Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy concerned parent

Our DS, who is in fifth grade, was recently denied single subject acceleration in math. Without getting into too much detail, the decision seemed to be political rather than what’s in the best interest of the child. It’s quite evident from test, observation, and his motivation to essentially complete an algebra 1 course on his own, that he needs to be accelerated. Our newest concern arises from statements his math teacher is making to him. When the teacher presents word problems to the class, our son will solve them algebraically. Meaning he will assign a variable, set up an equation, and solve the problem. For some reason, his math teacher is discouraging him from using algebra and/or alternative math techniques such as proportion, percent, and ratios to solve problems. Has anybody experienced this? Is it appropriate for his teacher to be placing restrictions on the methods he uses/chooses to solve math problems? From previous discussions with the administration, I get the distinct feeling that they don’t want him progressing beyond what is being presented in the classroom.

Yes, we've run into this before in math; the rigid adherence to "protocol" dictated by the pedagogy happening within the confines of the course content.

On the one hand, it IS important that students master the skills that they are being taught-- as they are presented-- on the other, it's not appropriate to continue drilling students on what they genuinely have total mastery of already.

I'm going to guess, here, that your math instruction is using a common curriculum such as EveryDay Math or EnVision or something like it-- and they are a spiraling, incoherent MESS, to be kind.

I'm further going to guess that your math program is aimed at meeting common core standards, and that there is mild to moderate panic about this on the part of administrators and teachers.

So knowing that, what would I do in your shoes? Find a tactful way of having them decide to test your child regarding mastery of the year's (or maybe even years') learning objectives, and see where he SHOULD be placed.

Maybe the teacher/school are out of their depth.

Can you just write off the school math class as a complete waste of time, and have him learn at home? Would a single subject acceleration in math really improve things that much anyway? Would any other school be better?

There could be a few reasons why the teacher doesn't want your son to solve problems his own way.

The teacher may be trying to teach a particular method and if your son uses a different method, he is not showing that he has learned the taught method.

The teacher may be concerned that your son needs to use the taught method on state tests at the end of the year to get full credit (or any credit).

Or the teacher may not understand how to do the problems any way other than by the method(s) being taught.

They know the child is highly advanced, but yet refuse to test his knowledge or capability. In fact, they refuse to accept the results of MAP testing that was recently performed by a different school showing that he exceeded the 99th percentile in math.

Is there an acceleration option in this school? It sounds like he changed schools (MAP was administered at a different school).

In our district, the current 5th grade math acceleration is based upon a matrix, which includes the MAP. You need 11 points in this matrix to skip 5th grade math and go to 6th grade math (which is taught within the K-5 school). A 94th percentile MAP will get you 5 points, 96th+ gets you 6 points. 90%+ on the 4th grade end of year test gets you 5 points (there are a few other ways to get points). If your school has a similar system, I would suggest taking the 4th grade end of year test.

I can see the value in learning multiple ways to get to an answer. Not all the methods have value - such as the ones that take 20 steps to do a problem that could be completed in 3 steps - but knowing and understanding multiple ways to get to an answer can be helpful as he gets to critical thinking problems.

If there is no option to accelerate, then I would probably just supplement at home. However, if you think he is ready for pre-algebra/algebra, there should be tests he can take to place into those (assuming there is a procedure in place to bus him to MS to get to the class).

We were considering a private school, thus the MAP. As far as the end of year math test, he scored a 97%. We offered to transport him to and from MS so that he could attend a higher level math class. The administration flatly said no because it would be inappropriate for him to be around middle school students.

It sounds as if the school doesn't accelerate, at least not in elementary. Here it is pretty common for kids to take the MS bus and take math 1st period, then take a bus back to elementary. Pretty common meaning that there are always a few kids each year. For the skipping 5th grade math and going straight to 6th grade math (but staying in the elementary school building), probably 20% of the 5th grade class does that.

If they just don't accelerate, I would think that there are other kids like your son. If things get better in MS, I would just wait it out. Not ideal, but once he gets to MS (in 6th, I assume), he may be able to accelerate or at least he can participate in activities such as MathCounts.

Sometimes a school's objections to acceleration are revealed in layers; It is possible that this statement reveals the true objection (social/emotional and interpersonal skills) while previous responses (denying level of academic skills) may have been the wrapping intended to dissuade you from further exploration of the topic prior to you reaching the point of understanding the true objection. Many salespeople practice drawing out objections so they can begin the art of overcoming objections.

As this advocacy effort may have reached the point of understanding objections, the following may be helpful:

1) Each teacher/administrator/school/district may be at a different point in their experience/expertise in understanding and serving the needs of gifted students. For each teacher/administrator/school/district, some kiddo is their first experience. If this inaugural experience goes well, it may open the doors for others. If you wish to proceed, with your child possibly being the first and therefore a trail blazer, you may wish to gather information to overcome the school's stated objections.

2) Because the objection shared in the most recent post has to do with social/emotional and interpersonal skills, ("inappropriate for him to be around middle school students"), your task may be to show that it is overwhelmingly very appropriate for him to be around middle school students. How might a parent do this convincingly?

Gathering anecdotal evidence may help:
- Does your child have friends who are older?
- Mix/mingle with older children in the neighborhood?
- Participate on sports teams, or in summer camps with older children?
- Socialize well with older cousins, older siblings of friends, etc?
- Does your child display emotional maturity and resilience?

Gathering research and resources such as the following may be of help:
- A Nation Deceived,
- Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration,
- the Iowa Acceleration Scale (IAS). While the IAS is for whole grade skipping, some schools may use the IAS to prepare a complete record of a student's scores and "thoroughly discuss the case and to consider other curricular options and recommendations for the student." (quote from IAS Manual, page 34) Other curricular options may include single-subject acceleration such as you are seeking for your child. Just saw your earlier thread, and added a post there for the benefit of possible future readers of that thread.

3) Do you plan to document your meeting by writing a summary? While remaining positive and factual, and not guessing at motivations, it may be possible to document your understanding of their stated objection, agree with their concern in theory (as a point of tact and diplomacy), and also work to overcome their objection in your meeting summary, asking for a follow-up meeting perhaps to discuss the anecdotal evidence and research that you have presented.

Yes, I have seen this kind of thing.

In my son's 6th grade class, An Honors, essentially pre-algebra class. My son had a few packets of math problems sent home as homework, that would have been very easy to solve with algebra. But there were NOT supposed to use algebra, they were supposed to set up these "graphs" and try and do the problems by drawing graphs for each step of the way. My son had real problems with doing it this way, it didn't seem intuitive at all. Since he was having difficulty I looked at it, and it took me a while to figure out what they wanted. Drove my son & I both up the wall. They weren't particularly easy problems to solve this way, two equations & two unknown kind of problems. I don't really think it helped my DS at all, he has always had an easy time with math concepts and honestly just confused things.