Well, we are back from the meeting. It started out with them telling us all the wonderful things they do in 5th, 6th and other upper grades in their gifted program. I explained that our concern is what will be done in 1st grade etc. The coordinator kept going back to the gaps that could have an impact on her grades in Algebra etc.
I said well I student taught 1st grade and taught third so I am confused as to what she could miss in first grade that would impact her in Algebra. She then gave examples that had to do with kids skipping 4th or 5th grade. I then explained how that didn't pertain to our dd. It was a lot of this talking in circles and them talking about the one area they feel dd isn't more than one year advanced...writing. That b/c she is so low in writing compared to math/reading they don't know that she would be sucessful in 3rd grade if she skipped.
They then gave us a program they are going to start doing now that will be how it would work if she was in first grade next year. We are doing a 4-6 week trial and then meeting again to see how we feel it is working. They are also going to retest her with the higher level of the map. If we are not satisfied they will call a meeting with the board and we will have to give them our case to grade advancement with dd and they will decide. She did say it most likely wouldn't be done. They currently do not have a program in place to properly evaluate children and would have a "snowball" of parents coming in to have their children advanced. I said that is why they should use the IAS and they would be able to justify every child they advance. Guess what, she was going to look into the IAS and speak with the super...um, wait didn't you tell me you used it for the gifted program? Hmmm, I guess you don't know anything about it. This is my big frustration with this school district they say things at one meeting/phone call and then pretend like it was never said or change what is said. Is this common?
