In our school, RTI (Response to Intervention) groups take kids from each of the regular classrooms (generally four per grade level)and place them in leveled groups (generally six per grade level) with the intent of teaching kids at their level for about 30 minutes each day. RTI groups are in addition to the regular grade-level math instruction that happens every day -- enrichment, if you will. The original intent of RTI is to "remediate" students working below grade-level, but here it is used to attempt to enrich at every level. I think assignments to the various groups are based on MAP scores primarily, with some judgement by the teachers based on what they see in class.
When we decided to send DS7 to 3rd grade math this year, we were assured that, while he would need to be in a 2nd grade RTI group because of scheduling conflicts, they would undoubtedly be able to teach him at his level, if not with others near his level, then on his own. That is why, when we saw him coming home with worksheets and talking about activities focused on single-digit addition and subtraction, putting double-digit numbers in numerical order, counting coins, telling time in 5 minute increments, etc. that we felt we needed to say something to the teacher. We chose to speak with his main 2nd grade teacher (he also has his 3rd grade math teacher, his RTI teacher, and a different 2nd grade reading teacher because of scheduling issues) and he actually just didn't respond to us. He did, though, talk to the RTI teacher and the 3rd grade math teacher, both of whom, he said, said that DS needed to work on his facts fluency. We were told that he needed to get three 100%s on one-time-a-week 5-minute 100-problem addition tests, then get three 100%s on subtraction tests before he could move on to multiplication. They said that they couldn't offer him more challenging RTI work because that is where the other kids in his RTI group were. After a month more of inappropriate work my DH spoke to each of the teachers separately and while the 3rd grade teacher said he needed to be given harder work and should be working on multiplication, the other teachers said he was where he needed to be (and I subsequently talked to his math teacher and got her same version). It got reported to the principal, apparently, that all the teachers agreed that he was good where he was.
Anyway, we feel like another skip isn't ideal, although it's really just more of a gut feeling. He has an end-of-November birthday with a September 1 cut-off and so is young-for-grade. Most of his best class friends were 8 before school started or very shortly thereafter and IRL most of his friends are quite a bit older than him. He is actually one of the very tallest 2nd graders, so size isn't an issue. Maturity isn't an issue, as his 3rd grade teacher says she's very impressed by his ability to come and go on his own with no reminders, to deal with three different teachers, and to get right down to work. He has friends in his 3rd grade class. And, like I said, he could easily handle all the 3rd grade material. The main concerns, I guess, is that he speaks unclearly (he can actually say all of the sounds but tends to speak carelessly) and that he has already skipped a grade. His sister actually is younger for grade than DS is, but she also has a higher LOG based on testing thus far, and she's a very mature girl. A double-standard, I know. Interestingly, when we approached the school about accelerating our DD for math, they looked at her reading scores and insisted she be accelerated for reading, too. When we approached the school about accelerating DS for math, he had even higher reading scores but they only wanted him accelerated for math.
Hope that helps to answer some of your questions. Can you tell I'm frustrated and feeling like I'm between a rock and a hard place?!
