THANK YOU! I was in such a rush to post that I should have thought more about clear formatting. I appreciate the help.
The "groups" they assured me were by ability level, though I tried to point out that since she is the only identified gifted child in this grade level it is unlikely that even the "highest group" would be suitable. It's also disconcerting that it's not specified in writing anywhere.
I was afraid of exactly what you said - a vanilla standard with some BS thrown in. I just wanted to know exactly what I needed to push for clarification on. I plan on asking for copies of the "rubrics" they cite everywhere as their measure. I'm not sure if the timeline is changeable since the only hold GIEP conferences 2x per year (and as requested by a parent).
They said that we will review the GIEP yearly as required by law, but that the goals may endure through several years. I was hoping for more specific, organized plans, but I'm not sure if that is appropriate to ask for. To me the short term objectives and SDI's should be changing regularly - as one skill is mastered we can move on to the next. I am just having difficulty quantifing the document - its hard for me to hold them accountable when everything seems so ... wishy washy.
As for acceleration I have another question: Currently we are looking at a grade skip to address the fact that she is over 1 year ahead in all subjects. However, acceleration doesn't seem to address the pace issue. If my child learns faster than her peers - when she grade skips that seems to me, to be a bandaid, because she will continue to learn faster than her new peers and after a matter of time we'd be looking at another grade skip! Not to mention - she will have access to higher level materials in a higher grade, but the pace will still be the same slow progression. Is there some other form of acceleration I could reasonably request? Continuous progress acceleration sounds like a dream - but I have no idea how a public school could implement it without a teacher that caters to my child alone - which I know is not a reasonable request. That was the appeal of the mixed grade charter school I was looking into, but then we run into issues with gifted education not being mandated and she would lose out on the pull out program the public school offers, which does look valuable. This seems to be the most pressing issue. I just need to know what to ask for! If I had it my way she would be taught at a faster pace and progressively advanced topics - is that so hard?!? ::sigh::
