I first posted in the Fall and had thought that we were making progress with my daughter's teachers. We had identified an accelerated Math program that she was hopefully going to get to use and she moved ahead in a Literature based computer program. Our principal seemed eager to help but since then we have hit walls and circumstances have kept the principal from helping us. I asked our school counselor to talk with DD just so she would have another avenue to vent her feelings of frustration that wasn't mom or dad. Just found out tonight that the counselor met with her teachers and was told that until DD could produce 100 % in all of her work they could not be sure that she could handle anything more challenging. Her last report card's lowest average was a 95% and the rest were either 100% or high 90's. They told the counselor that DD needed to try harder and not work so fast because she was making mistakes that could be prevented. DD is very mature and when I asked her what she thought she said "I am not perfect, mom so why would the teacher's expect me to be that? Nobody is perfect, mom! Thank you for letting me vent!
Maria

I'd ask those teachers if they got 100% on their teacher certificate exam, and if not, then why were they teaching?

Do all the kids have to get 100% to move to the next grade?

IMHO, I'd get some test scores and then shop around for a school that wants your child.

That's ridiculous. Gifted does not mean the same thing as perfect.

I think that is the silliest thing I have heard!! She is an A student with the 95% and it shows competency in the subject. Does this school not let student move to the next grade until they achieve 100%? This sets a very unhealthy expectation for your daughter.

Jen

I agree, that's insane. Fortunately, it's so far from what anyone who knows anything about it advocates, that it should (in theory!) be easy to argue against. For example, you might want to look at Susan Assouline's Developing Math Talent, or to have your daughter's teachers look at it.

That is ludicrus, It violates basic scientific principles that nothing is absolute or perfect. It is in very rare instances where goals of 100% are ever set for students and these would be in cases of behavors related to safety. I have never heard of a goal of 100% for any academics. violates human error variable.

ask them to complete a number of task with 100% accuracy and see what happens, ie my spelling on a keyboard.

Thank you for your support! I just reread my initial post and didn't realize how poorly it was written. I was fairly emotional after having the discussion with DD last night and wanted to make sure that I wasn't being a over reacting parent when I thought the teachers were being ridiculous.

Maria

Love it!

I would have serious concerns about any teacher who would set those types of expectations for your child. That only sets them up for perfectionism and problems down the line when they reach more challenging materials. My DD is her own worst critic.

I'm very sorry for the situation. We deal with something very similar but are making some headway with DS (almost 11.)

We have stopped trying to get big changes and are working on smaller baby steps. For instance, DS gets to test ahead in math when he gets 3 perfect test scores in a row. I hate that it has to be perfect scores but at least they aren't mandating 100% on the entire curriculmn. Doing this has let DS compact more than a school year into 4 months. Like Dottie's son, ours makes more errors on the easy stuff than something that makes him stop and think.

For those of you in the education field, how much time either in college or in in-service or continuing Ed training is spent on how gifted can present and ways to meet the needs of gifted students? I ask because we had a really illuminating discussion with DS's teacher in the Fall. She really didn't seem to understand the difference between gifted and teacher pleasing high achieving students. Add in the 2E issues and we all began to understand why things could get derailed very quickly.

thank you for venting Maria!

How did the counselor seem to feel about what the teachers told her? You may have a real ally there.

My personal experience is that with 'unusually gifted students' it's often easier to move the student to a classroom where there is a better fit than it is to change the classroom to make it fit better.

Good luck,
Grinity

The counselor who really is our Student Assistance Counselor not a Guidance Counselor didn't comment much about the teacher's expectations. She was under the impression that DD's grades were lower than what they were so she was surprised when I started telling her actual grades. And, she basically regurgitated what we were told in the Fall. We have a meeting with the Superintendent next week to discuss educational options for the rest of the year and to look ahead to next year. And, of course we still haven't ruled out homeschooling until she reaches high school. She did say that if the teachers want 100 % on her work for a month she was going to give it to them and then at the end of the month she could ask them how they were going to keep their end of the bargain.

Maria

Good luck Maria -
I'm guessing that the 'Student Assistance Counselor' is in charge of 'social and emotional needs' - if so, get her to look at the teachers gradebook and tell you if she thinks that this is an emotionally healthy situation for you DD to be in - seriously!

As for your DD trying to go to 100% that can backfire in a major way. Let us know how the meeting goes with the principle, but I would work on the SA Counselor to co-write a letter to the principle letting her know all about this and DD's reaction and SAC's opinion.

Grins,
Grinity

That is so stupid. The teachers would be well within their rights to say she should master 100% of the skills before moving to a higher level, but that's completely different from getting 100% of the questions right 100% of the time. Only a computer can do that - people make mistakes, no matter how well they know the material.

I like your daughter's response for its spirit, but it might not be healthiest in the long run - trying to be perfect usually ends up driving one mad.

Well we had our meeting but were told that DD would not be able to do anything accelerated until she finished her "normal" class work. There is apparently no room for negotiation here as we have tried to explain that she is bored with the routine work. If given the opportunity to test out of it, I am fairly confident that DD could. Nevertheless, we plan to meet with the teacher as soon as the accelerated program is running to set clear and reasonable expectations for DD. I don't think that this teacher has any idea how fast DD will move through this program if she is allowed access to it. DD loves working independently and this may be what keeps her content until we can figure out what to do for her 7th grade year.

Maria

It sounds like your daughter is being allowed to move at her own pace which should be somewhat of a relief. it sounds like you will be involved to shape the program when it is set up and that your dd sees this as a worthy challenge. with a bit of luck you may find this alll works out. best wishes grinity

Oh if it were that easy. Each time we think that we have made progress we find out otherwise. Just received email today that the program DD was going to begin won't be ready for another 2-3 weeks. I haven't even told her, yet. Two to three weeks will put us into ISAT week which will provide another excuse. So, I seriously doubt that we will see this program at all.

Maria

Truly, I would seriously consider making lawyer noises. Not loudly, but maybe something to the effect of, "I'm sure you are interested in making every accommodation the school is legally obliged to provide, of course, and I have no doubt that you will attempt in good faith to meet the reasonable needs of students with special needs. I'm sure you obviously don't intend to establish one set of criteria for one kind of student and a different set of criteria for another kind, because of course that would be...problematic, you know, so I'm looking forward very much to arriving at a mutually satisfying solution."

What you're talking about, of course, is absolutely absurd. In order to pass from one class to another at every single school at which I've ever taught, students need laughably minimal mastery of 60%. This, in my opinion, is absurd in the other direction, but what you're talking about seems like little more than rank discrimination. I'm reminded of the language tests that private schools in Hawaii used to administer long ago to prospective Asian students -- language tests where, if the prospective student mispronounced even one word or got one little thing wrong, they had "faulty language skills" and weren't academically ready.

You're joking, right?
There was absolutely no training. There may have been a mention of gifted students somewhere when we were covering special ed accommodations. That was about it.

I'm with Grinity here. She only needs to get one thing wrong one time to blow that plan out of the water.

So cool to have Baudelaire here! Flaneurs unite!