Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Now, normally you would think 93% is good...

I could have written Stacey's post almost exactly! With class sizes going up, it's especially difficult. And a lot of educators do just go by their impressions and follow a track of thought, well, thoughtlessly. But communication and just letting the child do what they need to do can help.

Eibbed- sorry this was the outcome. I so agree the educators want to show you is how they need to be in current situation. Ds teacher has told me a number of times that she knows that ds knows all the info, but can use "use the info to write a better sentence" or "learn a different way to explain answer".

What are you thinking about doing next year? I have been thinking long and hard about this. I'm actually thinking homeschooling may be easier and more fun for me and ds. Yet, my dh is not yet on board. He wants to "try" next year. I think it will be a waste of time, but we'll see. (Especially as dh also thinks ds should probably skip 1st.)

Sorry, I don't want to derail your thread about your ds. It's just kind of amazing how much of a similar situation we are in. Hang in there. Love seeing your posts!

"Ordinarily you would think that 93% was a good score, but actually this particular question was the only one that really mattered, and, as luck would have it, your DS missed it, so it's back to square one."

Talk about stacking the deck!

Hopefully, as you say, it's taught you how to get him to show them what they want to see, so he can get on with things.

It's funny, or maybe not so funny, but they did use this exact argument with me. Why should I expect more for my kid when it is possible that many kids could use something extra if they but knew. Then why don't they bother to find out? sigh


I also heard this argument. In fact I've heard it many times before and we're only into mid-third quarter of K. I wonder how many times I will hear it over the course of his public school education?

Melessa - I am truly not sure what we are going to do next year. A large part of me would really, really, really like to homeschool but there are many issues to explore first and DH doesn't seem to be OK with this yet.

I also really enjoy seeing your posts as you are one in an almost identical situation and it just feels so good to know that I am not alone, or crazy!

Nautigal - You are so right about stacking the deck!

Eibbed- I am wondering if the scho/ teacher says "they can learn more ways to explain"; if it's a way to keep kids from being accelerated. I mean I know my ds does not care to know 8-10 different ways to add/ subtract. It irritates him.

I also noticed when I have showed him something new in math: he has understood after a few problems. When I have asked him to replicate what I showed him on another day- he could and would, but no more than 5-6 problems. I'm guessing this will be a problem at school.

Keep us posted how things are going. My dh is starting to entertain homeschool atleast for a year or 2. We'll see. Don't want my ds to hate school. I want him to continue to love to learn.

I also noticed when I have showed him something new in math: he has understood after a few problems. When I have asked him to replicate what I showed him on another day- he could and would, but no more than 5-6 problems. I'm guessing this will be a problem at school.


Ugh... yes. We've been er-- livin' the dream in this regard for many years now.

I just about went BALLISTIC when the school proposed a new change whereby students would be required to submit their practice problems in addition to completing all of the assigned assessments (those are daily).

DD doesn't do the practice problems. She does a few of the "challenge" level problems. When we force the issue.

Clearly her basic understanding of concepts is relatively unimpaired by this lack of dedication to drill and kill, since she's earned stellar marks and is a popular and uber-capable peer tutor at this point.

It's just so obvious sometimes that the standard operating procedure is toxic for some kids. SO obvious.

I'll also add, back to the topic of the original thread...

we've seen this in those spiffy self-congratulatory pre- and post-curriculum tests of student learning...

I'm a packrat and a documentarian. True story, that. When you have a 2E kiddo, you learn through the school of hard knocks that you want it in writing, and YOU WANT YOUR OWN COPY.

Anyway.

My DD was forced to take these RIDICULOUS 'tests' twice a year from 3rd through 8th grade. Well, subtracting the year that she skipped.

Her scores frequently reflected a loss in learning.

I have the scores, so I know. Scores that go from 99% or 100% to 93% or 94% are showing 'decreases' in performance, are they not?

So the upshot here is that we had proof that what they were doing with her each year was NOT BENEFICIAL TO HER educationally.

(Well, okay, the truth is slightly more complicated. What is true is that she already knew the grade level curriculum, in spite of the acceleration, and that her scores were generally somewhat lower at the end of each year because of end-of-year stresses.)

The reason that I mention this is that I noticed something....hmmm... funny... one day, as I was looking at her educational records.

Recall, these are not placement tests. Hypothetically, these are to let the school know how they are doing, let students know how much they've learned, rah-rah-rah.

Someone had oh-so-helpfully "CORRECTED" this obvious error and flipped her actual scores so that they showed the improvement that they were supposed to show.

Moral of the story is this: never rely on what you're told. get copies. Keep copies. Keep your eyes open. We have kids that tend to upset administrator agendas.

I frankly didn't care enough to burn the human capital fixing this particular problem in light of the other cooperation that we need from DD's school. But if it had mattered somehow, I'd have been equipped to fight for the truth.

HK- you brought up some good points. Funny enough when ds MAP score went down to 97% with Rit score increased 4 pts, I tried to say ds had not learned anything. Instead, teacher told me that ds "races" through testing and therefore does not show full potential with testing. Ok? Yet teacher never stated what she would teach him.

In regards to drill and repetition, my ds hates this. The minute he thinks this is what is happening, he tunes out. Probably another reason why ds teacher dislikes him and is treating like he isn't proficient. The more I think about it, the more I think his current situation is awful. Would another teacher "get" him? Will next year be more of the same- repetition and regurgitation??

Regarding acceleration: both my dd and ds were accelerated a full grade. It has worked out fine for both, though it took a little longer for my daugter to adjust socially. I had to fight for it for both of them, but it was what they needed. Our states gifted guidelines require districts to instruct on level and if what the child needs happens to be the next grade, then that is what they deserve.