Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy This is not good for my rage

Argh, I've been trying to post in my own threads all week but I keep just getting a blank screen so I have to start a new one.

The first trimester is done, the school has had DD5's WJ-III scores for 5 weeks, and they finally got around to doing the 2 simple assessments they told us 8 weeks ago that they could give her. One just ended up being the 1st grade level of AIMSweb and I have no idea why they wasted their time with that one. The other was the STAR reading test for AR and her grade equivalent on that is 3.5.

So tell me why, dear professional educators, now that you have all this lovely data... WHY is my DD still being subjected to early K-level work? I was helping with centers this week and during that time the teacher was calling the students up to read with her individually. They just have these little 4-page pamphlets to practice sight words (I like cars. I like books.) I thought, surely now that their own testing shows her reading at a mid-3rd-grade level, she won't make DD read these to her... but that's what she did. Or rather, as she brought each little booklet out DD recited each one at about the speed of the Micro Machines Man with her eyes shut. (thepumpkinisbigthepumpkinisfatthepumpkinisorange) I could hear the teacher saying more than once something to the effect of "You just have all these memorized- you need to read the words, not just say what you remember." Then she gave DD the whole stack of booklets to bring home and said, "You need to practice reading these with your parents instead of just memorizing them." Bwa? There's only one word different on each page- how could she NOT have them memorized? And I'll note here- DD's class is small to begin with but on this particular day there were only 9 kids in the room so it's not like she was too rushed to grab an actual book off the shelf for her to read aloud.

They have a separate math time (and DD goes to a different teacher for that) but sometimes they do math work at one of the centers. The one time I saw a math center, it was tracing on these giant wipe-off numbers. Yeah, this is a kid with a flippin' 4-sigma applied problems score- she's not really benefiting from number-tracing. DD seemed to agree, and decided it was more fun to throw the letters at her friends while laughing maniacally. She stopped after being scolded (twice) and still ended up with a green card for the day so that makes me wonder if this isn't uncommon behavior for her. (And she really doesn't need the tracing practice- her handwriting is good enough that she successfully forged my signature more than once last week but that's another issue.)


So since nothing has changed, I guess the ball is still in my court now?? I figured they would use their assessments to inform the instruction but I guess I need to spell it out for them?? ("Your assessment shows DD is reading at a mid-3rd level so please excuse her from practicing the word "go" and give her some 3rd grade books."??)

The teacher so far has said nothing whatsoever about any of these assessments other than telling me the scores she had. When I emailed the academic director the WJ-III scores, she said, "[The teacher] can't teach the third grade curriculum in the short time she has with her kiddos every day, and I am not comfortable having [DD] go to a classroom with students who are two to three years older than she is."

Um, okaaaay... I didn't suggest either of those things (or anything really, other than assessing her above K level) but thanks for telling me all the ways you CAN'T help her and not offering any solutions. The only other point the AD had to make was that we need to help DD be a kindergartner and develop her socially and emotionally as well as academically.

I don't even really care if DD learns anything in school this year, but I'm VERY interested to see if the school cares. In 1st grade next year there's a 2-hour literacy block and a full hour of math. I just can't see DD managing that if the work is so far below her level. This just makes me tired thinking about it- I need a nap now.

I'm so sorry you're hitting a brick wall. It sounds to me like the school agreed to test your DD to appease you and either had no intention of doing anything with the results or never really thought your DD would score as highly as you were telling them she would. I'm forgetting, though, what you've said in previous posts.

I've seen teachers not be able to think out of the box of their traditional planned curriculum (which does not excuse her ridiculous accusations about memorization, or any other lack of effort at accommodation). But I think it's crazy that the academic director was so dismissive of your DD's needs. First, I hate the old "we need to focus on her social needs to the exclusion of her academic needs" line. Second, she outright dissmissed the hope of having anything different for your DD.

How attached are you to the idea of your DD going to this school? Do you have other options? Within this school, what has the principal said? Is there anyone else (the superintendent?) higher up on the ladder to whom you can go?

Oh, this makes me so sad to answer. :o( It's a new charter school and I worked with them for years to get it going. My family has put many hundreds of hours of volunteer work into this school and alienated ourselves from our neighbors by supporting it being built in our neighborhood.

DD was only 3 when I first got involved and at that point we knew she was gifted but didn't think her needs would end up being so atypical. Also, the vision the board initially had for the school was different than how it's turned out. I hosted a meeting and the board president sat in my living room explaining how the flexible ability grouping would work out with students of all ages working together, grouped based on what they're ready for. I think what happened is, once the administration was hired they convinced the board a school with that setup was a pipe dream. It's just a regular school with regular classes based on birthdate. They still claim to challenge all students at their level, but I guess that's only if "their level" is reasonably close to that of age peers.


Sure, we have other options, I just hate change and it would be hard to wrap my brain around not sticking with this school we thought could see our family through the next decade at least. I know so many people there and there are multiple kids in DD's class that we've known since they were all babies.

