BTW, I found our schools 'ByLaws and Policies' at
www.neola.com.Here is part of their gifted policy:
The Board of Education recognizes that the personal, social, physical, and educational growth of children will vary and that they should be placed in the educational setting most appropriate to their needs at the various stages of their growth.
It shall be the policy of the Board that each student be moved forward in a continuous pattern of achievement and growth that is in harmony with his/her own development.
Such pattern should coincide with the system of grade levels established by this Board and the instructional objectives established for each.
A student will be promoted to the succeeding grade level when s/he has:
A. completed the course and State-mandated requirements at the presently assigned grade;
B. in the opinion of the professional staff, achieved the instructional objectives set for the present grade;
C. demonstrated the degree of social, emotional, and physical maturation necessary for a successful learning experience in the next grade.
A student may be accelerated when his/her demonstrated achievement, as well as measured ability, significantly exceeds that of his/her grade level peers. Consideration may be given to promoting him/her to a grade other than the next succeeding one, or permitting him/her to enroll in a course other than the next one in the academic sequence. A student will be accelerated in this manner when s/he has:
A. achieved the grade/course objectives and State-mandated requirements, if applicable, for the grade/course in which s/he is presently enrolled as well as for the grades(s)/course(s) that will be skipped;
B. in the opinion of the professional staff, achieved the instructional objectives set for the present grade/course as well as the succeeding one(s);
C. demonstrated sufficient proficiency to permit him/her to be accelerated in the educational program;
D. demonstrated the degree of social, emotional, and physical maturation necessary for a successful learning experience in the grade/course to which s/he will be promoted or enrolled.
There very next line says:
However, following sound principles of child development, the Board discourages the skipping of grades.
It goes on to discuss retention(failing), and some terms I think could be used to support acceleration:
A student may be retained at his/her current grade level when s/he has in the opinion of the professional staff, failed to achieve the instructional objectives set forth at the current grade level that are requisite for success at the succeeding grade level.
A student may be placed at the next grade level when retention would no longer serve any good purpose.
The Superintendent shall develop administrative guidelines for promotion, acceleration, placement, and retention of students that may include:
A. a requirement for the recommendation of the relevant staff members for promotion, acceleration placement, or retention;
B. a requirement that parents are informed in advance of the possibility of retention of a student at a grade level;
C. require that the parent(s) give their consent to the acceleration of their child;
D. assurance that every effort will be made to remediate the student's difficulties before s/he is retained;
E. require that a student be retained if s/he is truant for 10% or more of the required school days and has failed at least two (2) courses of study, unless the principal and the teachers of the failed subjects determine that the student is academically prepared to be promoted;
F. assigning the final responsibility for determining the promotion, acceleration, assignment, or retention of each student to the building administrator.
