She did end up working hard and made huge leaps on her MAP test. ...Sorry for the long post, I'd love your advice.
Thanks
Hi Spiritedmama - congrats on your move - I hope things are going well. Is school still in session where you live?
I would definitely not move from GT classroom to regular classroom AND undo the skip at the same time. We had a similar decision to make when DS left a 'very good' local private school that was very heavy on the product output demands, to our 'very good' local public school. At the private school we were called into meetings because he wasn't bringing his pencil to class regularly. When he switched to the public school, and I asked, timidly, at the first round of parent-teacher conferences, "W....w...what about his pencil? Does he bring it?"
The teachers, who clearly enjoyed DS for 8th grade, laughed and said "Of coures he forgets his pencil, and so do all the other kids" and one lifted up a box of about 100 pencils and indicated just how little a deal it was in that context.
The private school wasn't working ahead academically, but they were a year or 3 ahead in terms of organizational skills and output skill expected. DS learned a lot, but yes, DS PG and ADD, was thrilled to return to public school and have a lot of fun that year socially, be treated 'like a young gentleman' by the adults, and learn cool stuff without a lot of pressue to demonstrate this learning with papers and oral reports. (I wasn't thrilled, but we take turns!)
Of course you have MAP results - and if you found out that DD was going to be at the mean of 4th graders at her new school, then it might be worth while reversing the skip too. And it's worth following up on that, but I highly doubt she'll be below the 90% of MAP scores even if she keeps the skip.
Sitting in the recieving classroom speaks volumes, but school may be out by now.
Anyway - reversing a grade skip isn't the world's worst thing. We did that last August, and my DS is loving it. There is a philosophical question: Obviously it's ideal to have a kid work hard and see fruits of their labor - but if you have to choose between 'no work=amazing grades' and 'hard work = bottom 1/3 of a gifted classroom' which is better? As I've said, DS and I take turns! Thanksfully this year, (9th grade again)with the reversed skip-except in Math, and a really 'discussion orriented' private school he's getting both and it's beautiful to see. Will it last? We'll have to be flexible. Hopefully the school will flex with us.
So yes, I do feel comfortable with reversing skips, particularly in the High School years. (That is when the grades really count, right?) I don't think it's time yet for your DD. Repeating 9th grade when moving to a private school is a very traditional time to repeat a year,so DS, with his early birthday is still probably 18 months younger than many of the students.
Flexibilty is the key!
And hard data - like MAP scores and personal observation.
Smiles,
Grinity
