Hi Jamie - Welcome! First, here's a link to information on the Iowa Acceleration Scale, which is a great tool for determining whether whole-grade acceleration is appropriate for a particular child.
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/iowa_accel_scale.htmSecond, if you DD5 (darling daughter, age 5) is reading at a 5th grade level, I'm willing to bet that she's gifted, if not highly gifted. Schools in general do not offer whole grade accelerations to children who are not quite gifted. That said, if the school is willing to do ability testing as well, go for it. Most gifted kids think the tests are fun. And it's great if your school will do it.
I personally would be thrilled if my DS5's school would offer to accelerate, but they have chosen to try to differentiate. You can look at the kindergarten 2009 thread and find stories about kids in K this year and also kids who have skipped K and are starting in 1st.
DYS is the Davidson Young Scholar program, and it provides assistance to profoundly gifted children and their families.
