Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Acceleration advocacy advice needed

It is certainly possible for quite a few kids in a school district to be at or above 95th percentile. Since educated professionals tend to live in communities of folks similar to them, you can get a number of 95th+ perentile kids. In my eldest's class, the average SAT score for her class was an 80th percentile score nationally.

Of course, you won't have lots of 99.9th percentile kids anywhere in a public school (or even a private one, but some have a number of HG kids - at least the ones near us).

Good luck, but don't get too worked up. My eldest knows a few PG kids that did not skip. While school wasn't ideal for them, they are all happy in college. The one that weathered the K-12 years the best was really involved in a lot of activities, as schoolwork didn't take much time for him - he was in band, an academic quiz team, in student government, played a varsity sport, and did research with a local college professor (among other things). And he looked forward to and enjoyed the normal HS rites of passage, such as the prom. Advocate for her, but don't get upset if things don't work right now as you had hoped - there are lots of things to explore, even if some are not academic.

MoN,

What is an 'equal opportunity' district? Sorry the term is alien to me having not grown up in this country. I ask because if it is actually what I think it is then ignoring IQ test results would violate the entire principle of it.

IQ tests, despite many decades and even more wasted government and private foundation research dollars spent desparately trying to prove otherwise are not culturally biased. IQ represents only potential whereas Achievement on the other hand is clearly very dependent on the home environment as it is limited by exposure to material and educational experiences.

Ignoring IQ just doesn't seem logical at all IFF the aim is to allow kids with potential to flourish despite factors like race and SES

I am going to insist on a meeting to share our recent test results just for this reason. I can't count the number of times the teachers have told me about the "other really smart kids" or "kids with a higher IQ than DS" when I tried to talk to them about DS (they ignore his GAI in favor of his FSIQ).

Well that didn't take long. The response to my meeting request was an unequivocal 'no' to a skip. Apparently DD6 is in exactly the right place in every way, including academically, and they've oodles of gifted kids for whom they differentiate brilliantly in the classroom. All that without having seen the test results they know I have. Glad I didn't send the report, because now I really do want to see their faces when they see her achievement scores. We will meet right before school starts (planning ahead is so passe). Plan B is to propose a gradual skip with grades 1 and 2 completed over the year in the grade 1 classroom. Any tips on either advocating for such a thing or managing it on the ground if they agree?

Thanks, MoN. I'm told DD is a dream to have in the classroom, so I'll have to carefully approach explaining the poor fit, lest they blame her unhappiness as expressed at home on that environment and suggest we take notes from them!

I've learned, to my great surprise, that our provincial education authority fully supports acceleration for gifted students and says so on its website. A nearby district also has a well-developed gifted program, featuring curriculum compacting, but only starting in high school. We're at a private school which is more academically rigorous than the public system, and I expect they will use that as a reason to dismiss this information.

I've been going back through everyone's responses to prepare my pitch (thanks again) and realized I never did post the scores that led to my question. In case that affects anyone's advice, DD's FSIQ is 99.7; GAI 99.8 (VC 99.9 and PR 99.7). Her WIAT total achievement was SS 135/99%ile (oral 139; written 124; math 120).

I've decided to hold on to the results until our eventual meeting. DD6 has been prepared for the very real prospect of not skipping (she asked to change schools!), but assured that we will be vigilant about her needs being met, and that we will use this next year as the foundation for whatever she will need the following year. And now I have over a month to stew and plot...so much for summer vacation!

I have just read your post. One thing caught my attention: your DD is in a private school. Our DD12 (PG) is in one of those "academically advanced" private school, which never whole grade skipped one kid! So, when we were shopping around for our DS6 (DYS) a year ago, we specifically asked about the "possibility of skipping"... The answer wasn't "clear" as the school believes that "all of our kids are bright, some are more advanced in one area than others, but..." So we eventually put our DS in the public school K. The outcome is pretty amazing, the school offered early testings, pull out for one on one time with Math specialists and GT teacher, letting him "try out" in 1st grade, etc. The school actually recommended whole grade skipping plus Math one on one, etc. We, as parents, somehow believe that "private school" really cares about how long you would stay: whole grade skipping means the school won't get that extra $30,000! Have you talked to the public school officials? You might be surprised at their answers! We were totally amazed!

I am a little tore about this as well.

DS5 will be going to an "academically advanced" private school, which I don't believe they would skip.

However, the bigger class sizes in public school is having me worried. DS is extremely manipulative, and the smaller class sizes and the stricter atmosphere will give him some much needed boundaries.

Why did you send your DD to a private school?

We have a number of reasons for having chosen private school. The main two are: our public school system has chronic labour disputes with large class sizes; and, both DH and I had poor public school experiences followed by great private school ones, in this same jurisdiction. We've been at the school for a few years with DS8 and DD6, and both kids usually love it. Not sure how long that will last with DD!

And yes, I do wonder about the influence of that year's tuition, but I think it's more that they seem to equate an exceptional child needing a skip with abject failure on their part. I find that so bizarre. She is who she is and even I, as provider of half her DNA, don't consider her innate ability either my success or my failure. I am going to have to work really hard to not say something quite rude about that at our meeting.

Yes to this part - this is exactly the issue. If they are an academically rigorous school and your child's needs aren't being met then that "must" mean that they are failing at their mission. I too find it amazing that this is the attitude of some schools, but we have not only had schools give us this reaction, but individual teachers as well have tried to stop accelerations because it makes them look bad. It comes down to insecurities on their part. If you can find 1 person at the school who knows your kid and is willing to stand up for the idea of an acceleration you may have a better chance of getting it. The school is less likely to say no if one of their own teachers is supporting the acceleration. It sort of puts the school between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand they want to say no to you because that would mean that their fabulous teachers ( ) can't handle your kid in their rigorous class, but on the other hand, here is one of their fabulous teachers saying that your daughter needs more than what will be offered in the next grade level - if they disagree too much it will make it look like they don't trust their fabulous teacher's opinion. Does this make sense?

You could also ask for it on a trial basis - indicating that you would be willing to have her moved back down after the first marking period if things weren't working out. Chances are that by the time the first marking period is over she will be doing great in class and the teacher will not want to lose her. Administrators like to have a way out - even if you know there is a slim to none chance of them getting to use it.