Travails of subject acceleration - 06/12/15 04:58 PM
Warning: whining/ranting ahead.
I probably shouldn't be complaining since many/most people have it far worst. I don't have to deal with skeptics (of ability) or denials (of acceleration requests), etc. However, I have to say that it has been tedious and stressful to ensure appropriate and timely transition/placements year to year. DS was accelerated in 2nd & 4th so he is completing Geometry in 6th this year with the GT 8th graders, which places him two years ahead. In a sense, DS has had to prove himself every year, which is fine as he has easily done so. I have also had to jump in at the end and beginning of each year to ensure that he will continue to have timely access to reasonable instruction. While this has not been officially verbalized, the truth is that nothing is ever guaranteed and funding is always a consideration.
Interestingly, DS is categorized into a math "program" that has existed in our district for decades. However, except for a couple of newspaper articles and passing mention of the name in board meeting minutes (district & state levels), the "program" appears so secretive that even the name is unknown unless you are on the inside. It is almost impossible to get stats and information and most of what I know I have glean from multiple sources and put together. The "program" appears to serve only 0.01 to 0.1 percent of the students so that there aren't more than a few dozens kids in our district of over 100,000 students. Furthermore, there are some years where no special arrangements are necessary such as when kids can just go to a higher grade in their own school.
While DS obviously has not moved at his own optimal pace, I have been overall reasonably satisfied with what the district has provided. I have also made every effort to avoid DS working on the school math curriculum outside of school time. As he is not the kind to spent too much extra time on math beyond participation in competitions, a bit of independent learning in combinatorics and number theory has been sufficient. However, I have serious reservations regarding the game plan for 7th grade next year. He will be taking Algebra II through the district's e-school during a designated period. This is to provide live instruction while he stays on school grounds and there is some mention of some independent study as well. Apparently there will be a few 8th graders sprinkled in with what I infer are regular track high school students. I probably need to give it a chance but I have to say that I have never been so skeptical in the almost five years since DS was first accelerated. I cannot imagine how freaky slow and superficial a non-GT math class will be for DS and the time slot doesn't exactly match so that DS will be waiting around for almost 25% of the class time at the beginning of each class and will miss the last 25% of each class.
The crazy thing is that I understand about resource constraints and that kids like DS will always be at the end of the line. I would gladly pay for an AOPS course myself and have DS work independently for one period at school if I can gracefully extricate DS from having to waste one-eighth of his school time next year and probably the year after as well although the district would not have made a decision regarding 2016-17 this early.
Whine/Rant over :-(
I probably shouldn't be complaining since many/most people have it far worst. I don't have to deal with skeptics (of ability) or denials (of acceleration requests), etc. However, I have to say that it has been tedious and stressful to ensure appropriate and timely transition/placements year to year. DS was accelerated in 2nd & 4th so he is completing Geometry in 6th this year with the GT 8th graders, which places him two years ahead. In a sense, DS has had to prove himself every year, which is fine as he has easily done so. I have also had to jump in at the end and beginning of each year to ensure that he will continue to have timely access to reasonable instruction. While this has not been officially verbalized, the truth is that nothing is ever guaranteed and funding is always a consideration.
Interestingly, DS is categorized into a math "program" that has existed in our district for decades. However, except for a couple of newspaper articles and passing mention of the name in board meeting minutes (district & state levels), the "program" appears so secretive that even the name is unknown unless you are on the inside. It is almost impossible to get stats and information and most of what I know I have glean from multiple sources and put together. The "program" appears to serve only 0.01 to 0.1 percent of the students so that there aren't more than a few dozens kids in our district of over 100,000 students. Furthermore, there are some years where no special arrangements are necessary such as when kids can just go to a higher grade in their own school.
While DS obviously has not moved at his own optimal pace, I have been overall reasonably satisfied with what the district has provided. I have also made every effort to avoid DS working on the school math curriculum outside of school time. As he is not the kind to spent too much extra time on math beyond participation in competitions, a bit of independent learning in combinatorics and number theory has been sufficient. However, I have serious reservations regarding the game plan for 7th grade next year. He will be taking Algebra II through the district's e-school during a designated period. This is to provide live instruction while he stays on school grounds and there is some mention of some independent study as well. Apparently there will be a few 8th graders sprinkled in with what I infer are regular track high school students. I probably need to give it a chance but I have to say that I have never been so skeptical in the almost five years since DS was first accelerated. I cannot imagine how freaky slow and superficial a non-GT math class will be for DS and the time slot doesn't exactly match so that DS will be waiting around for almost 25% of the class time at the beginning of each class and will miss the last 25% of each class.
The crazy thing is that I understand about resource constraints and that kids like DS will always be at the end of the line. I would gladly pay for an AOPS course myself and have DS work independently for one period at school if I can gracefully extricate DS from having to waste one-eighth of his school time next year and probably the year after as well although the district would not have made a decision regarding 2016-17 this early.
Whine/Rant over :-(