Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy DD's Staffing Meeting Today

I signed DS up for EPGY today -- found a "learning community" in my neighborhood, so we could do open enrollment. He's going to be so excited!

Wow - that's exciting!

He loved it! Finished breakfast and got dressed early today so he could have time for another twenty minute EPGY session :-)

Whattodo -- I PM'd you.

Update . . .

I spoke with a woman from the Advanced Academic Department at Miami-Dade Public Schools. She was awfully nice to answer all of my myriad of questions, and I know this isn't her fault, but . . .

The E.P. in Miami-Dade county really does allow for only ONE area of "greatest academic strength." There is no way to add on to the E.P. in writing beyond what the computer program has a drop-down box for. So if I were to choose math over science (how does one make such a choice?), we have an EP for math which in no way provides for mandated acceleration in science or reading or anything else.

I asked repeatedly how I might be able to accomplish such a thing, and pretty much what I got was "talk to the teacher before school starts each year." The principal will help me until she resigns in a couple of years, but basically, that puts us at the mercy of the teacher each year -- either s/he'll have an interest or s/he won't.

Does anyone else's school district have a policy like this?

Okay after you do the drop down answer....what does the rest of the ep look like?...could you do goals and objectives to support the greatest area of strength?

So if you picked science...

A goal might be in science then
Goal 2 might be accelerated math to support his advanced science strength because the higher you get in science the more math you need
Goal 3 might be something associated with advanced reading to support his advanced science strength
Goal 4 might be ....see where I am going...word the goals and needs to reflect back on the stupid limitations placed on you.


If you are told you can't do that then I would cry BS. I have numbers you can call at the FL state level...and there is no law saying his ep has to be done on a computer.....they can hand write it and write whatever is appropriate for yourchild....and you can start quoting words off of the paper they give you called procedural safeguards about the next step you are supposed to take...no county WANTS to go to mediation. No county wants you to even consult an advocate or a lawyer...so if you say I would like to ajourn this meeting until my advocate and lawyer can attend unless you can figure out a way to address his global giftedness and not just one subject. I have faith that you (administration) can find a way around a computer limitation.

Looking at DD's EP.

There was a drop-down menu "Gifted Priority Educational Need: Student's Strength" from which you pick math, science, lang arts/english, or social studies.

Below that is a series of check-boxes for "Specially Designed Instruction and Curriculum Modifications." Pick as many as you like:

Acceleration through:
curriculum compacting
flexible grouping
research and independent study
content accleration

Enrichment through:
learning centers
problem-based learning
open-ended tasks
service learning/enrichment clusters

And that's it.

Now, on the next page, there is a place to include "individual and program goals/benchmarks," and in this box there was room for a few lines of actual text, plus a series of checkboxes for evaluation procedures.

I'd imagine that under individual goals, I could include math as a science goal. That's sneaky; I like it!

It's an awfully bizarre system they have here in Miami-Dade.

So I bumped into DS7's best friend's mother, who is a gifted staffing specialist in our district, and asked her about creating a more complete E.P.

Her answer was: there's no way to do it, but not to stress about that, because it's simply a bureaucratic piece of paper, and nobody really looks at those things.

Therefore, it seems to me, there is NO way at ALL to get an official educational plan that will change DS's life for the better -- even a good E.P. would just be ignored.

That's why I would ask for Math instead of science. Math is 'easier' for folks to check if 'accelerated content' is being given. As for science in elementary school - what is 2 time zero?

((Sarcasm Alert))

It's also why I love full grade skips - no one has to 'look at a piece of paper' or do anything different, they just do what they do.

Shrugs and more Shrugs,
Grinity

Hmmm.

Do you know some people who've done badly with grade-skip (socially or whatever), or has it all been success stories?

The school would be willing to move DS7 to third grade next year (from first this year), but not to fourth grade. If he's doing fourth grade work now, would the skip to third next year improve his life at all anyway?

edit: they might be willing, in addition, to let him go to 4th for math.

My feelings on this are that a skip is likely to help, even if the skip is not all the way to the level where your child could be working.

Some things to consider:

It is easier for a teacher to differentiate up one or two grades than it is to differentiate up three or four.

There is a much greater chance that there will be other students working at a fourth or fifth grade level in a third grade class than in a second grade class.

If your child has difficulty finding age peers who share interests, moving ahead may improve that and therefore improve the overall school experience even if the academic level and pace is still not quite right.

The larger the skip, the more likely that expectations for handwriting and organization will be developmentally inappropriate.

There is nothing stopping you from asking for another skip later if it still seems indicated.