She is a happy child overall, but she comes home from school in tears some days because it was so boring. I have seen the work. She's doing stuff that is painfully simple, even in math for her. She was reading at a higher level than what they are doing with her in class before she was in Kindergarten!
I also know that she REFUSES to be herself at school. The class looked at life cycles last year -- frogs, toads. She came home and said, "I want to write the life cycle of the pheonix." I told her to do it! I could see the little wheels moving and she said, "No. I don't want to bring it to school." She did a science fair project last year about what conducts electricity. We have a snap circuit kit and she had already mastered it on her own. She took the notes on her own and figured out a bunch about conductivity. She REFUSED to write up the report. I thought it was sort of cute, but I think that it's part of the socialization of a smart girl not wanting to be seen outside the norm. I don't want my kid in the gifted pogram to be ahead of anyone. I just don't want her to not be comfortable being smart!
All this stuff above is what the school needs to see. maybe she isn't gifted, maybe she doesn't belong in their Gifted Program, but they are professionals and there must be some way to solve this real problem your daughter is facing.
Is the Gifted Program even worth fighting for - (not if it's less than 3 hours a week, not really) but it sure isn't the only way to accommodate a kid who is academically strong. There are grade skips, subject accelerations, mentorships. Start asking for bigger fish, and maybe they'll try throwing you the gifted program bone to see if you'll be put off.
You can ask for partial homeschool where you do her favorite subject at home with her and she goes to the gifted specialist while the class does it and gets one to one with her 2nd favorite subject.
It's time to start asking for the moon, because I don't think a gifted program by itself is going to solve her problems.
And cry. This is super upsetting, and they won't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Keep documenting and going up the chain of command until you find that ally. You need help! You need the school to do it's job, which is teaching your child, and giving her an opportunity to learn how to learn.
With MAP testing you can ask for her to be placed with kids (of any grade) who are at the same readiness level for Math or Reading, because all kids in every grade have the same chance to answer the hardest questions.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
