I agree that the self image issues could be hard in the same school if she decelerates. However, placing a child inappropriately solely to make her feel better about where she is placed can't be the right thing to do.
I agree with the general principle, but I disagree that this is an instance of the general principle.
This isn't a situation where the child is misplaced, rather one where the child was underachieving and needs more time to catch up, or where there is a subtle learning bottleneck that would never be caught if the child was allowed to underachieve.
In any classroom, including gifted classrooms, fully half the children are 'below average.' Right? Is it wrong to have a child in a setting where they are below average?
I shared my son's stories to debunk the myth that all HG/PG children thrive the instant they get their gradeskip. For my son it was more like 12 to 18 months.
Another option is to hothouse math a bit over the summer...or hothouse her strength area, to protect that self esteem a bit.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
