginning of the year? Yes, it might be more time consuming, but wouldn't it serve everyone better?

I think public schools are focused on raising test results- the kids who come into school reading and doing math may not be the priority.

My DH occasionally interviews for jobs out of state- as a result I have looked at the school districts in quite a few different states. It varies--the best public situations that I have seen are four tiered:

1. grade acceleration is not discounted as an option
2. there is subject acceleration for children needing a challenge in one broad area (reading or math).
3. full day gifted or separate gifted schools for highly gifted students.

I had the frustrations that you mentioned in a private schools with far fewer students in the class. I think teachers see what they expect to see. When my DS began daydreaming and becoming careless in his work, his teacher immediately assumed he was having difficulty understanding the materials.

After simmering down, and changing the school situation, I realize it's because comprehension issues are what she sees 99% of the time in these situations.

In short, it would be great if teachers asked questions about milestones, abilities, interests and personalities at the beginning (although my DS behaves differently at school than he does at home). Our school actually did ask these questions, but the information didn't get transmitted year-to-year, making it ineffective when the "academic" curriculum started in earnest in the first grade.

should have said "three tiered." I must have had another idea that ran away:)

I'm more sympathetic to the teacher/school in this case. How much exactly do we expect a teacher to be able to do with such knowledge given 25-30 students and a set curriculum to cover?

Also a good teacher who after all is with the students for multiple hours a day should have built up a reasonable independent sense of each kid's potential, learning style etc. by the end of the year.

Ben

When I was student teaching a couple years ago, my mentor teacher sent cards home on the first day of school soliciting information about the students from their parents. She is an uncommonly excellent teacher, though.

I think a good & experienced teacher WILL know these things about their students. DD's part-day kindergarten teacher, who had 42 students, knew DD well enough by the 2nd month of school to tell me at our first parent conference that she suspected DD was highly gifted.