Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Reading Level Capped

This is very normal. According to school, my son's reading level has been at grade 6 for the past 3 years straight. The library only has books for grades k-5. Thankfully his teacher has books of her own in the room at higher reading levels. I honestly don't know what reading level he's at, but it's high enough that it doesn't matter - he can read nearly anything.

You are beating your head against the wall. If it were an issue of the official reading curriculum, then the focus tends to be on writing and you are unlikely to get "differentiation" (other than the built-in open-endedness of many writing assignments) unless the school approved subject acceleration. If it were an issue of "free reading," then send your DS' own books (purchases or public library loans) to school and inform (not ask) the school that is what your DS will be reading. In DS/DD's classrooms over the years, many kids often brought in their own books as well as used what was avaiable in the 100 book challenge baskets or on the teacher's book shelves. As for the "resources" provided to be used at home, just don't use it and provide your own. For example, our school provides lots of electronic resources like Study Island and First in Math, etc. Unfortunately, these tend to be way too basic as well as with Study Island ending in 5th grade and First in Math ending in 8th grade (at least for elementary kids) so that my DS outgrew Study Island in 2nd grade and First in Math in 3rd grade. The resources available online and at the public library are tremendous. Save your fight for the crucial issues such as subject acceleration for your DS.

One school told us that they couldn't allow kids to read ahead because they would run out of books. We offered to send in books, but my daughter wasn't allowed to read those because they felt it would be unfair to the other children.

At another school, we were told they would raise her level if she scored 90% or higher on three AR tests in a row. It never seemed to actually happen, though.

This is where I would use the thing I keep in my back pocket. My son's school struggles with their test scores. If teachers were to not figure out how to educate my son...I have my son's high stakes test scores that I can take...either homeschool or take to another school. They can't afford for me to take his 5s to another school.

I have never had to play that card but believe me I would not hesitate to use it.

And really everyone sees that he is still ahead even with the grade skip at the beginning of the year. How do you hold back kids like that? Just by being him he stretches his teachers to meet his needs.

I'm just going to send them in, we have plenty of books here at home. Even if I never get them back it's not a big deal. I will tell him to put them in his book box.
The teacher meets with small groups (I think) for reading, but I think she's teaching out of the first grade "Journey's" textbook. DS said the it's way too easy. I know there are other kids that can't be too far off from him. It wouldn't be hard for the teacher to have them read a chapter book (or anything more advanced) in their small group. But if there really is a "cap" at L, it's still about a year behind.
The district has grade acceleration for math. That's what I'm meeting with them about. I think they used to have it for reading, but not anymore. They probably think if they do this "Guided Reading" where kids can read a grade level ahead, that's good enough.
apm221--that's so crazy about "running out of books". I'm sure that's just an excuse. Our local Goodwill has literally hundreds of books, a lot of very nice ones that are only 15 cents. The entire school could be stocked with appropriate books for $100. They could also ask for donations from parents and would get a ton. But they insist upon buying new books at regular retail prices. Then complain about their budget.

Sweetie, we told our school district we would have to switch if there were no possible accommodations. However, I couldn't even get someone to meet with me until after we had actually switched my daughter. Now they are willing to offer accommodations if we move her back... However, just suggesting it alone wasn't enough to make any difference.

Let us know how the talk with the teacher, principal and curriculum specialist next week goes! I will be interested to hear what they say and what you say. May give me some ideas for my meeting...

Yes, it will be interesting. The district has a complicated "flowchart" for acceleration, like "try 3 of these 5 enrichments." Only after going through about 50 steps will they consider math acceleration (as in going to a different grade). Well considering he already passed the second grade test at the beginning of first grade, first grade level "enrichments" would be absurd. If they insist upon that, I'm pulling him out. It was NOT this complicated to grade accelerate DD from K to 1st a couple years ago. The district seems to be getting more and more rigid and actually LESS accommodating to gifted kids. The feeling I get is because of the standardized tests and kids missing "standards" because of being moved along too quickly.

That is a serious concern. After all, there is a finite number of books in the world.

You can drive yourself crazy with this stuff.
My ds now 11 has not been harmed by this thinking, I don't suspect.
In 2nd grade the school had accelerated reading program. The books had a point system. Read the book, take a test, get the points if you scored a 95% on the "comprehension" test. Most books at the 2nd grade level were at most 2 or 3 points. Some of the quick books (Captain Underpants) and such were 1 point or less. My son breezed through all the Rick Riordan series. Harry Potter series. And I forced him to read some classics Moby Dick, Oliver Twist. It was not hard to get him to read anything.
He blew the top score away from any previous year score. He didn't even have to try he just loved to read.We owned, bought or went to the public library to get them. He started the Hobbit that year but said it was toooo scary.

They cancelled the accelerated reader program the next year.

He was not the only kid reading above level. Most were not as intense but they were above 2nd grade level for sure. Another interesting thing was how catchy it was in class. Everyone wanted to read the same thing. My son was loaning out his books to a bunch of other kids.

BTW: they did cap your max reading level to the EOY for that grade through Elementary years. It made no sense to me. That was not going to be one of our battles though.