We haven't brought the principal into the conversation yet. I'm not sure how to do that. I know there's a policy about taking complaints to teacher, then admin, then board, but I don't know about filing an actual complaint.... That seems to have implications for the teacher's job that I wouldn't want to get into. She's very young and inexperienced and i think the real problem lies with the administration.

Other options include a self-contained GT classroom at another school (but not until 2nd grade and DD would have to test in) or partial homeschooling (although DD's current school does not seem too excited about helping with this.)

Thanks, MoN, I'm trying to stay hopeful.

I did send a chapter book in for DD to read- this was 8 weeks ago after I suggested it at the PT conference. The teacher said sure, send a book in for her to read, but it never got touched other than one time when I volunteered. I was helping by pulling students into the hallway to read with me and I got DD's chapter book for her turn. DD whined and made a fuss and said she wanted to read the little booklets like everyone else. I told her the teacher said she should be reading the book I sent in. DD played a few games with pretending not to know any of the words and eventually settled in to read a few pages very nicely. I was a little weirded out that she seemed to not want anyone to know she could read already. (Our experience in extracurricular classes has been that she has no problem pointing out when she can do something the other kids can't... In fact we had to have several discussions about not bragging.)

I took the book back home with me this week when I was in the classroom again since it hadn't been used in 2 months and in that time DD had gotten another copy from the library and finished it at home. (James and the Giant Peach.)

Yes, this is the approach I used to involve the academic director after conferences. ("Oh, you don't have the next level of assessments? Hmm, do you suppose the academic director would? Oh you think I should ask her? Lovely then!")

Since the AD is an admin and is the one who's supposed to handle GT issues, do you think I'd have to get her OK to involve the principal? I'm pretty frustrated with her responses so far. Also it's been 5 weeks of trying to get her to tell us for sure whether someone at the school can give DD the one subtest she's missing to get 2 more possibly qualifying clusters for DYS. She ignored my 3rd email, which was sent last week letting her know we went ahead to submit the app without that last score but it could still be really helpful to have.

I'm starting to think this is pretty much their philosophy, even though they claim to be so big on ability grouping and challenging all students.


I asked the teacher if DD could be excused from reading the phonics booklets and read a book from home during that time. I got a long response that amounted to this:

1. DD lied to the teacher about having a book in her bag from home. (I assume because she didn't want to be different from the rest of the class by reading something else.)

2. The teacher thinks DD is benefiting from the activities they do during literacy time and having her "read a book alone" would be a waste of time for her.

This is all communication over email, so maybe we'd get further with meeting in person. I don't think that can happen until January though.

MoN, sounds like your daughter did a great job advocating for herself. I've asked my DD a few times (in the context of her complaining about school) if she could tell the teacher she'd like to read something different, or if she could ask the librarian if she can check out a chapter book instead of something from the K shelf her class is restricted to. DD is not interested in making any waves at school, she just wants to come home & complain about it to me I guess. :oP

W'sMama - we were once in the position you're in now - all three of our children were enrolled in a charter school which we (parents) had put our time, heart, soul and effort into to the nth degree because we really believed in the mission. We were convinced it was a place where differentiation could happen (and we were assured it would).. and it didn't happen in a way or at a level that made any difference to our EG ds. We hung on, advocated, tried, wished, volunteered, you name it... but nothing much really changed. Eventually we reluctantly switched schools... to a different type of school altogether... but you know what? It was the BEST thing I've ever done as a parent! Not only was my ds instantly happier, and not only did he finally get the intellectual challenge he needed, I can't tell you how relaxed and relieved I felt when I dropped him off at school everyday. And as a bonus, we'd found a school where teachers (and administrators) value parent input, which is a HUGE bonus when advocating for a gifted student.

I do hope things work out for you at the school you're at - but if you sense that it's more than just one teacher with a not-so-great attitude, I would suggest asking around of other parents, doing some research, and getting out and checking out some of the other school options in your area. You might find something that is a better fit for your child.

I totally understand not wanting to let go - but if you do have to let go, you can let go knowing you did a wonderful amount of great work and helped to provide a good school option in your neighborhood. None of that changes, even though it may not be the best choice of school for your ds.

Best wishes,

polarbear

Wow--really great advice from master of none here. I wish I had read something like it when my DD was in K and we were hitting our heads against a very similar wall. (Yes, she spent all of K reading "The rat has a pan.") I pushed to the point I felt comfortable with and then we bailed on that school --also a charter, btw, and also very lockstep. I have come to think that bigger schools may be better for these kids. They're more likely to have seen a kid like XYZ and have dealt with more outside the box situations.

If the teacher wants your DD to read, and not parrot back "memorized" stuff, then it stands to reason that she needs to give her something to read that she hasn't seen before. How about this lovely book here, hmm?

Thanks so much, all, and thanks to MoN for sharing so much of your own experience. This is why I love this board! So helpful to hear things that have worked and also what you would do differently, as in this great thread: http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/141861/1.html