Hi.
Recently we moved to Dallas. My daughter completed KG in a montessori school and we were looking for the 1st grade admission. When we approached the school they said she has to do the KG acceleration test since she was NOV born. We took her for the test and she couldn't clear it. But as a mom I feel that she is ready for the 1st grade and she is even solving 2nd and 3rd problems also. Her KG teachers also say that she is highly eligible for 1st grade.

Im totally confused. My husband says that we can put her in KG itself. But I feel she should not repeat KG and must go to 1st grade.

What to do ? Please give me some suggestions since we dont know the US edu system.

Have you looking into any of the charter schools in Dallas? Dallas ISD has a lot of issues... you might be better off going straight to a charter.

The other option is to just homeschool next year and then enroll her in 2nd. Kindergarten is not required in the state of Texas, and if you do an online curriculumn, like K12, you can show the school her completion paperwork (they may still want her to test) and then enroll her.

There are also a LOT of really amazing private schools in Dallas... not all cost a fortune either. We live in the Mid-Cities, so the Dallas private schools are too far for us.

Many school districts in Tx have age policies for K/1st but once you hit 2nd grade you can just put them in. I would suggest private school for a year and just enter in 2nd grade or maybe even stay in private until 3rd (if you think she's ready). The CBEs they use are very stressful and hard to pass in the science/social studies area due to specific curriculum items. In most districts you need to get around 90% on all four tests to skip a grade if you haven't had previous instruction (vs 70% if you've previously been in the grade). You might want to ask if her previous Kinder exp qualifies her for a lower thresh-hold of passing.

http://pol.tasb.org/Policy/Search/361?filter=Admissions

If it's Dallas ISD (link above), I would try to nicely remind them that their policy is fuzzy. While it does mention 5 yo in 1st grade, the policy also seems to indicate that they place the child in the grade recommended by the previous private school. It seems that in any case private school for a year would likely solve the problem.