Since many children are receiving their report cards, I began to wonder: when a gifted child is not a straight A student, are they always underachieving?
My son gets B, some high and some low. He isn't underachieving, he's placed with kid who are 18 to 30 months older than himself to REVERSE underachievment, which he had while he was making all A's, but not learning to study. If he had been in a school that included "effort" in it's core grade, he would also have been getting "C's."
DD8 has a report card that is not flattering, although she is scoring well on exams in 4th grade. But her attention, organization and use of time is scored so low that she is about C average overall. ... I know DD is bored and has a difficulty starting a task when she finds it of little value or challenge to her. She is also a perfectionist and if she feels the task is not going to be perfect, she will put it off as long as possible.
Jeni
She's 8. Be afraid, be very afraid. Can you imagine this situation when she is in Middle School and doing 3 month long projects?
Don't say that you aren't worried about Middle School because there is a gifted program, until you give me a lot more information about the gifted program, and her special educational needs, and if they are a fit, or even likely to be a fit.
Has she had any individualized testing? Was last year's testing group or individual? Does she seem to need another skip? Subject acceleration? Homeschooling? What would it take to get her near material that would match her readiness level? Sometimes an early enterance isn't enough. Is there a gifted co-ordinator who is familiar with giftedness at your daughter's level?
I think you are correct to be alarmed. I remember hearing about a school that gave a Product grade and an Effort grade. If the Product grade was high and the Effort grade was low, the student was immediatly moved up to the next higher level of challenge, until the Product and Effort grades equalized. Sounds reasonable to me!
Best Wishes,
Trinity
