I was in between when it came to advocating for my child. My eldest, was in K 2yrs ago and I started off by asking some basic questions to get a feel for the teachers point of view on things. (Ex. reading...etc.) Got the usual, they all level off by the end of the year and are reading at the same level. i didn't bother to tell her that she was reading chapter books for 2 years already. I Highly doubt that she will "level" off with the other kids. Anyhow, by the end of the year, the teacher approached me saying she testing exceptionally well for her School readiness test (for first grade) and that she was being recommended for the GT program. Turns out, out of the 5 children that were recommended, she was the only one who qualified in the end. Her school is very strict on their program. There are a LOT of really smart kids in the school and even though the state only requires one test with a nationaly percentile, her school requires 2-3 with a comp. of 95% (they seem to adjust it based on the number of kids who qualify... which doesn't make sense to me. If 100 kids scored that high on multiple tests, make accom. top take them all, not make it harder and harder to gfet in?!) Anyhow, I decided to advocate in 1st grade, once already in the GT program to get harder work for class time, as my daughter complained that she was froced to do sight word flash cards and use her "magic flashlight" to point to the words when she read and that she felt like a baby. Well, the teacher was defensive and told me that there were more things to work on in first grade, like organization and that "
if she was really as bright as I say she is.... she could work on org. because afterall, she forgot her folder on the table..". I felt like saying, I never said she was PERFECT, I said she was very advanced academically. SHEESH! So.... now I bite my tongue and let the teachers see for themselves, and when it becomes an issue for my child, then I speak up to the teacher. If that doesn't work, I go to the administration. The principal has been great to work with though. My youngest is in K this year and I am riding it out because I don't know where he stands. My view seems skewed by the high abilities of my older child so I am not sure with this one yet. Besides, by the end of the year, my daughter, being as verbal as she is, started whispering in the teacher's ear to please give her harder math work to do. I think she opened her eyes to see that she really wanted this, not just a pushy mom
