Hi,
New to forum. My dd(11) took the EXPLORE test through Duke TIP in Jan. and we received her results last Saturday. She was previously identified gifted through our school district at the end of 2nd grade (in 5th now).
Our school district does little more than identify kids to meet state requirements. It does not use a pull out program for these kids and rarely does any in classroom differentiation of curriculum for fear that the next teacher will have nothing left to work with!(ugh). It takes a special teacher to recognize and work with a gifted child and we haven't run across one yet. She is the only 1 identified at her level/school and we have been told in exact words, that "they cannot cater to her." We have fought/struggled/lived within the system for 3 years but are seriously considering homeschool next year in order to better meet DD's needs. She stays extremely bored in the classroom and spends the majority of her time reading books while the other kids catch up and has developed quite a bit of frustration/depression from the process.
Our last hope was to possibly use her EXPLORE results to advocate for more differentiation or even push/demand a move to the next grade level. What I'm having trouble determining is if her results as a whole would warrant that? I know her Reading/English scores would, but her Math scores(a subject she stays bored in most of the time), don't really seem to show that. They are above the 50% range given by the EXPLORE test but not greatly above. Of course, our district puts a lot of emphasis on teaching to the state mandated academic test, so the limited math concepts she is taught are probably becoming routine to her.

I would appreciate anybody's insight or thoughts. Can somebody tell me are we justified in our push or how best to interpret these scores?

Thanks.
Explore Scores
Composite: 21
Reading:25
English:25
Math:16
Science:17

Wow! Those English and Reading scores are awesome. If I recall correctly, those should be 99th percentile scores as compared to 8th graders. Overall, she meets the criterion for DYS in terms of achievement: http://www.davidsongifted.org/young...holars___Qualification_Criteria_384.aspx If you can get some matching IQ scores, I'd strongly consider applying to see if they can help you with advocacy.

I do think that her scores are high enough that they should hold some weight in school advocacy. What did they use for her GT identification in 2nd grade? If she's fairly ahead across the board, a grade skip might be something to push for especially since it sounds like she's not extremely young for grade already.

eta: if you take a look at this chart on identifying gifted kids with above level tests, she qualifies as gifted in all areas (reading, math, science, and superior cognitive) with those scores.

Thanks for your response. Your right based on that chart her scores are gifted so the school shouldn't have an argument. I am going to find out today what test they used to determine her gifted placement and see if it is an IQ test. I just didn't ask at the time because I thought placement in the gifted program would provide her with the extra stimulation she would need. Boy, was I wrong. I am reading "Genius Denied" right now for the first time, and it so exemplifies the school district we are in.

We have always felt she was gifted, especially in the language areas but it's hard to know if we are biased because it's our child or if there is sufficient proof there to force the issue.

Again, thanks for your reply.