Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Transitioning dd11 from Montessori

So we finally know where we are going--Atlanta, here we come! We found a great house in a district with great public schools so I am very excited. We close Fe. 15th. The stereotype is that the high school and feeder schools are extremely competitive, tiger mom type environments filled with bright over-achievers but I am certain that there are many exceptions and not really worried about finding like-minded people for our family.

I am looking at the rest of 5th grade as a transitional time socially and to get dd11 used to a big public school (she has been at a small private Montessori until now, but for a few years she did the gifted pull-out at the public school so it won't be totally foreign). I think that she will likely be adequately challenged--I know a bunch of these kids are identified as gifted. She is not a 99.9% kid, however I do think it will take some advocacy to get her the appropriate acceleration in English--she was in the 99% on the Explore last year as a 4th grader.

We finally have her scheduled to take the WISC IV next week--the psych doesn't specialize in gifted kids but the price is right and dd11 isn't too complicated so I think it will be OK--we need it so she can hopefully get gifted services right away. (one day pull-out at new school)

The middle school will offer her so much more than any school could in our current location. A dedicated orchestra teacher which she is thrilled about, and she will audition for the Georgia Youth Symphony. The drama program is unbelievable (although I think she is in for a very rude awakening to not be the star of the show!) After-school programs including painting and chess club that will be right up her alley. The gifted kids do accelerated work all together, so she will hopefully have same age peers and won't have to be in classrooms with older kids (except for maybe English, which again I am sure they will tell me she wouldn't need further acceleration--but I am also sure they would be wrong!)

So, Montessori has been a great fit for my dd since she was 3. (FWIW it has worked well so far for dd4, who is more complicated and likely a higher LOG combined with intense psychomotor OE but I think the new public school will be a better fit for her for K too--waiting until she turns 6 to take WISC with Spomenka Newman) But dd11 is ready for bigger and better things and we are very excited!

I will prob. be back more often to ask for advice though as things progress and esp. as dd4 enters school in the fall. For now I need to get busy packing!

What a relief to have a plan, and a plan that looks hopeful as well - Yippee!
I'm a little confused - did she get 99% compared to 4th graders or 8th graders? Anyway if she got a 19 as a 4th grader, be ready to be open to the possibility that either she is more unusual than your thought or the range of average is quite lower than you thought.
If possible, check in advance with the new school if they have any guidelines for outside testers, if they accept anyone's results or have a preferred list, if they accept all tests or only certain tests. I love cheap, but part of what one is paying for is a phone call from a trusted professional to a key school player if a course correction is needed. Even cheaper is if the school tests themselves, particularly if they do a WISC or any individually given IQ test.

OTOH, will all the stress of moving, it's nice to walk into a new situation with a few old questions settled.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Grinity, are you saying that a 19 on the English section is the 99th percentile for 8th graders? I didn't think a 19 was that high. My vague recall is that the 99th for 8th graders on the English section was somewhere around a 24. My oldest got a 19 or 20 on the English part of the Explore when she was 9 and I'm pretty sure that wasn't the 99th percentile.

Either way, I'd tend to agree that a 4th grader who is in the 19-ish range on the English part of the Explore (especially if her reading and writing skills are similarly strong and not just language mechanics), is going to be more HG in that area than the typical gifted kid and need acceleration even within a GT program.

I'm verrrry unfamiliar with ACT and Explore scores - I'm just quoting the DYS qualifications criteria for 4th graders to double check deacongirls assumption that her dd isn't 99.9 - I wasn't sure if the '99%' was compared to 4th graders or 8th graders. I was thinking that if dofdeacongirl was 99th% compared to 8th graders then she is likely to be 99.9% sort of gifted.

Hope that helps!
Grinity

I'm a little confused - did she get 99% compared to 4th graders or 8th graders? Anyway if she got a 19 as a 4th grader, be ready to be open to the possibility that either she is more unusual than your thought or the range of average is quite lower than you thought.

Ok just dug out the papers to check--as a 4th grader she got a 23 in English, which is 98% compared to 8th graders. She got an 11 in Usage/Mechanics (99% compared to 8th graders) and an 11 in Rhetorical Skills (again 99%).
If possible, check in advance with the new school if they have any guidelines for outside testers, if they accept anyone's results or have a preferred list, if they accept all tests or only certain tests. I love cheap, but part of what one is paying for is a phone call from a trusted professional to a key school player if a course correction is needed. Even cheaper is if the school tests themselves, particularly if they do a WISC or any individually given IQ test.

OTOH, will all the stress of moving, it's nice to walk into a new situation with a few old questions settled.

Best Wishes,
Grinity [/quote]

The new school seems like they really don't want to deal with parents getting tested privately, but Georgia state law says they have to consider outside data from a qualified psych. They can take up to 9 weeks to get her tested, and it will already be March when she enters. I would really like to have the testing done before I register her so she can meet some friends, have that settled before the transition stuff to middle school etc.)

The funny thing about the psych (suggested to me by a friend with two gifted kids) is that I had e-mailed with her a few times before I realized that she was the one who I had met with and actually agreed with my self-diagnosis of ADD. Doh! I think dd11 will do well for her.

The principal sent a nice e-mail re: classroom teacher placement for her. She said there are typically 8-10 kids IDed as gifted in each class (that seems pretty crazy, huh? Probably some bright high-achievers in there or ????) Of course we also have my 8 yr. old son with Down syndrome (who should in no way be sent to the next school over to the intellectual disabilities unit) who I am confident they can accomodate at the neighborhood school, but it will take some work. And just wait until the fall when they get a taste of dd4! Little did they know when we walked through that door...

Will keep you all posted!
p.s. sorry if this turns out messy. I can't figure out the quote thing.

Clarified above that it was compared to 8th graders--and FWIW a 19 in Reading, which on my chart shows 91% compared to 8th graders.

Carp about needing acceleration even within a GT program. I pretty much already thought this but was trying not to think about it yet. And I just know that it is going to be a big giant uphill battle. Maybe I should have her take the SAT just to see how she does to have more support for my argument?

Hmmm...I guess we will know more after next Sunday! But if she is 99.9% sort of gifted and we are so similar then that has some implications for her mom. Who I really don't think is 99.9% sort of gifted! ha!

We had dd13 take the Explore, as noted above, when she was a 9 y/o 4th grader as part of the IAS for a grade skip consideration. She took the SAT in 6th and 7th (10 & 11 y/o) and the ACT in 8th (12 y/o) thereafter. Her scores were impressively high, especially in the reading/English/writing sections but I didn't honestly see any further differentiation as a result of giving them to the school, FWIW . What we saw was from her 19/20 English Explore @ 9 to her CR SAT score at 10 was a score around 500. I'd expect that, combined with the Explore scores you already have, the IQ scores should be enough for advocacy. If they are not, I'm not sure that I'd hold my breath on SAT scores holding more weight.

Thank you so much for the feedback. I think I will hold off on the SAT. Between the IQ testing, the Explore coming up, and the move, I think she has enough on her plate for the rest of this year.

If we were going to a different school district I would be trying for a grade skip--in this particular situation I think subject acceleration would be the ideal...but looking ahead to middle school I don't expect them to think she needs anything more than the gifted/honors classes with her same age peers. I guess we just have to get there and see how it goes! Thanks again for your response.

At least subject acceleration sounds warranted. I wouldn't expect grade level GT classes to meet her needs as she sounds ready for much more in language arts at least. My dd isn't nearly as advanced in math as she is other areas, but she's still done well with a grade skip.

I might keep pushing for a skip in the back of your mind still. Good luck. I hope that you get more than, 'we have lots of gifted kids like her' from the school.